If any of y'all are in the Denver area, I'm headed there tomorrow for two events to discuss my new book, the history of movements for progressive change, and today's political climate.
David Sirota mentioned some Democrats' (ahem, Harry Reid) plentiful lack of backbone when it comes to empowering workers to organize.
Last Friday night, I was in Colorado and attended a House party for recently-appointed Colorado Senator Mike Bennet. Joining me was Darcy Burner, the legendary people-powered congressional candidate from Seattle, who spoke on a panel with me the next day.
I was very much looking forward to taking inventory of this new senator. Was he smart? Was he authentic? Did he connect with regular people? The answer to all of these things was yes. Indeed, in 30 minutes of Q&A, he quickly rose on the list of politicians I respect.
With one big exception. For some odd reason, he seemed to freeze up -- twice -- when asked about his position on the Employee Free Choice Act. He said he didn't have a position.
The next day, Darcy mentioned this during our panel. Local progressive activist Max Tyler raised his hand and said he asked Bennet the same question at another event and got the same answer. Colorado blogger John Erhardt of SquareState.net describes what happened next:
Darcy Burner challenged us in that discussion to call [Colorado] senators and congressmen, to pressure them to support worker's rights. So when the panel ended, an amazing thing happened. Candidate for CO-06, David Canter came to the front of the room and asked if he could be part of that challenge.
On the spot, Canter cut a YouTube video with Darcy and Max Tyler, announcing that he was posting an online petition urging Colorado's congressional delegation to stand with workers and publicly endorse the Employee Free Choice Act. Here's the video:
This was a remarkably bold thing for a first-time congressional candidate to do--challenging a sitting U.S. Senator and others to get off the fence on an important issue. You can add your voice to Canter's call by signing his petition here. (You can also give this bold progressive a buck by donating here.)
And Senator Bennet, if you'd like to do something similarly bold, feel free to announce your position on the Employee Free Choice Act right here at the OpenLeft!
The Convention was, as usual (this is my fifth), a sleep-deprived whirlwind. I meant to write more, but between helping the SeaChange Communications folks coordinate activities (panel discussions, political documentaries, a VIP "green room"), and an even more intense credential gathering operation than usual, I did not have a moment to sit and write. But since I like to take the longer view anyway, to give myself some time to digest things before putting up my thoughts for all the world to see, I am taking the time to put all we've seen the past 10 days into context. My plan is to do a series of retrospective pieces on the Democratic Convention as well as what is following this week.
Last week and this one are the two most dramatic political weeks that don't include Election Day in American history. With conventions usually a few weeks apart, and usually nominating fairly predictable folks for President and VP, these two weeks in 2008 are stunning. Think about it:
I'm at Invesco, the lines are ridiculously long. I spent about an hour and a half on the floor without a floor credential, covering up my Hall credential with an American flag before my friends got me a Floor pass. I interviewed Jerry Nadler, who told me that whether Obama prosecutes the crimes of this past administration is an early test case for what his administration will be like. I also asked him about Glenn Greenwald and what is missing from this convention, namely a focus on habeas, torture, etc. Nadler is terrific, and his best guess is that those issues don't move voters. I'll have more on that soon, and hopefully my flip video captured most of the interview.
I also got good video from Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid, as well as Republican Senator Jon Kyl, and I'll be releasing that over the next few days. Stay tuned.
The general sense is that the convention has gotten better as it has gone on, from a listless start to a rollicking finish. Obama has a big task tonight in terms of his vision for the country. I spoke to a delegate from Florida who regaled me with her story of how her insurance company won't pay for her daughter's cancer treatment, and when we talked about Obama and how he may not be willing to take on the insurance companies the way she wants him to, she started crying. That is his burden, to take power from the selfish elites and improve everyone else's lives.
This is by far the coolest political convention I've ever attended. By far. The people are good-looking, fun, well-dressed, young, and they have style. Very different from 2004, or any state convention I've attended.
"In a world of 1s and 0s...are you a zero, or The One?" The Matrix (1999)
The recent line of right-wing attacks on Barack Obama have been to emphasize his popularity and turn it against him by painting him as nothing more than a celebrity -- "an empty suit" was the phrase I heard one pundit use. Right-wing trolls and bloggers have commonly taken to referring to Senator Obama online as "The One." This attempt at sarcasm is a reference to the character 'Neo' from the movie, The Matrix. As they do this, I have to wonder if they realize who this makes them in their self-created Matrix scenario: Agents? Sentinels? If, in a world of ones and zeros, Barack Obama is "The One," what is John McCain?
Last night I happened upon a DLC Chairman dinner with Harold Ford, and it was just another reminder that this convention is not really built for people like us. Sleazy lobbyists coming out of the event were sloppy drunk and the slender blonde running the event slurred her words to me that those sponsors are the ones paying her salary. Harold Ford then came out, and I ended up standing in front of his SUV and taking flash picture after flash picture just to make it a little less pleasant for these kinds of conservative bribocrats to attend this convention.
There are a lot of meetings going on, and that's one reason to be here. The media is here because it's their prom. But in terms of raw power dynamics, progressives are not particularly relevant. Hilariously, bloggers have actually been demoted; in 2004, we could actually see the stage at the Fleet Center, this time, online communications director Aaron Myers has secured us a room in the Pepsi Center with televisions in it.
My general belief is that, while the Obama world is not the Bush world, we're not allies. They believe in elite consensus governance, using terms such as 'civility' and imposing liberal-ish policy ideas from academics. We believe in polarization and populism, and in fact our very power and capacity on the internet emerges from conflict and polarization. That difference comes out in lots of flashpoints big (FISA) and small (blogger credentials), and my guess is that next year it's going to look like an utter trainwreck.
Update: Aaron told me that I am wrong about this, and I'm going to have a walk through today of all the special places we can go.
I've met some incredible people at this convention so far. This photo is from a party for Jared Polis and the Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq. I gave a little speech at the party and emphasized how significant it is that members of Congress are running on a specific mandate to end the war in Iraq. So far, Jared Polis, Chellie Pingree, and Donna Edwards are the three incoming members of Congress who have endorsed the plan.
In the middle is Jared, soon to be Congressman from Colorado's second district, with Doug Tudor on the right and Hal Bidlack on the left. Tudor is running in FL-12 against pasty faced corrupt conservative Adam Putnam, and Bidlack is running against Doug Lamborn in Colorado's 5th. I was impressed with both Tudor and Bidlack, who have also endorsed the plan. Polis is going to dedicate his Congressional campaign committee to helping other Responsible Plan candidates, so this group is already building power.
Polis defeated an EMILY's List liberal to win his seat in the primary, and what he's doing is building power from a safe blue seat to enlarge progressive power in Congress. Already. Before he's even been sworn in. That's a vision for change backed up by will and organizing muscle.
So first, you've got to have credentials. Here are mine, for the big tent and the Pepsi center. They are special. Don't lose them or you will have to beg your political contacts for more or trade for more or really just kind of hang out somewhere else at any number of parties.
You have lost your credentials. You must go to a party in a brick building, and there is grey carpet and people have pins on and are wearing suits and nametags. You meet a lobbyist and ask her why she is at the convention, and she says 'I'm a lobbyist, duh.' You move on and forget about her. You are hungry, so you forage for food. Here's some bad fruit you can eat. Or not!
Barack Obama made an excellent choice with his selection of Delaware Senator Joe Biden to be his running mate. On Saturday I spent the day working at the Democratic booth at the Centre County Grange Fair and throughout the day people were asking if the announcement had been made. Everyone I spoke with expressed positive opinions about the choice. If this is any indication of the type of qualified people Barack Obama will surround himself with as President, we can all rest assured that our country will be headed in a better direction come January of 2009.
The daily trivia question at the Democratic booth was "What Pennsylvania town was Joe Biden's hometown?" I'm usually pretty good at trivia but Kim Bierly had to tell me the answer was Scranton PA.
I'm in Denver driving from the airport, and man in the drive flat. I ran into Sam Powers and Cass Sunstein in the airport. He was selling 'Nudge' at the bookstore and she was taking pictures and selling the book like an extremely proud doting wife/publicist. It was adorable. I got some video but nothing that interesting; Sustein demurred when I asked him some of the more controversial questions. When I asked him about why he labeled Rahm Emanuel a 'liberal Democrat' he said that it was probably not accurate but he needed to balance him against the conservative Rick Santorum. Sunstein also bristled at Matt Yglesias's characterization of his recent paper on climate change and wants to meet up with him/confront him. I also saw Pat Leahy wheeling luggage. There's some sweet subpoena star power here.
And in case you had any illusions, the convention is brought to you by the nice folks selling clean coal, who happily greeted us in the airport.
If you want to follow me when I'm not able to blog, my flickr stream for convention photos is here and my twitter feed is here. TWITTER!
There's no doubt about it: The Big Tent will be awesome. The folks out in Denver are pouring their souls into a remarkable hive of activity that will showcase the netroots and our partners during the Democratic Convention.
Lesser known is that there is a place for us after August 28th: The Twin Cities.
In 2004, it was the RNC week that brought bloggers, activists, protesters, performers together at The Tank. This year, a similar -- but larger -- operation will be in place in Saint Paul: a daytime work space for up to 170 bloggers hosted by The Uptake...and evening parties sponsored by the SEIU, hosted by Drinking Liberally and friends. (Details coming...stay tuned.)
I just had the chance to tour the space The Uptake is setting up -- you can see the Excel Center from the windows. You are inside the security zone. The marches will u-turn at the corner outside the building. And there will be plenty of space to create content...and I wouldn't be surprised if you could find yourself some delegates nearby.
Register now to get your spot in this center -- and stay for the evening parties (did I mention complimentary drinks)...plus the Alliance for a Better Minnesota is hosting trainings and workshops as well.
Don't forget the Twin Cities, where our progressive mark will stand out in sharper contrast. Also, these cities really can't stand the GOP. Former Saint Paul Mayor Norm Coleman didn't win a single precinct in his city when he ran for Senator. Sep 1st - 4th should be fun.
The SF Chronicle reports on corporate lobbyists taking advantage of a loophole in rules preventing them from throwing lavish parties to "honor"House lawmakers, which exempts parties for groups of Members.
Prominent, a Sunday evening bash thrown by ATT for the "Blue Dogs" to thank them for the FISA amnesty.
Congress, pledging to clean up Washington's culture of corruption, approved a rule last year to end the practice of lobbyists or their clients throwing lavish events honoring lawmakers at the parties' national conventions.
But the House ethics committee opened a huge loophole in the rule by issuing guidelines in December saying it was fine for lobbyists or their employers to throw parties for a group of House members - just not for a single lawmaker...
...AT&T is among the sponsors of a party celebrating the conservative House Blue Dog Democrats on Sunday night.
Perfect spot for the first appearance of my "STOP GOVERNMENT SPYING" banner.
I'm getting ready to head to Denver early tomorrow AM. I'll be mostly operating out of the Starz Green Room about a block from the Pepsi Center, where we're hosting some cool panel discussions, film screenings, progressive authors signing books. I'm on two panels you should stop by and check out if you're around town. Both kind of get into what's in my upcoming book. You need to register to get tickets, although they aren't guaranteed, because we may be so damn popular.
Here's the ones I'm on and the other cool people involved:
Wednesday, August 27th 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM
The History of Progressive America
with
Chris Moore
(Producer of "Good Will Hunting," "Project Green Light," "American Pie")
Shepard Fairey
(Legendary Urban Street Artist)
Josh Brolin
(Actor/Producer)
Thursday, August 28th 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Agenda for the Next American President
with
John Podesta
(Center for American Progress Action Fund, White House Chief of Staff for President Clinton)
Melody Barnes
(Obama Domestic Policy Advisor)
William McNary
(President, USAction)
Karen Kornbluh
(US Senate Policy Director for Barack Obama)
Four years ago, while watching the Democratic Convention in my living room in England, I joined DailyKos so I could talk about the speeches and our candidate with other Americans interested in politics. I had friends who were Americans and others where were interested in politics, but I had to go online for the combination of the two.
This year I will watch the convention from a very different seat, as a member of the Pennsylvania delegation. How did I become a delegate? The short answer is that I applied last December and the campaign picked me. The longer answer is that I helped start Philadelphia for Obama back in August, and have been building a movement here in Philly for about a year now. I have participated in every phase of the campaign, and stayed here in PA even when it was very tempting to abandon my turf and head to an earlier state. I have been the point person for the visibility outside two Democratic Presidential debates, one in October the other in April, and helped make sure that Obama had a full slate of delegates on the ballot for the first time in at least a generation.
In our fundraising efforts to attend the Democratic Convention in August, we've decided to focus on a small donor campaign. We figured out that it'll take us 240 people contributing $25 each for us to reach what we need to go to Denver and provide you with the best convention coverage in America. So far, we have the equivalent of 42 ($1050), leaving us 198 to go. Anyone reading this should be able to donate $25 to help us get there.
Go to PayPal and donate through our Florida Progressive Coalition account (quinnelk@gmail.com), or you can write a check to Florida Progressive Coalition and send it to me:
A few of us have been working on a project that I thought might be of interest to the OpenLeft Readers. We're attempting to build an infrastructure resource called RootsWire. RootsWire is intended to be a syndicated grassroots news source for different progressive political and place blogging sites. We are (on an opt-in basis) starting to aggregate news from various sources. Our first area of concentration is to build a central source of information on the Democratic National Convention. We are inviting all of the credentialed bloggers from the Convention to join us (as well as anyone who is not credentialed but will be in Denver). Our current beta site is at http://www.rootswire.org.
Evidently, John McCain is not courting the Drinking Liberally vote:
Who knew that beer would be another entry in the list of things that John McCain wants to bomb? When our friends in Denver said that they wanted to hold an event to "save the ales", we thought they were just joking - who knew that they were on top of this urgent issue before anyone else saw it coming.
If you're in Denver, pay them a visit. If you're anywhere else, start hoarding your beer now.
