Back in Little League, I used to think I was a pretty good baseball player. I hit a bunch of home runs and thought I could play in the majors'until about seventh grade. That's when I stepped to the plate against a pitcher from Warren Jr. High School who could throw a curveball. His first pitch appeared to be coming straight for my head. I hit the dirt and then peeked up just in time to see the ball break perfectly over the plate. Humbling! The umpire called it a strike, a bunch of Warren players laughed at me, and I would eventually go on to become one of those writers who uses too many sports analogies. Embarrassing as that was, the decisiveness of my defeat dealt a fast end to my delusional diamond dreams. I never learned to hit a curveball but did take a tidy lesson from the experience: When life offers clarity, take the gift. If nothing else, the party's electoral battering last week should provide a clarity that Democrats clearly lacked before. They were shocked by the results....
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