IMHO people are somewhat timid recently.
I think there was shock that Obama could actually win, and what is happening now is a lack of confidence on how to beat the left.
The way to beat the left is to be more in-their-face and a bit less dignified. More Alinsky.
I was thinking about that when I saw a headline that told of SEIU members were registering people whose homes had been foreclosed. Made me realize that the radical left is always out there working, registering voters, setting up fraud, attacking conservatives, whatever they can think of to beat us, and we sit here and talk to each other. Until the Tea Party gets out and starts working again, we are going to continue to fall behind again. We're letting the Congress go back to a "do nothing" mode.