Today’s critical thinking exercise: Ask any individual who suggests President Obama had a “Supermajority” at his disposal for any portion of his administration exactly what that word means.
If, as it happens, that term does not apply to the Senate at the same time it applies to the House of Representatives, you can feel safe telling said persons to blow it out their asses if they can’t explain precisely what they mean by that.
I can tell you there was never—NEVER—a time in recent memory when the Democrats held such a thing. In fact, the last time Democrats held over 66 seats (the definition of a Supermajority that actually can affect change in the Senate) was from 1965-1967 (68 seats). Source: https://www.senate.gov/history/partydiv.htm.
Know what happened immediately after that?
Give you a clue. It involved an election.
Something about Southern Strategy and racism.
Also voting rights.
Take a dive into that world:
New Yorker Magazine: The Turning Point: The rise of police-state America.
New Yorker Magazine: The Time of Illusion
The Atlantic: Why did the South Turn Republican?
Funny, that. Just as the Democrats finally had the upper hand in everything, all the ones from Southern states suddenly switched to Republicans.
I was 16 (eventually) in 1979, the last time Democrats had a 60-seat majority in the Senate. Subsequent to then, there have only been two or three Congresses where there were as many as 57 Democrats, not enough to ignore a filibuster. What’s my source? That link up there, from the Senate website.
Also?
Ask them what cloture means. I bet they can’t answer the question. Tell them to look it up and get back to you when they can explain in detail what cloture means.
Here: ThoughtCo.: Cloture Definition — How to Break a Filibuster Using the U.S. Senate Rulebook
Quit blaming Democrats for failing to accomplish anything you want them to accomplish. You need to show up and vote, this year, to shove them out of office and you need to get LOUD when your Republican Secretary of State refuses to certify the election in the event a Democrat actually wins the race.
Quit bitching about what we can’t do and DO SOMETHING.