History

Matt Yglesias HERE seems to be surprisingly naive.

I’m sort of intrigued by the psychology of members of congress who’re positioning themselves on the wrong side of history here. Does anybody think that in the year 2050 it will be illegal for gay and lesbian individuals to serve openly in the United States military?

We've arranged things so that a handful of Congressmen have a huge amount of power in their hands, so of course they're going to milk that power over and over for all it's worth. Meanwhile, are we supposed to believe that they'll never change their votes once this power has been fully milked? Of course. In todays "every moment is an election cycle!!" style of politics, do we see 5 minutes go by without some Congressman reversing his or herself on any given issue simply because it fits his or her needs for the next, oh, three minutes?

People like Snowe and Collins will squeeze this issue for their own benefit for all it's worth while kicking it down the road over and over until the time comes when they have no more leverage, after which they'll finally change their votes and then spend the rest of their days patting themselves on the back for "changing history," with exactly nobody remembering that they were, at one time, on the wrong side of that very history.