If the democrats survive a 2008 defeat...

[Beet]

Out of these... option 2 I guess.

[Beet]

These are all losing strategies, except for number 1 which is unpalatable to me. But the problem isn't ideology. Voters generally don't care that much about that, and in fact if you look at the polls the public is actually closer to our party than the GOP. The problem is incompetent, spineless leadership which doesn't really do anything to stop a few radical special interests from framing the debate (or worse indulges them). The Democrats are just the good cop to the Republicans' bad cop right now. I don't care for the jfern faction of the party that much but they pretty much have that much right.

Which radical special interests?

[Beet]

The PNAC types, religious right, supply siders (the various right wing think tanks like Club for Growth), contractors, big pharma, agribusiness, etc. Basically the people that actually run Washington. We don't have a two party system anymore.

So basically you are so far to the left that you won't give Democrats support unless they become as far left as you and hence unelectable? I love this.

[Beet]

When the policy preferences of the two camps are so similar, and yet the vitriol and passion is so high, then there is too much focus being placed on what divides us and not enough on what unites us-- and what unites the party with most of America. Democrats need to understand that politics is about coalition building, not coalition destroying. Yes, campaigns can be likened to warfare, but they ought to be a constructive process as much as they are a competitive one.

There are too many elements within this party for which a large part of the joy they receive from their political activism is that it affords them the opportunity to attack and attempt to destroy other members of their own party, while simultaneously neglecting or taking a flippant attitude toward bringing in those who would not ordinarily vote for them into the party. By emphasizing what unites us, we would set a good example for the country as a whole.

[Beet]

Why wouldn't the Democrats survive a 2008 defeat? I'm kinda used to it . All that tells me is that the Democrats need to be more pragmatic when it comes to selecting future nominees and there may come a time when the party needs to confront its dovish base

Democrats, rightly or wrongly, still have a perceived credibility gap when it comes to defense and national security. And have done since 1968, more or less, when the lunatics took over the asylum

Why the necessity for liberal purity? Because I don't get it!

Supportive of Obama as I am - and yes, I'm at variance with the senator on certain issues - the fact that more moderate Democrats struggled to get out of the traps in 2008 has peeved me off a bit

Back in the immediate aftermath of His Ineptness being, sadly, re-elected in 2004, I warned against the potential nightmare scenario of liberal Democrat vs moderate Republican in 2012 and, rightly or wrongly, McCain is perceived as a moderate Republican despite the fact he is now rebrandishing his conservative credentials with flip-flops on the Bush tax cuts and an ever shifting rationale for opposing them to begin with

Dave

Clinton and Obama were both seen as more moderate at the start of the election cycle than they are now. The longer the primary has gone on, the more time they have to spend pandering to their party and less time wooing swing voters and independents.