Thing is, there's no reason the US should ever have the Republicans in power in the first place so maybe if people actually took the time to realise their vote matters and that politicians have power, they would go out and make sure it's people that will actually improve their lives who get in power instead of going on the internet and say "Politicians don't do anything, it's done unknown person hiding in the shadows who make decisions."

They effectively had a 60-seat senate majority for only 3 months at the end of 2009. They had three months prior to that but had two seriously Ill Senators, Kennedy and Byrd, who were unavailable for votes. Even when they had 60, Byrd was barely available.

The real failure is that Obama ran an inspirational campaign in 2008, then turned to milquetoast centrism the second he took office. That led to suppressed voter enthusiasm and the Democrats got clobbered in the 2010 midterms.