Democrats need to stop this "from the middle" bullshit. If they really wanted to govern progressively but please the republican crowds, they are better off compromising on lower taxes(which would cost us less than those many bailouts) than compromising on real progressive issues. For some reason, Democrats like to hold firm on taxes and overspending, but compromise on everything else.

Isnt it amazing that Democrats could not use any leverage during the Bush early years despite having 40+ seats? Democrats are freaking cowards. I hope Obama is just doing this for politics and he is planning some serious takedowns behind the scenes.

By the way, that 60 seat thing was always bullshit. The DEmocrats would have needed to be superaggressive to even have a good chance of winning the GA seat. DEmocrats used the 60 seat canard to find an excuse to rehab Lieberman. No one with any common sense thought that Jim Martin had a good chance of winning.

Martin's best chance was Nov 4. Once that was over, he had little chance. There were just too many pissed off Republicans here locally and a lot of happy Democrats who were glad to see Obama win.  

How much of surplus money made it to Martin's campaign? Saxby was blasting Martin overwhelmingly when it came to TV ads.

There was never a 60 with or without Lieberman. It was just a slogan. And even with a 60, do you seriously think the Lieberman would have fallen in line on the important national security related issues?

Obama has something Bush never had -- a mandate.  He'll do what he thinks is best for the country.  I'm always comfortable when we have a Democratic president that they have our best interests at heart.  Haven't felt that way about a Republican since Eisenhower.

will not have 60 seats thus in order for Obama to get legislation passed the legislation would have to be from the center.

But the reality is that the number of 60 is really a myth.  There will be some Dems who won't vote for Obama's legislation while there will be some Repubs that will depending upon the legislation.

A point that is raised on sites like this one and DKos, but never in the press, is how the Republicans completely abused the filibuster during their two years in the minority. They have somehow convinced everyone that you need 60 votes to pass any legislation in the Senate. Which is hogwash!

If you want a quick comparison of what the Republican party was, compared to what it is now, look no farther than their Senate leaders. Starting in the 50s, you had Dirkson (IL), followed by Scott (PA), and then Howard Baker (TN). They were all men of character. More recently we've had the buffoon Lott, the detestable Frist, and the downright despicable McConnell. I'm already seething with what I anticipate to be a totally obstructionist attitude from the McConnell.

The nation has spoken. It's time that democratic principles once again take hold and a recalcitrant minority is not allowed to hold hostage our only chance for getting out of the morass that they created.

Time will tell what Obama's strategy is with his cabinet appointments but at this juncture I am sticking to my feeling that he is doing his "centrist" thing because he believes that this is how he got elected and he is trying to put his money where his mouth is. For any of us to pretend that because he won the election there is no residual "fear of the unknown" factor with him would be foolish. He must I feel come into office with as much of the country behind him as possible. IF that means leaning his cabinet a little further rightward than he might have otherwise I am personally OK with that. Others may disagree but I am desperate for him to succeed legislatively and am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt at this point.

On Gergen's point, I saw this last night and laughed out loud when he said it. Chambliss' victory means nothing of the sort. For anyone to suggest that an incumbent Republican having to go to a run off to win his seat means that the Democrats have to move to the center to counter is ludicrous.

The sad thing is Gergen is one of the more sensible Republicans out there on the air.  Wouldn't it be nice if instead some pundits cited public opinion polls to warn Republicans they better not obstruct the people's will any more?