There’s a lot to say about how a Cosmo centerfold beat out a non-campaigning candidate in Massachusetts when the bulk of the voters that day turned out to the polls dressed mentally as if it were a good old fashioned book burning, but the one thing that doesn’t need to be repeated is this mantra that some Congressional Democrats are taking to heart: that they need to move right in order to appease the teabaggers that apparently are “sending a message” to Washington with the election of Scott Brown.

In fact, the complete opposite is true: America doesn’t need fewer progressives – it needs more of them, and it needs smarter ones in government. It needs progressives who are able to appropriately and convincingly explain their policies and positions to the American people without falling for the same old political tricks from the conservative right.

Katrina Vanden Heuvel, writing for The Nation, has a few good ideas for the Obama White House and for Congressional Democrats:

There is a generalized anti-establishment anger at loose in this country, reinforced by a White House team that has delivered for Wall Street but not enough for hurting communities. It is an anger also fueled by often savage right-wing anti-government attacks.

This special election is a wake up call and should lead to a course correction. The Democratic party can no longer run as a managerial and technocratic party. Going populist is now smart politics and good policy.

The Obama White House needs to show, quickly and forcefully, with concrete, bold and visible action, that it stands with the working people of America. Here’s a symbolic but smart start: jettison those on the White House economic team whose slow, timid response to the crisis of unemployment and to Wall Street’s obscene excesses helped create the conditions for the Tea Party’s inchoate right-wing populism.

Leadership on pro-democracy reforms are also desperately needed to end the corruption of our politics and to stanch the corporate money flooding and deforming our democracy. Connect the dots for people: explain how needed reforms are gutted when both parties succumb to the pervasive corruption of our money politics. If the GOP’s obstructionism has a silver lining, it is in exposing how an anti-democratic, super-majority filibuster has essentially made our system dysfunctional. There is fertile ground on which to rally people in a transpartisan political reform movement.

Massachusetts offers another lesson: Obama’s decision to demobilize his base in 2009 in favor of an insider approach to governing was a big mistake. I’m not a political strategist, but I don’t know how you win elections by failing to rouse people who’ve worked hardest at the grassroots to get you elected? It is time to re-mobilize the base.

And here’s a no-brainer: Isn’t it time to give up on that faith in genteel post-partisanship when the GOP knifes you at every turn? Nice isn’t going create more jobs or get health care reform.

She’s absolutely right. The time has passed to beg the Republicans to collaborate with you and then let them stand in front of the cameras and talk about how they’ve been “left out” of negotiations and planning sessions. Now’s the time to tell the right what the direction is, what the agenda is, and start walking in that direction. They can come along if they want, but the energy needs to be spent explaining the agenda to the American people so they continue to walk with us, and only a little at shaking the far-right from our shoes when they start to smell.

[ AlterNet :: The Lesson of Scott Brown's Mass Victory? Progressives Need to Go Populist ]

phoenix is the author of Not So Humble and an unabashed progresssive who isn’t afraid of any or all of the labels thrown at him. Head over to Not So Humble to read more!

Last week, Don Hazen reported on the end of Air America, and rehashed Air America’s long, turbulent history – the progressive radio network ceased live programming and operations last week just as abruptly as the announcement was made, after a years-long search for financing and support from investors and sponsors:

Kierker tried hard to keep the station afloat. Recently, AAR launched a highly visual web site, somewhat along Huffington Post lines, to buttress the radio operation. But for a long time progressive media experts had been scratching their heads about the AAR strategy. The Network had begun with great promise and excitement, and had many high points to be sure, but never had the ability to sustain itself, while being distracted by nagging crises, the loss of channel space (even in NYC) and constant funding woes.

AAR claimed it was progressive, but seemed to be pursuing an altogether different course in terms of who they put on the air, including strange bedfellows like Montel Williams and Lionel. There was speculation that the station was aiming for a younger male demographic — seemingly desperately seeking an audience for “talk radio “– that didn’t have much to do with progressive politics, or probably didn’t even exist. Furthermore, there was almost always a sense of the network grasping at straws as large large amounts of money seemed to have been invested in a steady stream of costly hires, frequently on the business side, but for on air talent as well, a number of whom seemed to last for only short periods before moving on.

Hazen notes that Air America was Rachel Maddow’s alma mater before she made it big and made her way to MSNBC, and for Al Franken before his run for the Senate – regardless of their mind-boggling strategy in recent years, Air America has always been the stomping ground for solid progressives with a lot to say.

Without that venue, even as it lost channel space, we return to the world where conservative talk radio hosts dominate the AM airwaves and progressive voices are lost in the shuffle. While progressives clearly have the technological benefit on the Web, fewer avenues for communication are never a good thing, especially when those avenues of communication stand to speak the truth to the conservative majority that’s thriving on those airwaves and have the potential to launch powerful progressive voices.

I’ve seen a number of local channels and stations pop up in regions and markets with progressive audiences, but nothing with the reach that Air America had. Here’s hoping something comes to take its place.

[ AlterNet: Adios, Air America ]

phoenix is the author of Not So Humble and an unabashed progresssive who isn’t afraid of any or all of the labels thrown at him. Head over to Not So Humble to read more!