When Barack Obama was elected back in 2008, he had already laid the foundation for a brutal first year and put his own agenda in peril.<\/p>\n
How? By picking Joe Biden as his vice presidential running mate and stripping his party of an easy “hold” in the 2010 Senate race.<\/p>\n
As a sitting US Senator himself, Obama’s own election had already put one Democratic seat in play. He can hardly be faulted for that.<\/p>\n
But the president-elect wasn’t done. <\/p>\n
Before his cabinet was locked in, Mr. Obama would also “pick off” Ken Salazar and Hillary Rodham Clinton.<\/p>\n
In all, four of the most powerful and confident Democratic Senators had been taken out of play.<\/p>\n
Imagine how the health care debate might have fared differently, with Senators Biden and Clinton championing the Democratic reform effort?<\/p>\n
(Imagine, too, if Rahm Emanuel, Mr. Obama’s Chief of staff, had remained in the House, serving as one of the Democrats’ ranking leaders.)<\/p>\n
Before the dust settles, Republicans could well pick up all four of these Senate seats: Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, and New York.<\/p>\n
Was it smart for the President to weaken his own party’s congressional majority just as he was launching one of the most ambitious legislative agenda’s of the last quarter century?<\/p>\n
Mr. Obama may have been convinced that these were the only possible choices to round out his cabinet.<\/p>\n
But in hindsight, it may also prove to have been an incredible act of hubris.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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