I hate to say it, but Dems should be trying to reclaim the word "freedom". It makes absolutely no sense for Cons to be attached to it so strongly. We need more freedom fries and liberty toast.
I think they do, it's just not repeated ad-nauseam and attached to everything like the Cons do. Free to be LGBTQ, free to read the books you want, free to organize labor, etc... Real, tangible, life-improving freedoms. Cons? All they want is freedom to take everyone else's rights away. That's their "freedom".
But that's the thing. The Dems want to campaign like they have for the past century, going out and making sensible campaign stops every so often. Obama was trying to change this, and honestly had the right of it - you blast your message everywhere, all at once, KEEP REPEATING IT, and shorten the general gist until it can fit in a meme.