59 Senate Seats

That's how many the Democrats have, now that the Republicans seem to have won Ed Kennedy's seat.

The fact that they did lose, makes you wonder: Are the Democrats the suckiest party that ever did suck?

If that isn't true, then it shouldn't be too difficult for them to realize that even with only 59 seats in the Senate, that's far more than Bush ever had when he was doing lots of bad things.

But oh no, woe is the Democrats, those meenie weenie Republicans will threaten to talk at them a lot (filibuster) if they try and do anything that might be popular. So, it seems like a smarter idea not to do anything, or at least to propose really tiny changes that won't offend anybody.

The thinking goes, this might make them less likely to lost their seats in the general election this year. People will vote for the Democrats, as long as they don't propose changing anything, because people like how things are right now, right?

We'll see how that works. Or maybe they'll figure out that to actually stay in power, they have to do a bit more than give money to corporations and then whine about Republicans when people complain about how they aren't doing anything to help them.

I suspect they like power, most people do. They'll have to produce something at least marginally useful if they want The Historic Nobel Laureate Mr. Obama to last more than one lousy term.

I'm not optimistic they're smart enough to act in their own self interest. But, maybe they'll prove me wrong. The approach they take over the next little while, as this loss sinks in, will be a good indicator.