From the Comments

It's hard for me to admit, as a person fairly enamored of New Deal style politics (labor movement, fairly involved role for government, big projects towards great ends...that stuff) that I'm in the minority--and by a preposterous margin. And therefore that remixing the golden oldies just leaves you with Jay-Z vocals over a bad Andrews Sisters song--and no one wants that. So......JKD has pointed out several things (in previous comments) that promote a positive hopeful agenda relying either of the grassroots or on public-private partnerships (which is this seasons new political "black").

The first idea, and JKD expound as you will, involves mobilizing the grassroots to take specific public service/charity/good works actions. The key being that it's tied directly to Democrats doing the work. It sounds a lot like Dean Corps.
The upsides: Hopeful, positive. Pro-active. Ties Democrats to good moral works without the stigma of government. Likely to embrace progressive churches and other institutions of faith--and reminds people that Democrats only *appear* to suffer some morality-gap. Great generator of stories (both news, and anecdotal). Candidates would easily be able to draw upon heartwarming stories. It's both localized and national. A cohesive national program/message with localized impact. Stories get written in local papers, but the messaging can be fairly tight.

The downsides: If it's seen as exclusively Democratic it doesn't allow for much overlap with unaffiliateds, or centrists. This is a small downside.

JKD's other suggestion: Get big business on our side. They are pretty damn well aware of just how insufficient the American educational system is in terms of producing workers who can do things (e.g., write, read, etc.). So start by getting big business (and small-business alliances) working with Democratic governors and legislatures to implement job-training programs.Have tax abatements tied to the training and hiring of workers within those states.

JKD again can expound, but my sense is that this works as well for several reasons. There is the obvious...hey more American's can do their jobs--and that's good reason. A program that encourages business to see education as part of their own investment in their workforce is in my estimation inherently beneficial. Democrats are focusing in this case more on principle than on position (Getting to Yes)--by doing the right thing and not just playing to the fear that many Dems (me) have of big business, I think you undercut some of the nasty class warfare rhetoric of the Republicans. Plus, in a fairly crass analysis--Democratic legislators and Governors working on this project place themselves in a great position to rise to higher office. This is the kind of program that you want to stake your name to. This puts people like Granholm, Siebellius, Vilsack and others in a solid gubernatorial position and helps if they want to move to senate. Senate majority leaders in Colorado and elsewhere who championed this would be in a better place to run for higher office. It's a good program, that sells well, is easy to write about, and enables Democrats to have a good jumping off point for higher office.