LARRY KUDLOW SAYS IT’S A DREARY POLITICAL SPRING for small-government types:

Which leads us to a difficult question: Is the White House and its congressional allies selling policy reforms that voters simply are not buying? The seemingly more popular issue of tax reform is not even on the table. But will tax-reform commissioners Connie Mack and John Breaux ever get their proposals to see the light of day in the current obstructionist congressional climate? . . .

All senators have dirt on their hands these days. The Senate, if you can believe it, just delivered a budget-busting pork-laden $295 billion highway bill, featuring several thousand special-interest earmarks and a phony tax-transfer from general revenues to the trust fund. Where was the allegedly conservative Republican-controlled Senate? This bill was voted through 89 to 11, opening the door for President Bush’s very first veto.

Oh, and let’s not forget a potential trade and currency war with China and perhaps Europe as well. But at least this is backed by a bipartisan coalition anchored by Sen. Smoot Schumer and Sen. Hawley Graham.

Well, that’s cheerful. But he’s basically right. And I hope Bush vetoes the highway bill, but I’m not counting on it.