Matt Yglesias has a post today that probably should be tacked on the wall of every elected official- reminding them that their job is to accomplish something, not to stick around forever:
But that’s okay—it’s not the job of an elected official to lurk around in office forever and ever. The job of an elected official is to do things. Hopefully things that make the world a better place. Winning an election is an opportunity. Not an opportunity run for election again—you can run again if you lose—but an opportunity to change the world. Look up any former legislature in the history books or on Wikipedia or what have you and you’ll see that he or she is remembered (or not) for his or her accomplishments (or lack thereof). Everyone leaves congress sooner or later, maybe in defeat or maybe in a coffin, but what ultimately matters is not how long you stay but what you leave behind.
This is particularly important for folks in tough seats like Blanche Lincoln and co. - the demographics of the southern electorate are changing, and it's going to be increasingly tough to get elected as a Democrat. To keep these seats is probably going to require a series of increasing compromises and capitulations, until one day you have to think these folks are going to wake up and have trouble remembering what they were trying to do when they first got into politics.
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