Just about right

I think that Barry at Alas nails the problem here:

The big mistake the Democrats, and most of the left, made was to believe that by winning elections we will change the country.

Just the opposite is true. It is only by changing the country that we will win elections.

It's time to stop playing to the imaginary middle and start redrawing the playing field. We need some real leaders willing to lead, to explain the ideas and values of the left that have sat for so long on the shelf that their vocabulary no longer resonates in the country. It needs to happen at federal but also local levels, so that these ideas become familiar and can't be labelled as "radical" when they come up in quadrennial campaigns. The American people agree with many of our principles, and are open to many of the others, so they should be easy to innoculate against the simple vilification of progressive candidates. We should be winning the culture wars, not running away from them!

Let's hope that the Democratic party does more than just licks its wounds, but learns something from the last few years . . .