After the Triumph, the Tribulations

Actually running Congress may make winning it look like the easy part.

Herding cats. Pushing a string. Making yourself heard in a preschool where no one has had a nap. The analogies that have been used to describe what it's like to be in charge of Congress have always suggested that the titles Speaker of the House and Senate majority leader were someone's idea of a joke. But now that the high fives and jubilant photo ops are behind them, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have to run the place. Whether anything is actually accomplished on Capitol Hill over the next two years will depend largely on the skills these two leaders develop in maneuvering through the tricky challenges ahead.