[T]here were red flags already by the end of Obama’s first week in office that led me to offer the following advice to the new administration: Tell the story of how we got in this mess or you’ll own it. Tell a coherent story about deficit spending. Re-brand government because there’s only one story out there now (Reagan’s), and it’s not one that supports a progressive agenda. Never let attacks go unanswered, because doing so only emboldens your opposition and leads the public to believe that you have no answers to them. And if you throw a bipartisan party and no one comes, don’t throw another one. All of what followed has been as predictable as it has been unfortunate.
— Drew Westen, writing for the Huffington Post (What created the populist explosion and how Democrats can avoid the shrapnel in November)
