PD: First, you could just as easily say "A GOP-controlled House had never extended unemployment insurance with a Democrat in the White House" and still be factually correct. Or "Republicans had never extended unemployment for more than 26 weeks".
If, at this point in the game, Obama started calling Republican "bluffs" because he thought Republicans would treat the legislative process the same with him in office as they did with Bush, it would be a huge, dumb, unconscionable disaster. That was basically the biggest blunder during the stimulus bill (assuming Congress would pad it with extra pork, rather than start wringing its hands over the deficit).
It's one thing to point out how Republicans are acting hypocritical or ignoring the old rules as a rhetorical tactic. It's another thing to expect this to either shame them into responsible behavior or to reveal their secret, reasonable, generous selves.
Basically, we're yelling "Hey, that's not how things are meant to work! That's not how it's always been done!" and then they're shrugging their shoulders. Norms change, or rather people change norms. You wind up facing the first federal government shutdown, the first impeachment since Reconstruction (about a blowjob!), the complete reinvention of the filibuster, and the whole array of tactics deployed by Tom Delay.
This Congress is not and was not going to spend billions of dollars trying to ease the pain of the jobless without extracting some concessions on behalf of wealthy folks and/or rightwing ideologues, regardless of whether or not another Congress did so for another president.
PS I'm like the old dude yelling at kids that they don't understand why Kobe and LeBron aren't even close to being MJ. The '94 freshmen class is totally underrated, because we're exposed to the current craziness every day. Well lemme tell you kids, back in my day they shut down the government and impeached the fucking president. Over a fucking blowjob! Half their supporters thought Clinton was a literal murderer!
