Monday Reads: Fighting and Rebuilding

Several interesting articles today for your reading pleasure:

-- Russell Muirhead, a professor of government at Dartmouth College, gives us reasons why (contrary to the fretful conservaDem and No Labels crowds) President Obama should be more partisan.

-- E.J. Dionne, Jr., gives Democrats a roadmap for advancing their agenda in the next two years, while disregarding the squeals from the wingnuts:

... Starting in the Reagan era, when Democrats controlled Congress, the Heritage Foundation and other conservative groups put out studies and books attacking “the imperial Congress” because they didn’t like any interference with a president from their own side. It seems that altered political circumstances can lead to neck-snapping changes in convictions that are allegedly rooted in constitutional principle. 

Obama and progressives should spend the next two years accomplishing as many useful things as they can, blocking regressive actions by Congress, and clarifying the choices facing the nation’s voters. And they’ll get much further by doing all three at once. 

-- Ruth Conniff at The Progressive, writes about what Wisconsin progressives are doing to build a strong progressive candidate base for the long haul:

This year, Wisconsin Progress has decided to narrow its focus. Instead of casting a big net and trying to recruit and train hundreds of candidates, as it has in the past, it is focusing more narrowly on building long-term relationships and providing continuing support to a smaller, target group. 

“We want to train fewer people, but the people we do train we want to train in a more significant ways—ways that transcend one election cycle,” [Wisconsin Progressive executive director Scott] Spector says.