President Bush’s best moment in the press conference yesterday came in response to a question about how, even though the surge is working, the Iraqis supposedly failed to develop their political institutions. Mr. Bush said that he didn’t agree with the premise of the question. He pointed out that there is a functioning government in Iraq, it did pass a budget last year and is in the process of passing one this year, along with a de-Baathification law. Then the president said: ” … I mean, if your standard is — if you’re trying to judge the Iraqi parliament based upon our own Congress’s ability to get bills done, is that what you’re saying? I’d be a little careful.”

The press seemed to take the point. “The days of the Do Nothing Congress are over,” Senator Reid declared on November 8, 2006, after voters handed the Democrats control of the House and Senate and gave him the prospect of becoming majority leader. But the Democrats have now controlled Congress for almost a year, and they have made not a dent in the major challenges facing our country. No progress on an overhaul of the national immigration laws to bring millions of illegal immigrants out of the shadows. No progress on fundamental tax simplification. No progress on changing entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare, whose costs are spiraling out of control.

What a contrast to President Bush, who, upon taking office, worked with Republicans and Democrats in Congress to win a string of important legislative victories, from the education law known as No Child Left Behind to the tax reductions that got the economy moving again after September 11, 2001, to the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act, known as the USA Patriot Act. Mr. Bush’s first year, in other words, yielded at least three major legislative accomplishments.

Most Americans, by contrast, would be hard pressed to name a single legislative accomplishment of the Democratic Congress led by Senator Reid and Speaker Pelosi. The Democrats have spent much of their time trying to cut off funding for our troops in Iraq just as the troops were finally experiencing real success against an evil terrorist enemy. They subjected an honorable New York judge, Michael Mukasey, to a meat-grinder of a confirmation process.

When Mr. Reid spoke in January to open the new Congress, he said, “The American people are expecting positive results from the 110th Congress, not more partisan rancor.” He said, “Immigration reform is too vital to our security and our economy to fall by the wayside.” But it did, and any expectations of positive results from the 110th Congress were dashed. The Democrats blame the Republicans for obstructing their agenda, but that just underscores the Democrats’ own failure to meet the expectations they set up for ending “partisan rancor.” It’s quite a turn — Democrats blaming Republicans for failing to end partisan rancor.

One is tempted to observe that Americans are probably better off with congressional gridlock or do-nothingness than with a Democratic Congress that actually was able to impose its will. The Democratic agenda consists of tax increases and a vast expansion of the federal government at home, along with a surrender and pell-mell retreat in Iraq. So if the Democrat-dominated Congress of 2007 was a do-nothing body — well, that’s just one more thing to give thanks for in this holiday season. If the Democrats want an example of legislative efficiency, let them look to Baghdad.