Yes impressive. However, impressive does not automatically equate to intelligence. At 16 I could draw the entire periodic table (chemisty) from memory - I have no illusion that equated to my intelligence, just the ability to place the correct letter sequences into the correct box.

Al Franken may be intelligent, but his ability to draw the US map from memory neither proves nor disproves this.

The progressive movement has made Congress do some great things.

On health care reform, we didn’t get everything we wanted. But we did expand coverage to 32 million more people. And we did get a medical loss ratio, a provision I authored which requires that insurance companies spend at least 85 cents out of every premium dollar on health care. That leaves them just 15 cents for administrative costs and executive salaries and marketing and profits.

On Wall Street reform, we didn’t get everything we wanted. But we did get a Volcker rule, and an open exchange for trading derivatives, and an independent bureau of consumer financial protection.

These bills were better because you made us make them better.

But I agree that we haven’t won nearly enough.

And I know that many progressives are frustrated – not just because we haven’t gotten as far as we thought we would, but because it sometimes feels like not everybody in our Party is pushing forward at the same pace.

We have a lot of Democratic votes in Congress. And that’s a good thing. But we don’t have enough progressive votes to pass the agenda you and I want.

And I’m not satisfied with how far we’ve come.

And I’m not alone.

Sherrod Brown isn’t satisfied. Sheldon Whitehouse isn’t satisfied. Tom Udall isn’t satisfied. Jeff Merkley isn’t satisfied. Bernie Sanders is extremely dissatisfied.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that most of the members of our Coalition of the Impatient have joined the Senate since the netroots became a political force to be reckoned with.

We wouldn’t be Senators without your support, and without the inspiration and motivation we draw from this community, we wouldn’t be the kind of Senators we are.

We need you to send us more Senators like Sherrod and Sheldon and Tom and Jeff and Bernie.

And that’s why, no matter how frustrated you are, you can’t check out now.

It only took a few years for the progressive movement to establish a foothold in Congress, but it’s going to take a little longer for us to have enough votes to pass the agenda you and I want.

I’m not going to tell you to be patient. That would be hypocritical. Because I’m not patient, either.

But while we’re shaking our heads at the things we didn’t get, Republicans are making plans for taking back the things we did get.

And we cannot let that happen.