With the “Tea Party Convention” concluding in Nashville with wall to wall coverage by the mainstream media, it is clear that the right continues to outmaneuver the left in terms of capturing the limelight to promote the conservative cause. One has to admit that the concept of having a “Tea Party Express” was a brilliant stroke which rightwing talk show hosts and Fox News could propagandize to the hilt. The cold fact is, for all of the intellectual capital and organizing genius, there has been no equivalent concept or response from a liberal/ left/progressive “movement” that is disgruntled, disjointed, disoriented and ineffective. If a return to power of the conservatives in 2010 is to be blocked, there must be far more innovative thinking, meaningful messaging and creative organizing on the left.

After a historic victory in the 2008 general election, Barack Obama assumed the presidency with remarkably high approval ratings and momentum to change the course of the nation. After eight years of the disastrous policies of Bush-Cheney, ostensibly, Americans were ready for a more people-centered, just and humane policy agenda. But, eight months into his tenure in the White House, President Obama has experienced the most precipitous decline in approval ratings of any president since Gerald Ford.