Snatching Defeat from the jaws of victory

Let's review the situation:
1) The senate has passed HRC
2) Al the house needs to do is bounce it back, and viola! HRC is a fact.

But, it seems somewhat certain that this will not occur. Why? Because our elected officials are, to a certain extent, cowards.

This, however, is not their fault, it is, fundementally, the broader leftist movement's fault.

One of the broader frustions I have been developing over the last year is seeing how the two political sections of the country handle their present circumstances.

During the Bush years, conservatives pulled together, they didn't take their eye off the ball. Sure, they didn't get all of what they wanted, but they moved closer in just about every respect. The neocons got their wars. The fundies got lots of money, some anti-gay marriage laws, two supreme court justices willing to hollow out Roe, and judges in the lower courts friendly to their view of the world. The corporate world got their tax breaks, and so on.

During these years, the left was very angry, but it took them something like 6 years to get into gear and really fight like they meant it.

Come 2008, the national disaster this led to elected a democrat into office.

The left started to get its own goodies, the largest direct government stimulus since the great society and within inches of passing HRC, not to mention a supreme court justice, and lots of little things to be happy about besides.  What do we do? Start infighting, going in different directions, sniping at each other, and so on.

Meanwhile, the republicans get to work. They instantly get angry, they work hard. Within a year, its like Bush never happened.

I'm not sure things will change until the left decides it actually wants to win this game.