Who doesn’t love a duck?

First, there was “The Ugly Duckling,” the fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen that tells the story of an unappealing little bird who gets bullied about the barnyard by the other animals.

“Ugly” eventually morphs into a beautiful swan, much to the surprise and dismay of his tormentors.

Then there’s the little mallard family perpetually making its way across the western edge of the Boston Common. The 1941 children’s book, “Make Way for Ducklings,” tells their heartwarming story.

Finally, of course, there is Donald Duck, the sputtering duck of cartoon fame in his trademark sailor suit, cap and bow tie.

All of which contrast sharply with another “lame duck,” any group of politicians who have been swept from office but still exercise power while awaiting their successors.

The 111th U.S. Congress is winding down and, while technically “lame,” it is poised to pass some major legislation.

Last week, Congress passed a hotly contested two-year renewal of the Bush-era tax cuts, an ugly duckling of a bill that gave everyone what they wanted but seemed to make no one happy.

The poor got tax breaks. The rich got breaks. All wage-slaves got a 2 percent reduction in their Social Security taxes for one year. Even the dead caught a break — a reduction in the estate tax.

No one seemed to feel good about the compromise, which will accelerate the national debt problem and could set a bad precedent of messing with Social Security tax rates.

Then Congress tried to pass a pork-laden spending bill, the same sort of bill it passes year after bill.

While earmarks are only a small part of federal spending, they are extremely unpopular with the voting public. Even as they swore off earmarks for next year, members of Congress loaded this bill up with millions in extra spending.

Members became frightened by a mounting public backlash, however, and the spending bill failed.

The lame duck Congress is now poised to approve a nuclear missile treaty and end the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for gays in the military.

Whatever happens, this will be far from the worst lame-duck Congress ever.

According to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, indecision by lame-duck President James Buchanan had a disastrous effect.

Buchanan, awaiting his elected successor Abraham Lincoln, expressed his belief that it was illegal for states to secede, but that the federal government couldn’t do anything to stop them.

Seizing the opportunity, six states seceded, setting in motion the events that led to the Civil War.

While Democrats and Republicans are at each other’s throats, civil war seems unlikely to break out.

Franklin D. Roosevelt refused to meet with Herbert Hoover to deal with the mounting economic crisis in 1932.

“During this period of essentially leaderless government,” according to Wikipedia, “the U.S. economy ground to a halt as thousands of banks failed.”

Interestingly, Roosevelt was accusing Hoover of spending too much federal money during the Depression. Today, FDR is known as the grandfather of big government and social-program spending.

At least our current lame-duck Congress has acted decisively to keep our recovery rolling.

While ducks come in various forms — ugly, heartwarming and lame — our current crop of politicians on crutches could be worse.