It was only about a year ago. Do you remember it? Apparently, nobody else does either. That might have something to do with the fact that Democrats didn't seem to think it important to remind people about it, in order to try to hold Republicans accountable. (Or about the fact that the economy is in dramatically better shape today than it was six years ago. Or, the fact that it's now illegal for unscrupulous health insurers to deny coverage due to preexisting conditions or to hide annual or lifetime caps on coverage in policies.)
The stunning silence by the Democratic Party on the Republican government shutdown and so many other issues, constitutes nothing less than political malpractice, in my opinion.
That's one of my first thoughts about the election of 2014.
Some other things that come to mind, for what they may (or may not) be worth:
-If you think 2016 is going to be a cakewalk for Democrats, think again. Not only are Republicans one branch of government away from complete control of this country again, but the fact that Democrats will need to pick up a minimum of five seats to win control of the Senate back, means flipping the Senate back is probably not going to be the “no-brainer” that so many progressives have been claiming. (Especially when you consider that there are only about four or five GOP Senate seats that even look competitive at this point, with one Democratic seat that will likely be hard to hold (Reid-NV)).
-Citizens United. If you think that Democrats have overcome the Republicans' advantage from Citizens United, we need to sit down and have a long talk. Republicans have had four years to perfect the use of unlimited amounts of corporate money, thanks to one of the most corrupt Supreme Courts in American history. And it appears that they are getting better and better at doing just that.
-The Bannock Street Project. What's up with that? Unprecedented amounts of time, energy, effort and resources, including money, was spent in trying to help Democrats overcome their non-presidential election year turnout problems. It appears that the Bannock Street Project was...irrelevant, in the final analysis.
-Why does it seem that Republicans are never held accountable for anything, while Democrats are held responsible for virtually anything and everything that's ever gone bad in the world? In exchange for Republicans' shameless obstructionism against President Obama, they were rewarded with the House in 2010. In exchange for a government shutdown, they were rewarded with the Senate in 2014. What will they be rewarded with in 2016 for hyper-obstructionism that is surely inevitable?
-It looks like yet another Southern state has finished its final conversion into deep red status. Arkansas, which has been much slower than other Southern states in its evolution, seems to have officially gone to the other side, so to speak. For the first time ever, Republicans now hold all major statewide and federal offices.
My advice to my fellow Democrats: Put on your armor, things may get a lot worse for us Democrats before they start getting better.
Usually, there are silver linings in virtually every scenario. It's hard to find any in Tuesday's election results.