Once their opposition was eliminated, they failed to come together on basic core values.  The pro-business, privatization wing of the party won most of the big battles that shaped the agenda, but that was never going to yield the kind of unity that they needed to be really successful at governing.  

There was an interesting article today in the Washington Post about how Obama's White House is trying to mend fences with Obama's Cabinet members many of whom according to the article have felt left out of the governing decisions; tapped only when the White House felt they had made a mistake; ignored in favor of "Czars"; and micromanaged by White House staff.  I raise this article in the context of your story only because I think that it is emblematic of the problems within the Democratic Party right now.

That small minority of pro-biz types made little attempt to either compromise or build consensus with their more liberal colleagues.  I get the sense that they even actively undermined them and shut them out of the discussions only to turn around and basically say, "Vote for our plan or else."  Which is a kind of legislative strategy, but not much of a party builder and it certainly doesn't yield a well oiled machine either.

Anyhow, over at Orange there's a story about how Schumer has struck the right tone on the budget debate and he like you and many others think that taxes should be on the table.  Great, we agree, but does that mean that we have a cohesive philosophical view on this issue within the party?  Based on what I've witnessed over the past two years, it doesn't matter how correct Schumer's views are, nor does it matter how popular they are (see Public Option), the tax thing isn't going to happen because a small but powerful faction of the party will do everything they can to undermine such a move.

Here are a few of my suggestions (being a political org novice, I freely admit to not knowing whether these type of activities already occur or are even feasible):

 - establish a workgroup that holds regular conference calls to discuss 3-5 agenda items and build consensus around a limited number of items.

 - reach out to unions and similar organizations for participation in the workgroup

 - Use that workgroup to publish set of ideas that political websites such as this agree to support and promote.

One way to address the deficit would be to argue that deficits don't matter.  After all, it worked for the Republicans.

I think it would help us all to get up to speed on Modern Monetary Theory and understand that so much of what drives our discourse about the deficit is based on economic thinking that's just out of date and wrong-headed.  Anyone who looks at our deficit and shouts Weimar is just crazy -- how many ways is the US different from Weimar Germany?  

Unfortunately, I feel like the "who" is serving as a giant speed bump between where we've been for far too long on too many issues, and where I, at least, think we should be going.  And by "who" I am not just singling out Obama, but a significant chunk of the Democratic party.

We've been slowed down by that speed bump; we've tried going sideways to see if there's a way around it.  I'm at the point where I think we need to just drive over it, and those in the way can choose to see what the underside of our bus looks like, or they can get out of the way and get on board.

As a Democrat and a citizen, my job and my responsibility is not to function as a loyal helpmeet in the furtherance of someone's personal political fortunes, but to push and shove and light fires under and agitate and advocate and make my voice heard toward the attainment of the goals I believe in - my interests, my life, my future.

And one of those goals has to be that we must have campaign finance reform if we are ever to have better quality candidates who aren't bought-and-paid-for and loyal handmaidens to the corporate sector and the special interests.  When and if that ever happens, I expect to find out about it from my assigned cloud in the Great Beyond.

For the short-term, we need to make a lot more noise and be a lot more present, along the lines of what's happening in Wisconsin; how fast do you think Walker's budget bill would have been passed if the Democrats in the legislature and the public employees and union members had just decided there was nothing they could do?  Lightning speed.  So fast it might not have been visible to the naked eye.

Push issues.  Push for the whole thing, not just what might be politically possible.  Wear your principles and your purism with pride - if it makes these so-called leaders look bad, tough.  If they don't want to look better, let them be responsible for that.  Stop sccepting the sad shrugs and the it-was-the-best-we-could-do expressions of regret, when we can all see that little or no effort was expended to do better; reply with: "that is not acceptable - try again and keep trying until you can report success."  Parents say that to their kids, teachers to their students, employers to their employees - why shouldn't we say this to the people who purport to be working for us in government?

Oh, I'm so naive.  I don't know how "the game" is played.  I will never get anything if I can't be flexible and willing to compromise.  I need to look at all the checkmarks on the list and be happy I got anything at all.

Well.  Maybe it's time to change the game.  Change the rules.  Stop telling them that no matter what they do, we will vote for them anyway.  Demand more, expect more, settle less.  Tell them our list is the list they need to be working on.

What are they gonna do - teach us a lesson we haven't already learned?  Show us they're every bit as craven as we know they are?

Oooh...I'm so afraid.  [rolling eyes]

its highly suspicious that one side of the political spectrum could be enormously successful in enacting their agenda that hurts the majority of the people while obscenely rewarding a tiny sliver of the population, and the other side could be so inept that it can't enact policies that people actually want, are decent and fair and good for the majority of people.

A large part of the party's problem I lay at Obama's feet and his PPUS strategy. The party made a huge mistake with him and we are all paying for that. That being said, there's blame to go around on everybody currently in elected office. And why does Tim Kaine still have a job? His head should have been the first to roll after November.

The only bright spot in the ineffectual Obama presidency is that people like those in WI are finally realizing that Obama is not on their side and that issues are important and the people on the ground in the states are fighting for issues.

You cannot be turned down for a preexisting condition.

You cannot be fired from the military for being gay.

You cannot rely on the executive branch to defend DOMA.

You cannot have your unemployment benefits dropped for (relatively speaking) longer than any time in recent memory.

You can find more women on the supreme court than at any time in history.

Etc.

BTD's position only makes sense in a universe where some of the most incredible democratic accomplishments of the last 20-30 years are ignored.