In the movie "The Dark Knight," Heath Ledger's Joker says, "I'm a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it!" This quote sizes up the ineptitude of the Democrats one year after taking control of the presidency and a large majority in the U.S. House and Senate.

The Democrats were given fairly clear marching orders from the electorate and the numbers to make it happen, but they've looked far weaker than they did under President George Bush, assuming a self-imposed role of the minority party. This doesn't necessarily spell doom for the Democrats in the upcoming 2010 elections, but for them to regain their footing, they need to learn some lessons from the Republicans.

There is one undeniable truth in today's political landscape: The Republicans are far better at controlling message. Look at how well they wrangled the health care debate away from the left.

When the debate started, the left seemed prepared for the fight. Righties would bring up their doomsday scenarios and the Democrats counterpunched effectively by merely pointing out the horrible health care the Republicans were warning about was, to a large capacity, already in place. It looked as though health care was going to pass, at least until those on the right played their masterstroke.

Their brilliant plan
They saw what kind of attention the "birthers" were getting by interrupting congressmen and hatched a brilliant plan. They staged "impromptu" uprisings at town-hall events, shipping in the outraged. The ensuing video of people screaming their heads off in elected officials' faces allowed right-leaning media to exclaim reform wasn't popular. By autumn, the left had been dramatically outflanked as the debate became about big government. The right can take even sure-fire losses and turn them into wins because they are just that good, but there are three problems the Democrats should immediately address.

1. Stop talking to Fox News. Fox is openly campaigning against the Democrats, and very few of the 3 million nightly Fox viewers would even think of voting for a Democrat. Republicans rarely go on Keith Olbermann or Rachel Maddow's shows because they don't have to, but the left continually allows a media outlet with less than 1 percent of the population watching to control the narrative of every major news story. Nightly broadcasts of news on NBC, ABC and CBS and the prime time ratings for CNN, MSNBC, CNBC and Headline News averages 27-29 million people combined, almost 10 times Fox's nightly ratings. But the Democrats seem betrothed to Fox. When a Democrat finally does stand up to Fox, Fox pulls out its "War with FOX" graphics, and, within a few weeks, the Democrat comes crawling back, apologizing to smarmy hosts for the "misunderstanding." The Dems should just ignore Fox and work with news outlets that will give them a chance.

2. Those on the left allow way too many cooks to stir the pot when it comes to the bills they are trying to write. Republicans under Bush had 95 percent of their legislation written before it ever saw the light of day, and you'd better have a compelling reason to have a say in the remaining 5. Even with the rigid nature of their bill writing, they still got politicians as diverse as Sens. Jim DeMint and Olympia Snowe voting in unison. The Democrats will start with a vague concept (health care) and allow 20 different bills to come into the bogged down negotiation. The result often is a Frankenstein's monster of complicated legislation with a slim chance at passage. Moderate Democrats then take advantage, trying to write sweetheart deals into the final bill. In the end, you've become what the public hates, a bloated, incompetent government. The left would be best served if members of the House and Senate met with White House officials and at least got the framework of major issues worked out before they march into the fight.

3. The left's faltering principles. If Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe, a global warming denier, had a pro global warming group offer him $2 million to support one of their lesser issues, he wouldn't do it. Meanwhile, those on the left have allowed their need for campaign funds to overrule their core issues. They're not abandoning their entire stance, but the lobbyists work them over like a punching bag. They will get one politician to sacrifice one minor part of a bill, and then get another politician to sacrifice another minor part of the same bill and so on. Their ideals are getting killed not by a rampaging elephant, but rather a school of piranhas. If Dems stood by their principles more, and didn't allow special interest groups to seduce them with a check, they might get less campaign funds, but in return they'd get more respect, and votes, from the public.

What the Democrats are really short on is leadership. It's fair to say the House and Senate leaders are looking to the White House for guidance, but the White House is still trying to sort through the smoldering ashes of the Bush administration and is trying to encourage the legislative branch to become separate from the executive branch.

If those on the left want this majority to survive more than two years, they need to find a captain who can sail their ship away from the icebergs of their own making.

Matthew McNeil is a radio broadcaster in the Twin Cities.