For most of 2009, the Democrats have treated Republicans as second-class members of Congress. That's all good and well - to a large extent, the Republicans tried to turn the wealthy and corporations into an oppressed minority. And with all the money spent on astroturf, they nearly managed to pull it off. Well-funded "Tea Party" groups got plenty of TV time. Sarah Palin wrote a book and went on tour. Even RNC chair Michael Steele got into the act with his promises of fried chicken to recruit more African-Americans into the GOP. Democrats have, for the most part, treated the Republicans and their ideas with contempt and disdain.

But this has only served to strengthen the Republican tribe, both at the grassroots and in the media echo chamber. Glenn Beck called Obama a racist against white people. Rush Limbaugh took his $36 million salary and used it to announce his victimhood at the hands of the White House communications staff. And Scott Brown successfully convinced enough residents of Massachusetts that his pickup truck and his underdog status were good enough reasons to make him a United States Senator, because it was "him versus the machine".

Democrats have a solid majority in both chambers of Congress, but they've failed to translate that into victories on healthcare reform, carbon caps, or financial regulations. I've defended Senate Democrats as much as anyone here on the Big Orange, recognizing that Joe Lieberman plus 40 Republicans is enough to stop anything from happening. But the fact remains that Democrats have failed in the messaging wars because they've been too busy trying to whip one another into compliance. As a result of our focus on enforcing party discipline, we've missed a golden opportunity to expand the field and build our base.

The truth is, the Republicans have very few good ideas and virtually no compelling reasons to trust in their ability to bring about change. The Congressional GOP remains, for the most part, a set of holdovers from the Bush-Rove years, along with some "Contract with America" veterans and even a handful of Reaganites. But the GOP's decision to engage in a purity campaign in 2009 opened the door for the Democrats to further expand. The big news in early 2009 was not the gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia, or the Senate race in Massachusetts. It wasn't about Ted Kennedy's death or Al Franken's delayed entry to the Senate. The big news in early 2009 was the defection of Arlen Specter, who became the 59th Democratic senator and created the possibility of 60 if Franken was seated.

The Republican Party has continued to alienate moderates, who have left the party and become independents. At the same time, the "movement" conservatives have left the GOP and protested the failures of the GOP to control government expansion or cut deficits. Like a group of reformed alcoholics, Republicans who supported torture, rendition, and the invasion of Iraq now pledged to stand up against the expansion of government, even as they continued to allow corporations and lobbyists to write their bills and fund their campaigns.

But the Democrats got caught napping, nationally. We made the "Public Option" the only focus in healthcare reform, and lost the opportunity to address other key components of reform. We took the bait from the corporate-funded media and the Republican attack machine, engaging in political cannibalism instead of putting the nails in the coffin of a nearly-extinct Republican ideology. We spent too much time holding Obama "accountable" and attacking his lack of support for the public option, instead of explaining clearly to our Republican neighbors why we shouldn't consider a public option a "government takeover".

President Obama showed what we have known all along - the Republican's ideology can't hold up under close scrutiny and they are engaging in a self-created drama of victimhood instead of working with Democrats in Congress. And we've spent too much high-fiving each other instead of getting the job done on organizing and mobilizing to bring in new voices and new ideas.

Yesterday's display was more than just a one-man show - although it was impressive to see one man up against 140 members of Congress and making them look like students in front of an expert teacher. Yesterday was a careful deconstruction of the entire Republican party narrative, and an opportunity for Democrats to seize back the narrative in their favor.