Here's a way to respond: Fire Geithner, Summers, and the Wall St. boneheads in this administration

My inbox is filled this morning from liberal groups asking me to sign petitions to urge Congress to pass health care with a public option.

Are they nuts?

To some extent, yes. Many liberals are so insulated from reality that they think our agenda is this wonderful, pristine set of concepts that just needs to get past the right-wing drum machine, after which it will produce a veritable paradise for all.  They are wrong. Politics is about reality and interests, not abstract ideals.

Here's a broad strategic approach for Obama and liberals who really want to win:

1. Put health care on hold.
   
   The issue is like Social Security--touch it and you die. We're better off letting the bloated health care system stumble along until it implodes on itself, and then we'll have the political climate to get what we really need--a strong single-payer system that eliminates the greedy health insurance companies pretty much altogether. It will take a few years, but it's worth the wait.
   
   
2. Fire Geithner, Summers, and the other Wall Street boneheads in the administration.
   
   This is a symbolic start to a new approach to the economy. It will outflank the Republican populist movement and put liberals back out front on dealing with a real enemy--Wall Street bankers. Bring in a fresh team without Wall Street roots--people like the economist Nouriel Roubini, for example. Or even Paul Krugman!
   
   
3. Drive a hard line on financial reform.
   
   This is where you don't compromise. Insist on the bank tax. Fight for a tax on bonuses. This is where we need to move to the left, because it will expose the Republican flank for what it is--apologists for the economic royalists.
   
   
4. Make job creation a top priority.
   
   The 10% unemployment rate is killing American families and our liberal movement. Put every resource available to driving that rate down. This means helping states that are going broke, creating massive public works programs, pumping up the stimulus we really need.

Political strategists like to talk about "controlling the narrative."  Obama did that masterfully during his campaign, but he let the right take it over after he took office. These four moves would get him back on top and in control.