Yes, this would be my preferred strategy but it was defeated by the defection of the moderate Dems, who like the filibuster for the same reason the moderate Republicans like it. In fact, the filibuster has always been the tool of "bipartisan" dominance of the Senate by wheeler-dealer moderates who continually defeat accountable government.
One reason we have such a bizarre public debate on politics in this country is that no party every really has partisan control of the national government. The GOP is close but they still are able to tell their religious right suppporters that the "liberals" are still blocking them, playing the backlash card continually as Tom Frank discussed in his Whats the Matter with Kansas.
I was really hoping that both sides would stick it out and the moderates wouldn't be able to cut a deal. It sucks that they did. But that's not the fault of "the Democrats" but of that specific group of swing Senators on both sides.
Nathan Newman