ALBANY — So, now what?

Governor Spitzer, who at his inauguration in January promised to rid Albany of its political bickering, gridlock, and status quo, has instead become a prime player in the capitol’s dysfunction.

In January, the state Senate’s eroding Republican majority was beginning what might have been its last two-year session in control. Its leader, under investigation and in Mr. Spitzer’s sights, faced a coup. Now the Senate Republicans are stronger than ever. Even the GOP’s weakest link, the Assembly’s Republican minority, found a voice, if a shrill one, and a national stage for it.

What happened?

Last week the millionaire Ivy League governor once considered the smartest politician in Albany was slapped around by the Legislature’s Republicans, some Democrats, talk show hosts, and 70% of New Yorkers in polls. They forced the self-styled steamroller to find a reverse gear for his order to make it easier for illegal immigrants to get driver’s licenses.

So, with damage mounting — including putting a Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Clinton, in a sticky spot made worse by her conflicting statements — what did Spitzer do?

Was he humble? Conciliatory? Did he learn something about New Yorkers who live outside his neighborhood on Manhattan’s Upper East Side? Did he at least seize the political opportunity to smooth his stubborn edge and come out stronger as a result?

No, no, no, and no.

He blamed the Legislature, the Bush administration, Congress, anti-immigrant fear mongering, and hyper-partisanship.

“Even if I could convince the public of the utility of our cause,” Mr. Spitzer spun, “the legislative process and any number of mounting obstacles would have prevented us from moving forward. The result would have been the defeat of this proposal and, even worse, a roadblock to solutions on so many important issues.”

And there was a swipe, too, at President Bush: “The federal government has lost control of its borders, has allowed millions of undocumented immigrants to enter our country, and now has no solution to deal with it … A consequence of the federal failure is that Americans and New Yorkers are demanding a comprehensive solution.”

And in victory, did the Senate Republican leader, Joseph Bruno, acknowledge that Mr. Spitzer thoughtfully reconsidered his view, as Mr. Bruno has demanded since September? Given the chance to open the door and partner — one of Mr. Bruno’s favorite verbs — with Mr. Spitzer, Mr. Bruno was Mr. Bruno. He said Mr. Spitzer’s decision was “recognition that we were prepared to stop any effort to allow such an ill-conceived and wrong-headed plan to go forward.”

Mr. Bruno, by the way, initially favored much of that ill-conceived and wrong-headed plan before CNN’s Lou Dobbs, polls, and Republican strategists started shredding Mr. Spitzer.

Yet Senate Republicans may never have lost so much in winning.

Mr. Bruno has long pegged next year’s elections on a strategy of keeping a Republican check and balance on a government otherwise fully controlled by Democrats. The specter of Osama bin Laden toasting Mr. Spitzer’s license plan — one of the more hyperbolic charges leveled by the governor’s opponents — was their best weapon. Never mind that it is New York voters who have steadily cut into the GOP majority — now at a precarious two seats.

So now the Republican Senate can’t gridlock government by claiming they are fighting the good fight against terrorists who like to drive. Now Mr. Bruno is left without his best political cover in his personal fight with Mr. Spitzer. He’ll mostly be left with the same complaint he’s made since July that Mr. Spitzer sicced state police on him to monitor his use of state aircraft on days he attended GOP fundraisers.

There are no true policy arguments to make because Mr. Bruno and Mr. Spitzer have stalled them all since that scandal broke in July. No new property tax cut for older New Yorkers. No change, despite an agreement last spring, in a law that increases public construction costs. No plan to run thoroughbred racing for the next 30 years. No deal on $900 million in capital projects to jump start local economies. No campaign finance reform. No overdue raises for state judges.

They may, however, get another chance in the traditional — though yet unscheduled — December special legislative session. But the most recent session, in October, was spectacularly unspecial, as the Legislature crowned the nation’s most dysfunctional lived down to expectations.

As he backpedaled last week, Mr. Spitzer said: “Leadership is not solely about doing what one thinks is right. Leadership is also about listening to the public, responding to their concerns, and knowing when to put aside a single divisive issue in favor of a larger agenda.”

But maybe leadership is also about one thing more: Remembering whom that agenda is supposed to serve.