Reaching Closure

I've been watching the base closure committee hearings on C-SPAN this week. Two thoughts:

• This is government at its best, isn't it? You can say what you want about the whole process being the result of elected officials' inability to get beyond their parochial interests, but it's a process that really works. It provides fair, thorough, utterly serious and completely transparent consideration of all of the factors that come into play in undertaking the painfully necessary work of reducing defense infrastructure.
• It's funny to watch the politicians who were successful in getting the panel to change the Pentagon's recommendations to close bases in their states get up to crow about their victories afterward. Invariably, they declare that the commission didn't just do what they wanted, but made the "right decision for the country." Funny, I doubt they'd be saying that if the commission decided it was time for their base to shut down.