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By Paul Waldman November 6 at 12:21 PM

There are two phrases that have been on everyones lips in Washington since Tuesday night. Republicans now need to show they can govern, because everyone wants to get things done. Republican leaders, the New York Times tells us, are eager to demonstrate that they can get things done. President Obama has expressed optimism that GOP leaders want to find some common ground, adding that we want to get things done. Vice President Joe Biden opined that Republicans are going to choose to get things done. One winning candidate after another repeated the mantra: now we can really start getting things done.

Let me go out on a limb here and say that Mitch McConnell is not hoping to create a sparkling new era of bipartisan cooperation. He knows that the things he and his colleagues would really like to do are impossible so long as theres a Democratic president with a veto pen. That means what he does in the next two years is all about making it more likely that 2016 sees the GOP hold on to its majority in the Senate (the House is almost a given) and a Republican wins the White House.

Control of both houses doesnt mean Republicans have to show they can govern. It means they have new ways at their disposal to get credit for trying to govern, even if they know they wont actually get much done, which, as it happens, is an outcome they may not mind that much.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), in line to be the next majority leader, said voters expect newly empowered Republicans and the White House to find common ground for action. (AP)

Yesterday the conservative National Review published an editorial on what they called the governing trap. Republicans, they counseled, shouldnt even bother trying to govern in the next two years. Instead, they should continue to obstruct President Obama and lay out an agenda they can run on in 2016, because not much progress is possible until we have a better president. Getting one ought to be conservatisms main political goal over the next two years.

While it may be unusually forthright, this isnt bad advice, politically speaking. After all, following the path of obstruction instead of governing has worked out pretty darn well for Republicans over the last six years. When Barack Obama took office, Democrats controlled both houses of Congress; now Republicans do.

Still, now that they have both houses of Congress, they have to adapt to a new atmosphere in which theyll be judged more directly on whether they do actually govern and get stuff done. To that end, Boehner and McConnell published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal saying, The skeptics say nothing will be accomplished in the next two years. As elected servants of the people, we will make it our job to prove the skeptics wrong.

The Republicans now face a few different audiences when they consider what, and how much, they should get done. They have to please their base, they have to avoid alienating the broader electorate, and they have to present a story to the media that explains why theyre not the problem in Washington.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) outlined his priorities at a news conference following the midterm elections that swept many Republicans into Congress. He said the president "needs to put politics aside" in dealing with Republican lawmakers. (AP)

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Sargent: No, Republicans dont actually need to show they can govern