Originally Posted by kane

I have a feeling those first few years the democrats felt like they were going to be in power for a while. They had swept into office and there was a strong anti-republican feel in the nation.

The super-majority didn't stop the republicans from filibustering. From 2007-the first few months of 2010 there were at least 142 filibusters and votes for cloture. The democrats had the 60 votes to pass things, but since there were actually 58 democrats and 2 independents it was't a 100% guaranteed thing that they could get 60 votes on ever bill. not to mention the stalling tactics the republicans used in the house to delay things.

To me both parties during that time laid down a blueprint on how to cause problems for the other party. The republicans showed that if you are the minority and you just adopt the "Say no to everything" attitude you can be rewarded during the election. The democrats showed that there are ways to get around the filibuster and stall tactics so you can still do what you want. Both of those plans can come back to bite you if the roles are reversed.

I won't be shocked to see the democrats trying to block anything and everything republican based over the next two years and I won't be shocked to see the republicans use some of the same tactics they slammed the democrats for using to get around it.