Robert Kuttner of the American Prospect writes
a warning to President Bush. He suggests that the Democrats, overwhelmingly anti-war but politely restrained until election day, will now somehow let loose with Vietnam-like fervor. I doubt it.

The problem this year is that the left buried its ideology in a trunk so that nobody could see the terrible liberal things they really believed in, such as equal access to marriage rights, universal access to healthcare, and safe access to abortion.

95 percent of the delegates at the DNC opposed the war in Iraq. So they nominated a Senator who voted for the war. 75 percent of the delegates at the DNC support marriage rights for gays and lesbians. So they nominated a Senator who opposes marriage rights for gays and lesbians.

Iowans were terrified of nominating Dean because they felt he was too radical, and therefore unelectable. But don't forget the excitement and energy that Dean brought to the race. Why can't Democrats understand that what excites them will excite the American people too?

No, we may not have won the election with Dean this year, but we would have faught hard and stayed true to our convictions. And our issues would have been given a national voice: we proudly support real change in education, health care, and civil rights. We don't want your corporate-run government sitting around with our bosses in secret meetings and arguing over the best way to screw us. We reject bloody, imperialist wars with no goal and no exit plan.

Dean could have gone to South Carolina and said, "Do you know why your state is consistently ranked dead last on education charts? It's not because gays are teaching in your public schools." He could have held study sessions on the flaws in No Child Left Behind and the moral decadence of not funding it.

We could have led movements to legalize same-sex marriage, provide a living wage for all Americans, embrace universal health care as a fundamental right. We didn't do any of that.

I suggest that it's John Kerry's fault--- more that George Bush's--- that we now have 11 states with constitutional amendments outlawing same-sex marriage. The left took a vacation in Pennsylvania, voter registration forms in hand, and we woke up in the morning with a world a little less tolerant and a little less hopeful, with no power to change it.

So I ask you, Democrats: ready to stop lying?