Last week, while visiting the evangelical stronghold of Colorado Springs, Barack Obama struck a theme that perhaps more than any other will elect him president.
"There is a lesson to be learned from generations who have served: from soldiers and sailors, airmen and Marines, suffragists and freedom riders, teachers and doctors, cops and firefighters. It's the lesson that in America, each of us is free to seek our own dreams, but we must also serve a common purpose, a higher purpose," said Obama.
More than anything else people want to live meaningful lives. They want meaningful lives even more than they want the economic success that is so important in politics. In fact they often want that economic success precisely because it will allow them to live meaningful lives.
Meaning has two major components. First, you have to feel that you are part of something bigger than yourself. Second, you have to believe that you can personally play a significant role in achieving that meaningful goal. Meaning is about commitment.
The Right has understood and addressed this need for meaning for years. Their appeals to xenophobic nationalism and racial politics are all aimed squarely at addressing that need. Of course, patriotism and religious commitment of any sort are all about providing a sense of meaning.
But for many election cycles, Democrats have often failed to claim the high ground in the values debate. They have forgotten that it is not right-wing individualism but progressive values that are fundamentally about commitment to others.
The true contrast between right-wing and progressive values is between a dog-eat-dog, law-of-the-jungle, survival-of-the-fittest view of the world on the one hand; and a political philosophy that is rooted in the belief that success in life is not just about what we do for ourselves but in service to each other.
Democrats -- with our progressive values -- are the party of commitment, service and true patriotism. For many years we have lost elections -- and the center of the political dialogue -- because of our unwillingness to speak out boldly for our values, or even talk about our values.
Fundamentally, Democrats lost the last presidential election because while we talked about policies and programs, the Republicans talked about right and wrong. Never again. Barack Obama understands that to his core.
Americans have been waiting for 40 years to have their spirits reawakened with a progressive call to service -- as when John Kennedy asked a generation to, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."
In this election, I believe Obama can rekindle the progressive, patriotic tradition of Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land," of Robert Kennedy's last campaign, or of Martin Luther King's call to service:
The ultimate measure of a man or woman is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige, and even his life for the welfare of others. In dangerous valleys and hazardous pathways, he will lift some bruised and beaten brother or sister to a higher and more noble life.
Progressive values are all about being true patriots -- about being committed to making a better future not just for the idea of America, but for the people of America.
Obama's embrace of that progressive, patriotic tradition will propel him to the presidency, and it gives us the potential to create a progressive transformation of American politics.
Robert Creamer is a long time political organizer and strategist, and author of the recent book "Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win," available on Amazon.com.