Pres­i­dent Barack Obama’s re-elec­tion is a huge relief — we dodged the Romney/​Ryan bullet.

As Obama begins his second term, Republican obstructionism cannot be an excuse for inaction—particularly when it comes to the president’s use of his bully pulpit.

How­ev­er, that’s not the same as win­ning a bet­ter future. If Obama’s first term is a pro­logue to the sec­ond, we should not expect to see much progress in strength­en­ing the rights or bar­gain­ing abil­i­ty of work­ers. There­fore, in Obama’s sec­ond term, we need to be:

• Smarter about the poli­cies we advocate.

• Selec­tive about the can­di­dates we endorse.

• More dis­ci­plined about build­ing a strong social movement.

Pro­gres­sives need to rec­og­nize where the real fight is hap­pen­ing. Con­gress is still firm­ly under Repub­li­can con­trol — or, at least, under threat of a Repub­li­can veto that can stop any worth­while fed­er­al leg­is­la­tion. Since progress won’t hap­pen in Wash­ing­ton, we must work for it at the state and local lev­el. We are already see­ing some of the most excit­ing inno­va­tions take shape in cities and met­ro­pol­i­tan regions. Urban labor-com­mu­ni­ty coali­tions are mak­ing respect for col­lec­tive bar­gain­ing a pre­con­di­tion for busi­ness­es to receive pub­lic sup­port. They are also approach­ing pol­i­tics in a new way. In exchange for sup­port­ing can­di­dates, these coali­tions are ensur­ing that politi­cians use the bul­ly pul­pit to defend work­ers and denounce union-bust­ing. In San Jose, Calif., stu­dent, labor and faith groups demand­ed that local politi­cians back an across-the-board min­i­mum wage increase that passed on Elec­tion Day. And in Long Beach, Calif., a coali­tion of LGBT activists, labor and faith groups got city coun­cil mem­bers to endorse a bal­lot mea­sure for hotel house­keep­ers to get a raise, which passed.

Such coali­tions must eval­u­ate elect­ed offi­cials on whether or not they under­stand that their suc­cess in push­ing leg­is­la­tion for­ward is direct­ly linked to the strength of social move­ments. As Rep. Kei­th Elli­son (D‑Minn.) told me ear­li­er this year in an inter­view for The Amer­i­can Prospect, ​“Sym­pa­thet­ic mem­bers of Con­gress have the pow­er to draft, intro­duce and vote on leg­is­la­tion. But lead­ers in the pro­gres­sive com­mu­ni­ty … have the abil­i­ty to mobi­lize, edu­cate and orga­nize all across Amer­i­ca. We need each oth­er to be suc­cess­ful.” We can no longer afford to invest in politi­cians who do not under­stand this.

Most can­di­dates favored by Demo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty power­bro­kers are unable to grasp this con­cept. The few who do have social-move­ment roots, such as Sen. Sher­rod Brown (D‑Ohio) and Rep. Bar­bara Lee (D‑Calif.). Con­se­quent­ly, a long-term elec­toral strat­e­gy must involve cul­ti­vat­ing can­di­dates direct­ly from the ranks of social move­ments and then fight­ing for them in the primaries.

As Oba­ma begins his sec­ond term, Repub­li­can obstruc­tion­ism can­not be an excuse for inac­tion — par­tic­u­lar­ly when it comes to the president’s use of his bul­ly pulpit.

Dur­ing the recent attacks on col­lec­tive bar­gain­ing rights in Wis­con­sin and Ohio, and dur­ing the teach­ers’ strike in Chica­go, White House lead­er­ship was nowhere to be found. Oba­ma once promised, ​“If Amer­i­can work­ers are being denied their right to orga­nize and col­lec­tive­ly bar­gain when I’m in the White House, I’ll put on a com­fort­able pair of shoes myself. I’ll walk on that pick­et line with you as Pres­i­dent of the Unit­ed States of America.”

The Pres­i­dent seems to have mis­placed his walk­ing shoes. We should send him a new pair — and make sure that no future can­di­dates we endorse have any excuse for los­ing theirs.