Electoral expectations game

publius writes:

Frankly, the country would be better off if Dems were 100% certain that they would lose seats in 2010. That would light a fire to get this stuff done -- and would convince the "centrists" to quit being so wankerous.

It seems to me that publius is mistaken in his assumption that most people think the Democratic agenda--this stuff he wants to "get done"--are Good Ideas with net pluses across the board. Many aren't so convinced. In particular, centrists. If Democrats were 100% sure they were losing seats in 2010, I'd expect centrists to be more "wankerous". It's only under the expectation of further Democratic hegemony that centrists have a strong incentive to go with the progressive flow despite their misgivings.