Recent plummeting congressional approval and confidence ratings have been spun by the right and left alike as a damning indictment of the ineffectiveness of the Democratic majority. The analysis ranges from "Democrats promised too much" to "Democrats are going to pay in '08." But what's been conspicuously absent from the discussion is what Democrats actually have achieved recently. So it was nice to see The LA Times editorial page go against the grain and heap some high praise on the Democrats in Congress.

FIRST GUN CONTROL, now fuel economy. Congressional Democrats still have a lot of work ahead to get their groundbreaking bills past both houses and the president's desk, but you can't say they're not leading a radical change in direction.

On June 13, the House passed what could become the first major gun-control law in a decade, a bill aimed at strengthening a federal database used in background checks for gun buyers. A week later, the Senate approved an energy bill that would improve mileage for the nation's automotive fleet for the first time in nearly 20 years.

The editorial makes an important distinction between the priorities of a congress led by Democrats vs. one led by Republicans.

Still, these measures would have been inconceivable while Republicans controlled both houses during the first six years of the Bush administration, a period characterized by the disgraceful decision to allow a decade-old assault weapons ban to expire in 2004 and successive energy bills focused on maximizing fossil fuel production at the expense of the environment.

The Times is not oblivious to their failures, of course, citing Iraq withdrawal and the immigration bill among them, and concedes that the energy bill is imperfect:

There was one sour note to last week's passage of the energy bill: An amendment that would have required the nation to get 15% of its electricity from renewable sources was defeated. Senate leaders should revive it in the future.

But says:

their surprising success in other areas is worthy of praise.

I have to say I'm still trying to get over the rightward-shifting L.A. Times editorial page using terms like "groundbreaking" and "radical change" to describe Democrats. There's even a flattering picture to go with it on the website. It's nice to see such a sharp tack away from the dominant narrative and hopefully more outlets will follow suit.

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