Democrats like Markos often talk about the concept of our party being a "Big Tent," that is, a broad coalition of groups that mutually support each other in order to win at the polls and to achieve a range of policies on which we can find consensus. The 2006 midterms may have been the beginning of truly embracing this idea as a party. It's a concept that I believe our party Chairman, Howard Dean, embraces through his 50-State strategy. Personally, I believe it's the only way forward for our party and the best way to win. But 2006 was really only the beginning.
What Barack Obama's campaign is showing us is that our Big Tent can be a whole hell of lot bigger, that our coalition can be stronger, that our policies can have broader appeal, and that we can win more than ever before. But we can't do it with the old political style, we can't do it with the old candidates, and we can't do it with the old frames that had failed us for decades.
Barack Obama has been my choice to be our party's nominee since 2004. To me, it's shocking that the media still act like this is some kind of astonishing feat that he is pulling off, but I shouldn't be shocked given the media's contempt for the public in general and inability to deal with intelligence and talent. [Isn't it telling that as soon as a politician is good at what he does, he's labeled by the media as a "rock star?"]
Obama's landslide victories demonstrate that there is an electorate that wishes more than ever to come together around a candidate who can unite the country and who can speak with eloquence and ease about a positive vision for our nation. Obama's down-ticket effect as our nominee will be huge, and as long as we recruit and run good democrats in every district in the country (and I know we will), we'll see a wave that made 2006 look like a ripple.
I agree that there are challenges to going to a "Big Tent" model, but these are the challenges that inevitably come with being in the majority, and I believe that good leaders can manage them. As our party transforms and grows, we need to hold fast to our progressive ideals and become ever more willing embrace new leaders who can reflect those ideals while making our Big Tent even bigger--leaders like Barack Obama.