The Best You're Gonna Get

Michael Mukasey, President Bush's nominee for attorney general, is far from perfect.

And there are many people out there who are more qualified, more experienced and possess better legal minds.

But Mukasey is, in the words of Sen. Charles Schumer, "far better than anyone could expect from this administration." Or, in Sen. Dianne Feinstein's blunt observation, Mukasey is "not Alberto Gonzales." And that has a lot going for it.

This president has about 14 months left in office. And when you consider the people who have occupied the attorney general's office during Bush's tenure, Mukasey truly is as good as it gets.

If Mukasey is turned back, Bush will simply nominate someone more objectionable to Democrats.

So I would recommend to the Democrats in the Senate that, whatever their misgivings over Mukasey may be -- and there are plenty of misgivings to have -- it's best to avoid a showdown with Bush over this.

Let him have this choice for attorney general, live with the aspects with which you're uncomfortable and save your fights for the more important, longer lasting matters.

In a little over a year, Bush will be on his way back to Texas, and someone else will be preparing to move in to the White House. But policy decisions will have ramifications that can -- and probably will -- carry over into the next president's administration.

Learn from Bush's mistake. He squandered his "political capital" and had nothing left when a real crisis (Hurricane Katrina) came along.

It's essential that the Democrats in Congress hold on to whatever "capital" they still have -- in case a Supreme Court opening comes up or SCHIP is voted on again or something like that.

Drawing a line in the dirt over this will only make it more difficult to accomplish anything of substance between now and the next election.

In the last 14 months of a president's administration, you have to control the agenda or it will control you.