@Cycloptichorn,
I don't think your argument is entirely consistent with the facts.
While there is no doubt that Limbaugh's recent statement about hoping that Obama's policies fail was merely a (stupid in my view) bit of misleading sophistry designed to capture attention, it is also evident that liberals and Democrats really would like to silence him. One need only consider all the attention given to the ressurection of the so-called "fairness" doctrine in broadcasting.
Moreover, it is also a demonstrable fact that vulgar mockery of the opposition and unfair attempts at denigrating their characters & policies are more or less equal among the self-appointed spokesmen & advocates on the left and right in the public media. Bill Maher and Keith Oberman are Limbaugh's & Hannaty's equivalents on the left - they differ only in style and their relatively greater pretentions (as opposed to fact) of intellectual rigor.
There is no doubt that Democrat candidates in the Congress have been far more successful with the electorate than their Republican opponents lately - as you have repeatedly emphasized. Through most of the 1980s, 1990s and early in the Bush Administration the situation was largely reversed. Even during this period there were smaller swings in both directions. The point here is that this aspect of our political life is likely to remain dynamic - with continued swings in both directions. Historical patterns and the recent relative solidity of Republicans in Congress both strongly suggest that the next Congressional election will yield some reduction in Democrat majorities. Trends beyond that are hard to predict accurately, but reliable Democrat majorities are not likely to become a permanent feature of our political scene.
The President has some very tough issues before him, and there is no shortage of either fundamental contradictions or difficult trade-offs in the road ahead. He has already passed up a few significant opportunities to tame the excesses of his party - even in key areas in which he promised decisive reform. It won't get any easier to do these things: indeed one could well argue that he has let his best opportunity pass without taking action (this was one of Bush's central failings). His problem is that - even with today's majorities - he will need to tame these excesses in order to advance his objectives on health care, the economy, and other issues. Presidents of both parties get caught up in the accumulating compromises and errors that inevitably attend their actions, and Obama is demonstrating this already.
I don't want him to fail. However, I am not sufficiently confident I know where he really stands on some key issues. His lofty rhetoric promises a great deal, but the evident venality of appointed officials remains; the corruption in the Congress and its earmarked self-serving and wasteful appropriations continue. He has recently stated some confidence-inspiring positions on public education - but does he really mean them? He said similar things about eliminating lobbyists from his administration and stopping wasteful earmarks from Congressional appropriations. However, when the moments came we simply saw the same old ****.
