Cross posted at MakeThemAccountable.

For years, I’ve been saying that the problem with progressives is that we don’t sell our message. We think that all we have to do is tell the truth, and promote issues that 60 to 80% of Americans want implemented. But we fail, time after time, to overcome the powerful message machine of the right. This week, David Cay Johnston reviewed Farhad Manjoo’s first book, True Enough, in which Manjoo tells us that “truth still matters, and in the long run, it will prevail so long as a decent number of people push for it.”

But that statement has to be wrong. How many Americans still believe that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and participated in the 9/11 attacks? How many still believe John Kerry lied to get his combat medals? How many still believe that Al Gore once said he invented the internet?

Sirota has two good pieces up about the foolishness of clinging to terms like "Democrat" and "Republican" and of worrying about "bipartisanship" and "centrist mandates." They're very good, and I want to be among the first voices joining his, as progressives understand the opportunities and challenges of this incoming Congress and what can be done there.