“We’re going to have to really push the White House and the Senate,” Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said. “I think the greatest failing in this Congress was that the House … enabled the White House, and the White House was not always right.

“We’ve got to push them harder from our position,” he added, “to do what Democrats need and what’s expected by Democrats.”…

Under a reading of the election favored by many Democrats who backed Pelosi last week, the party was defeated in 2010 not by losing the middle, but by losing the left.

“The Republicans did not win this election. The Democrats lost it, because our base stayed home,” Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) said.