Political scientist Seth Masket explains:
[S]enators made the decision a few decades back that agenda time was simply too valuable to let a few filibustering senators hijack it. A truly effective filibuster could theoretically shut down the Senate for the rest of the year. Congressional Dems and the Obama administration actually want to get some other stuff passed this year while they still have a (large) majority... [A] true filibuster today probably wouldn't involve a whole lot of phone book-reading...Today, there are dozens of policy shops and hundreds of conservative writers who could generate days and days of material for filibustering Republicans to read. Fox would likely televise many of the speeches live and portray the filibuster as a great patriotic act. If anything, the Republicans would control the discussion during a filibuster more than they do now.
I'm not so sure. That kind of smug posturing while doing nothing seems to me like gasoline on a populist fire. Remember the government shut-down? It backfired. And part of me wonders whether GOP hubris is now overtaking Democratic fecklessness.