So the bottom line is that, indeed, the US left does not have much to say lately. The more conventional liberals simply chase after the shadows of the past, while the more "radical" crowd is really a bunch of enfants terribles seeking fun and excitement by pissing off their parents, teachers, and other authority figures. They all kvetch about the right and its policies, but offer no credible alternative to the vision of the right - which while poisonous and detrimental in the long run, at least sound appealing to the "medial voter."
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All of this is true, as far as it goes.
That is, what you describe is undeniable but is not a comprehensive overview of the situation.
I suggest you pay as little attention as possible to those you call "conventional liberals" who, indeed, have less and less of relevance to say regarding our current troubles (these are the sorts of people, for Ares' sake, who insisted that 'Bush stumbled but something had to be done' about Saddam, as if their fantasies of a straight-out-of-a-Hollywood-pitch-meeting nuclear armed Arab madman were terrifyingly true).
Also, the "more radical crowd", (by which you mean, I guess, those who talk about 'smashing the state' without having a real world plan for how this might be accomplished or what comes after the smashing is done) should be similarly ignored.
The more time you spend in feverish contemplation of useless words -- for example, nearly the entire post 9/11 output of Hitchens -- the more you spin, like a dervish, in a self-perpetuating spiral of abyss gazing.
There are serious people pursuing serious analysis and action without resorting to nostalgia or fantasy which, I suppose, are really pretty much the same thing.
I've decided to seek these people out, acquaint myself with their works and words and spend as little time as possible complaining about how awful things are.
Regarding hopelessness...
Zizek, during his appearance on Doug's radio show a few years back, stated that it was necessary to know the full extent of your helplessness and lack of ideas -- to stare this reality squarely in the eyes -- before you could hope to progress.
He went on to say that the West's increasingly broken social contracts ('behave and most, or at least many, of you will prosper and enjoy relative freedom from coercion') will lead to a general crisis that will produce alternatives -- not all of which will be pleasant.
Right now, in corners you're not watching, new things are happening. Some of these new things are incubating in places you don't care to look such as components of pop and techno culture.
Others are still very young and need to mature.
The trick is to talk less and listen more for these faint signals.
.d.