The current political atmosphere is terrible for Democrats.  It's slowly draining the excitement out of Obama's presidency and dragging down his popularity.  We have crucially important legislation on the horizon, and yet Obama's favorability rating is declining steadily.  Fox News ratings are at an all-time high, and pop-conservatism books dominate bestseller lists.  All of this is means Republicans have managed to sow seeds of doubt in Obama's agenda.  It jeopardizes lives and direly needed improvements to our government. 

The problem is this: while there's plenty of talking and planning for upcoming reforms, Obama and Congressional Democrats have actually done very little reforming lately.  They have done little to control the news agenda. There are committee meetings, recesses, and endless negotiations, but only one chamber has passed environmental legislation, and none have dealt with health care.  Key proposals on the economy and a Supreme Court nomination lie in waiting.  Iran faces a credible threat to its regime, and Congress is powerless to control it.  To make the political atmosphere even more disconcerting, Obama continues to avoid reforms on civil liberties, transparency, and gay rights.

 So, for the last few weeks, Democrats have been in limbo, promising major change, but taking a long time to actually carry it out.  They have done little to steal the headlines and punch back at Republicans.  Of course, Democrats are at an inherent disadvantage because they are proposing to change the status quo in a major way, and in this intermediary period Republicans have found success by relentlessly assailing their proposals and instilling as much fear and uncertainty in them as possible.  Quite simply, it's just easier to whip up doubt and insecurity rather than confidence and positivity- especially when the future is uncertain and little progress is happening.

 Part of this is that Republicans know almost all reporters are intellectually anemic.  They have masterfully gamed the media and manipulated the news agenda. Ridiculous attacks, which also sometimes come from Democrats, are not counter-argued by journalists to such an extent as to give a fair picture of reality.  This lets Republicans run wild, using deception and sophism, blurting out soundbites with the expectation that they will be splashed across headlines or repeated several times on Hannity.  Even on neutral TV networks and newspapers, the way such attacks are reported is not journalistically impassioned, and as a result they get away with it.  The Republican constant stream of attack strategy works in down times like these, when Democrats are on the defensive.  An attack on one of Obama's plans for epic reform is worth twice as much as praise.

Obama and Democrats, here's what you need to do.  Go on the offensive.  Don't go so far as to sacrifice the dignity and prestige of the presidency, but keep in mind that hitting first is always more effective than returning fire, even if the reasoning is sound.  Take some attention away from the painstaking negotiation process and talk about an issue that will give people a sense of optimism about his agenda.  Take some shots at Republicans, portray them as callous and misanthropic for ignoring the suffering going on in this country.  Create the illusion that Democrats are in control of the ball and they have big, bright plans for the future, and Republicans are helplessly flailing curmudgeons.  Give more campaign-style speeches and town-hall meetings, and get people excited.