Had I ignored the lessons from 2005, had I chosen to whine about the outcome of the special election, had I vilified my opponents instead of defying political convention and taking responsibility for my policy failures, there’s very little chance that any of this stuff gets done and there’s no chance in hell that I get reelected a year later. It’s not an exaggeration to say that these successes I was fortunate enough to enjoy were the direct result of learning from failure.
