William Daley took to the Washington Post on Thursday to implore the Democratic Party to “keep the Big Tent big.” But in Daley’s Big Tent, there is only room for one type of dissident - the kind whose views incidentally align with special interests.

There is room for so-called “moderates” like Joe Lieberman who seek the failure of key Democratic initiatives like a public health insurance option for the simple reason that liberals want to see such an option created; yet there is no place in the tent for liberals or progressives who, after accepting compromise after compromise, voice their displeasure on policy grounds with a Democratic Party that has veered sharply from the platform which brought it a resounding victory last November.

Daley writes:

All that is required for the Democratic Party to recover its political footing is to acknowledge that the agenda of the party’s most liberal supporters has not won the support of a majority of Americans — and, based on that recognition, to steer a more moderate course on the key issues of the day, from health care to the economy to the environment to Afghanistan.

For liberals to accept that inescapable reality is not to concede permanent defeat. Rather, let them take it as a sign that they must continue the hard work of slowly and steadily persuading their fellow citizens to embrace their perspective. In the meantime, liberals — and, indeed, all of us — should have the humility to recognize that there is no monopoly on good ideas, as well as the long-term perspective to know that intraparty warfare will only relegate the Democrats to minority status, which would be disastrous for the very constituents they seek to represent.

Shorter Daley: the Democratic Party is in splendid shape, as long as it continues its long march to the mythical center. But if it moves back the left, closer to the platform which Obama ran on, then the Democratic Party will instantaneously become a minority party.

More mystifying than this argument is Daley’s apparent lack of short-term memory. He writes:

Witness the losses in New Jersey and Virginia in this year’s off-year elections. In those gubernatorial contests, the margin of victory was provided to Republicans by independents — many of whom had voted for Obama. Just one year later, they had crossed back to the Republicans by 2-to-1 margins.

Witness the drumbeat of ominous poll results. Obama’s approval rating has fallen below 49 percent overall and is even lower — 41 percent — among independents. On the question of which party is best suited to manage the economy, there has been a 30-point swing toward Republicans since November 2008, according to Ipsos. Gallup’s generic congressional ballot shows Republicans leading Democrats. There is not a hint of silver lining in these numbers. They are the quantitative expression of the swing bloc of American politics slipping away.

Ask any Republican: what’s the only thing worse than having a party beholden to its activist base? Answer: having a lack of enthusiasm in the base.

The enthusiasm gap among Republicans in 2008 has dissipated. Now it is Democrats whose base is unhappy with the direction of its party. If the Democratic establishment continues to take liberals and progressives for granted, the 2010 election cycle will be especially painful.