HOW YOU GONNA GO AGAINST AN ARMY WITH A HANDGUN?

I'm reading about the Nancy Pelosi's victory in winning a vote on middle-class-only tax cuts, I'm reading about the maneuverings regarding the next steps, on the Bush cuts and other issues (Harry Reid, after some back-and-forth with Republicans, seems ready to hold votes comparable to Pelosi's, while the White House seems to be furiously negotiating its way to pro-GOP concessions) -- and, well, I have to agree with Jonathan Zasloff (though please note that he's not under any illusion that this could possibly happen):

Now, today, Obama should hold a press conference demanding Senate action. Then he should take the show on the road, going to, say Massachusetts, and Maine, and Ohio, demanding that the Republicans allow the Senate to vote on this plan. He’s got the biggest megaphone in the country. He can fill arenas. Now, today, he needs to ask:

Why are the Republicans intent on raising your taxes? Why are they holding your tax cut hostage so that they can reward billionaires?

... This is an opportunity to damage the Republican brand....

The Democrats' fear is that the public won't get it; the Republicans' fear is that they will get it. Obama can change that calculus. That would even be change I can believe in.

Obviously, I don't think it could possibly happen either: I'm just quoting it because I'm convinced that nothing good could possibly come from the tax endgame unless every possible weapon were to be used -- Obama public appearances, a televised Obama prime-time speech, third-party ads targeted at specific Republican senators who sell themselves in blue or purple states as centrists, the whole nine yards. I didn't quote Zasloff because I'm having naive fantasies of the impossible; I'm just saying that anyone who thinks victory is even theoretically possible for Democrats as a result of just hanging tough in D.C. is mistaken. You have to reach a broad swath of voters, including low-information voters, and hanging tough in D.C. isn't enough to get that done.

Somehow, you'd have to shame a couple of Republicans into flipping. The chances of that are slim -- but without specific, targeted pressure, the chances of that are absolutely nonexistent. Why do you think liberals and sorta-liberals still vote for Snowe and Collins in Maine? Why do you think Scott Brown appears likely to coast to reelection in Massachusetts two years from now? Because these people are never singled out for criticism in a way the voters in their states can't avoid noticing.

The fantasy party we all wish could magically replace the real Democratic Party would hang tough in Washington. But it would do more than that. It would go on the offense all over the country. It would simply have to in order to have any hope of reversing this situation.