There are signs that the Democratic party is returning to its core values...but you cant turn the ship of state on a dime. And they need to find their balls to respond to the belligerent rhetoric of the right. Liberal is not a dirty word.
Its interesting that no Democratic candidates are appearing at the upcoming Democratic Leadership Council convention this weekend....but they are all attending the YearlyKos progressive blogger gathering.
For those who dont know much about the DLC, it was created 20+ years ago by Joe Lieberman, former Senator John Breux and Gov (at the time) BIll Clinton to turn the Democratic party away from the left and more to what they described as the "center" of AMerican politics. Others decribed the DLC as "Republican light" and Democrats for the Leisure Class. The DLC distanced itself from traditional progressive interest groups and went corporate.
http://commonsense.ourfuture.org/wrong_right?tx=3
The mass of the Democratic party has been reawakened by the active progressive community. Now the leaders must follow and I am hopeful they will, particularly as many progressive views are gaining support by Independents. It just requires patience as well as outrage.
But it will come about by change from within, as Josh and Host noted, and not by abandoning the party.