The last three weeks have likely proven the old, "be careful what you wish for" adage for President Obama. But the White House is his, as is the wrecked economy. But there's a modicum of hope seen on that front, as his administration and the Congress finally lurched over the finish line with the stimulus bill. There's some lessons for the new president in that, too.

Take the example of Idaho, since one of Vice President Biden's job duties took him there this week in a visit to Boise to celebrate the Special Olympics with the city, and to spread and receive some local good cheer and good will. He endeared himself to long-time Idaho Democrats with this, from the e-mailed pool report:

Biden said he was grateful to the late-Sen. Frank Church, D-Idaho, and his widow, Bethine, who was on hand Thursday to see  Biden at Boise State University.

Biden told the story of his being elected at age 29, only to have his wife and daughter killed in an auto accident. Church took an interest in Biden because he had been elected at age 32. A top Church aide, Cleve Corlett, later worked for Biden.

"Frank was a gigantic help to me,² Biden said. After the accident, Biden said, "I didn't want to come--my brother contacted the governor to get a replacement for me."

But he said the Churches were among a handful of people in Washington "that literally took me by the hand and said, 'Look, just stay six months, just hang in.' And look what happened, 36 years later I'm still hanging around. I owe them a lot."

But then the reporters got down to the business of the week.

Asked whether Idaho might get a smaller share of the stimulus package because the entire congressional delegation and Gov. Butch Otter  oppose the president's plan, Biden said:

"No. And I think you'll find they'll love it when they start turning spades and building roads and making sure the infrastructure gets built. Let me put it this way: I'll be surprised if those who say they (don't) like it don't use it. I'll be surprised."

That's the heart of the issue right there for Obama and team--providing largesse to the states, their hands being bitten all the while. Idaho's people have a lot to gain in the legislation that will likely be passed today, regardless of the political obstructionist games played by the state's entire delegation, including its one nominally Democratic House member, Walt Minnick. There are benefits for Idaho to the tune of 18,000 jobs. Idaho is hurting as much as any state in the region, excepting Nevada. It had the third-greatest year-to-year percentage increase in unemployment among the 50 states, seeing its unemployment rate more than double in 2008, rising from 2.8 percent in January to 6.4 percent in December. Nearly 50,000 people in Idaho were looking for jobs. Chances are, Idaho's politicians are going to happily accept this help from the feds, then turn around and complain that they got just 18,000 jobs when they need 50,000.

Which at least has provided an important lesson for our new president, if this Rahm Emanuel admission is to be believed.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel conceded President Barack Obama and his team lost control of the message for selling their massive stimulus bill last week, fixating on bipartisanship while Republicans were savaging the legislation....

Mr. Emanuel owned up to one mistake: message. What he called the outside game slipped away from the White House last week, when the president and others stressed bipartisanship rather than job creation as they moved toward passing the measure. White House officials allowed an insatiable desire in Washington for bipartisanship to cloud the economic message a point coming clear in a study being conducted on what went wrong and what went right with the package, he said.

So it would seem the Republicans and their all-too willing accomplices among the Blue Dog Democrats have now thoroughly convinced Mr. Obama and team that the opposition is neither particularly loyal, nor willing to cooperate, even when the stakes are as high as they are right now.

This was made particularly clear in the Senate. Worshipping at the altar of bipartisanship, and with the full encouragement of the White House, somehow Nebraska "Democrat" Ben Nelson decided that the only way to get Republicans on board was to give them their precious tax cuts. That in the face of ample evidence, three decades worth of failed experimentation, that an economic policy of nothing but tax cuts for wealthy people isn't any way to run an effective government. Hence the crisis we're in now. Of course, the blame can't be laid entirely on the failure of the philosophy of tax cutting our way to unheard of wealth for the few. It also has a lot to do with the soon-to-be $2 trillion war of choice the Republicans and conservative Democrats were so happy to get us into back in 2003.

The lesson gains in importance as the realization sinks in that this bill probably doesn't have the economic punch required, and more is going to have to be done. This package could create as many as 2.5 million jobs, mostly in the private sector, by the end of 2010. We need 4 million to close the gap and get the economy running at healthy levels again.

But a healthy economy under a Democratic president is the last thing the retrenched Republicans need going into the next election cycle, and they're going to continue to do everything in their power to sabotage Obama, even if it means fiddling while the country burns. It's good that this was the first lesson Obama got out of the gate. He's a smart man, and unlikely to make the mistake of thinking Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats negotiate with good faith again. That realization is going to be just as important to the impending debates over health care and, inevitably, entitlement reform.