Back in 1994, Republicans swept both houses of Congress and shifted the balance of power back from Bill Clinton's leftward tilt. Their backlash was largely a result of Clinton's push for nationalized health care.
A lot of pundits are making all manner of comparisons between then and 2010, but, as I see it, the main distinction between then and now is that Bill Clinton was fundamentally a proponent of the free-market system, while Barack Obama is an opponent of it, seeking to impose government control over every single aspect of American life he disagrees with, a very long list indeed.