Word has not filtered to the U.S. Senate that Barack Obama is the dreamiest president ever. His budget could garner only 53 votes. On the “nay” side was the new “loyal Democrat,” Arlen Specter. (Are Pennsylvania Democrats yet wondering what’s in this for them?) Also “nay”: Sens. Byrd, Bayh, and (Ben) Nelson. So all Republicans and three conservative Democrats plus Specter voted against a $3.5 trillion budget at the height of the president’s popularity.

I suppose bipartisanship is not yet dead, but perhaps it is not what the president had in mind. And the vote count might make those red state Democrats who voted “yes” — including Conrad, Pryor, Lincoln, and Dorgan (the last two are up for reelection in 2010) — a tad nervous. After all, if Arlen Specter can stand up to his new party in the name of fiscal sobriety, why couldn’t they?