Is this the end?

In the past few days, there has been headline after headline about Senior Democrats retiring from their positions. Democratic Sen. Dodd of Connecticut, Democratic Sen. Dorgan of North Dakota, and Colorado's Democratic governor Bill Ritter have all decided against seeking re-election this year. This string of retirements comes as a shock to many people who saw the sweeping victory of the Democrats in the 2008 election as an indication of the party's strength. Now, it seems that the party can't hold up against the pressure. Because of all the Democrats retiring, the GOP is now trying to argue that the electorate "is turning in their favor". No offense, but I think it's a little early to be jumping to conclusions like that.

The GOP are also pretty happy with the way things are turning out as a result of the stimulus package and the economic state of the nation in general. Even though the public approval ratings for the Democrats have been steadily going down, the electorate haven't immediately thrown their support behind the Republicans. I think that the People are waiting to see what happens. They remember what a Republican White House did, and although they aren't quite happy with the new White House, they aren't ready to go back to what we used to have.

Although there are quite a few Democrats retiring this year, there are more Republicans leaving than Democrats. "Democrats noted Wednesday that there are more Republicans than Democrats retiring fromthe Senate and House...Fourteen GOP House members are retiring, compared with 11 Democrats."

One of the major reasons that Democrats are freaking out about all these retirements is that it threatens their 60-seat majority in the Senate. This majority allow the Democrats to overcome Republican filibusters, which we learned can hold up (and eventually kill) a bill before it can be signed into law. It's sad to see how polarized our government is; no wonder nothing ever gets done! In all seriousness, though, I think the number of senior Senators retiring this year is a bit abnormal because most of them would probably be re-elected since they are the incumbents. Still, sometimes you just have to know when to call it quits and let someone else take over.