Some important points to take away from last night.

[coti]

Chris Matthews' obtuse, stubborn framing of Brown's election in his interview with Howard Dean was predictable. He analyzed the results from the typical, one-dimensional "left-right" perspective and refused to acknowledge the very insightful points Dean was trying to make, now being supported by those subsequently being interviewed by him.

The points we need to understand and get across:

1) Motivating the base is extremely important, but even more important is connecting with independent voters. We lost this election because those independents who voted for Obama in their dissatisfaction with Bush's economy didn't vote for Coakley, and they didn't vote for Coakley because the Obama administration, contrary to its campaign, has not protected the interests of the middle class. We need both the base and those independents who overwhelmingly voted him into office to continue voting Democratic. The interests of those two groups are not mutually exclusive- they overlap!

2) Stop analyzing the politics of this on the "left-right" spectrum. Just throw it out the window- what's happening right now is not due to any "left-right" ideological difference. In particular, we have to stop saying that the President needs to "move left." That's inaccurate. The anger we are seeing is populist anger. It is a very deep frustration with our leadership's seeming inability or unwillingness to fight against corporate interests and for middle class consumers- for example, not regulating financial institutions as a prerequisite for bailout money and appeasing the health insurance companies rather than trying to make insurance accessible to those Americans who can't afford it. Believe it or not, it's not just "lefties" who care about such issues. They cut across the entire middle and even upper-middle classes. Independent voters vote on economic populism.

3) Most of all, Obama simply needs to keep the promises he made during his campaign. Voters liked what they heard him say and they let that be known at the polls. But now people are losing their trust in him because he's not governing like he said he would. Further, but along those same lines, voters need to see that Obama is an effective leader- that not only do Democrats understand the concerns of the middle class, but when they put Democrats in office they will see their concerns, more or less, addressed through strong legislation.

[Little Star]

1. You can bet your butt it's populist anger.

[coti]

2. Kick nt