Let me take this time to let you guys know how bad 2014 is going to be:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_elections,_2014. Not only will Democrats have to defend 20 seats to the Republicans 13, many of those seats will be in conservative strongholds.
Alaska - Mark Begich
Arkansas - Mark Pryor
Colorado - Mark Udall
Louisiana - Mary Landrieu
Montana - Max Baucus
North Carolina - Kay Hagan
South Dakota - Tim Johnson
Virginia - Mark Warner
West Virginia - Jay Rockefeller
Republicans only have to protect Susan Collins in Maine. Also there is the fact that every modern President has lost seats in Congress during the midterms:
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/data/mid-term_elections.php. Whatever Obama is going to do; he better do it within the next two years.