2010 vs. 1994

This article first appeared on Jan 25, 2010.

This from Politico.com.
 
U.S. Representative Marion Berry (D-AR) is one of the current Democratic officeholders who has announced that he will not run for re-election in 2010.  With the recent election of Scott Brown (R-MA) to the U.S. Senate and the political makeup of his district (which in the last three Presidential election cycles voted for Bush twice & McCain), this likely represents a case of another Democrat who will choose to leave office willingly instead of being swept from his office by the upcoming November Tsunami.
 
Interestingly, the story also quotes statements attributed to President Obama when discussing their political agenda and the current political climate.  For Representative Berry who (according to his own history): "…had already seen this movie and we didn’t want to see it again because we know how it comes out", the response which they received dripped sacastically with arrogance of universal scale!  One can only wonder the unbelieving stares that the President got in response to this retort: "Well, the big difference here and in ’94 was you’ve got me". 
 
Honestly, the President could be correct; only in a matter completely opposite to what he meant!  In 1994, Democrats lost control of the both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, but kept numbers that could frustrate and delay (if not completely block) some attempted Republican policy initatives.  Frankly, if Democrats could lose a U.S. Senate seat in uber-Blue State Massachusetts in a race pitting the sitting State Attorney General against a moderately-known State Senator, the true political liabilities and risks faced by Democrats could be monumental.  They likely face a situation where they can hope to gain little and are (right now) at-risk on many seats nationally that no one would have deemed competitive six-to-twelve months ago.  
 
Remember: Hope never Changed anything; Action always does and it is time that we begin taking it!