An insider goes outside

by: Mike Lux

Tue Aug 17, 2010 at 13:30


Remember how your mom used to tell you to go outside and play so you could get some fresh air and sunshine? That’s kind of how I feel today. This old insider, who has had one foot outside for a while now, is going to play with the kids outside for a while.

When Matt Stoller and Chris Bowers and I decided to start OpenLeft a little over 3 years ago, we thought it would be worthwhile to have a site where there was some dialogue and interplay between an old DC insider like me and some of the really smart and strategic voices from the blogosphere. We’ve had more than our share of fascinating discussions, entertaining debates, and innovative activist projects, and I am very proud of the role OpenLeft has played in the blogosphere.

When Markos approached Chris and I to work with DailyKos and help turn it into, in Markos’ words, “an activist powerhouse”, we were excited to sign up. The potential for working with the DailyKos community to build a platform for citizen activism is enormous, and we are both looking forward to being a part of helping it blossom and grow. In addition to that, I am excited to help Markos continue to build a truly dynamic media platform. The opportunity to work with him, Chris, and the entire DailyKos community is extraordinary.

As for OpenLeft, we are exploring what will happen next. Chris needs to dive full-time into working at DailyKos, and he was our editor and heart and soul, so him being gone causes us to re-evaluate everything. I will continue to write some for OpenLeft, as will Adam Bink and some of our other talented writers, but I have never been even close to a full-time presence, and since I will be increasingly working with DailyKos, I will have less time at OpenLeft than before.

One final note about my work going forward: I have also begun work this summer with MoveOn.org on their exciting project to clean up the corporate corruption in DC. While this project is currently focused on shaping the 2010 electoral dialogue, it will be a campaign we will need to keep on for years to come. To be working with both DailyKos and MoveOn.org, two of the leading institutions in the world of the progressive netroots, is an honor and a privilege.

No matter what happens, I will however remain an insider. Once they inject you with the insider virus, it does change your DNA a bit. I know some folks think that makes me intrinsically evil (one of my all time favorite comments on a blog post came the other day when someone said that because I knew Rahm Emanuel, that automatically made me a bad guy). But I hope I can work with the DailyKos community, as well as with OpenLeft and MoveOn, to use my insider knowledge to help the entire movement get better at shaking up what happens inside, and to be a bridge between the other progressive insiders that are involved in national politics and the progressive netroots community. For all my insider-y status, my roots are in the deep and wonderful tradition of progressive movement politics- Alinsky-style community organizing, the labor movement, the movements of the 1960s. Building on that history and tradition, I look forward to working with all of you to create a stronger progressive movement in the future.

Mike Lux :: An insider goes outside

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An insider goes outside | 17 comments
Mike, it'd be good for Open Left (4.00 / 11)
to get a female front pager.

Good luck at Daily Kos. Personally, I wish progressives were working to build alternatives to Daily Kos, but I guess there are different ways to skin a corporatist.  

 
I agree 110% (4.00 / 3)
Agree that Open Left should take advantage of the opening created by the departure of Bowers and near departure of Lux to tap some established, or better yet emerging, female front pagers. Building new institutions inside the dying institutions of old and all that.

Did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts? Hot ashes for trees? Hot air for a cool breeze? And cold comfort for change?
[ Parent ]  
I third this (4.00 / 1)
and suggested it to Adam and Paul at the OpenLeft Caucus at Netroots Nation.

Save Our Schools! March & National Call to Action, July 28-31, 2011 in Washington, DC: http://www.saveourschoolsmarch…
[ Parent ]  
Good luck, go forth and do well – (4.00 / 3)
Mike:

Good luck to you in your new job –

One thought about something you wrote above –

one of my all time favorite comments on a blog post came the other day when someone said that because I knew Rahm Emanuel, that automatically made me a bad guy

While I can’t be sure what the person was trying to say and don’t agree with the idea of guilt by association I can speculate about what he meant.  As far as this member of the Left goes Rahm Emanuel is actually quite evil.  He’s the perfect example of what is wrong with the Democratic Party and the Obama Administration – the game is all that counts, believe in nothing, sell your soul for Corporate $’s and show contempt and hatred for the base of the Party because you can – they always will come home in the end.  I know you won’t see this over at the Daily Kos, they worship Obama and see their job as O’s rubber stamp, but the cynical activities of Rahm and friends is tearing the Democratic Party apart so I can understand where the comment was coming from.  Rahm & Company have turned their backs on the base of the Democratic Party and now are set to attack social security because Rahm’s and O’s owners, Wall Street and the Banks have told them to do so –

So be careful over in Kos land – its always dangerous to show blind loyalty to a blundering oracle.

 
blind loyalty (0.00 / 0)
I don’t agree that DK has shown blind loyalty to Obama, a lot of writers over there are critical of him quite frequently.
[ Parent ]  
seriously? (0.00 / 0)
the site`s founder threatened to primary Kucinich for holding true to his promise on the mandate/public option
[ Parent ]  
the comment (which I made) in context (4.00 / 1)
is that you’re on a first-name basis with that scumbag, and therefore probably not credible as an actual progressive

also, Clinton White House

also, constantly referring to the health care bill as an accomplishment

and thanks for making the commenters seem important to the site by naming names

you never did explain why you feel the need to cite anonymous sources who claim Obama is actually listening to progressives

howabout that HUD meeting with AEI and zero community activist groups, eh?

 
automatic evil? (0.00 / 0)
Um, being on a first name basis with someone means you have known them for a while, doesn’t it? How many people that you have known for 30 years do you not call them by their first names? But it ain’t like we are particularly friendly, or have agreed on a whole lot for a long time.
And I have never understood the position that anyone who was a part of the Clinton WH was automatically evil. There were several of us who came in from progressive groups (in my case labor), fought hard for progressive positions while there, and left to go back to the progressive movement.
Yeah, we disagree on health care. Along with Bernie Sanders, Raul Grijalva, Howard Dean, Barbara Lee, Rich Trumka, and all those other appalling sellouts, in the end, I thought it was a step forward and worth doing in spite of the disappointments. I guess that makes all of us evil too.
Your definition of progressive is very, very small.
[ Parent ]  
Dean certainly does not back Romneycare (0.00 / 0)
also, you didn`t answer my substantive question about anonymous sources…it`s like I`m really talking to a White House spokesperson (because you`re also a centrist in progressive clothing)
[ Parent ]  
Best of luck Mike! (0.00 / 0)
Sounds like exciting stuff you’ll be working on.

Save Our Schools! March & National Call to Action, July 28-31, 2011 in Washington, DC: http://www.saveourschoolsmarch…
 
Filling the Bowers niche (4.00 / 3)
Some awfully big shoes to fill, but there must be some smart young talent out there deserving of a bigger platform who could provide the ‘state of play,’ tactics/strategy, whip count/whipping etc. blogging that has been OL’s trademark. There’s also a utility to having this done outside the fervent DKos, FDL, etc. communities, which ensures a more dispassionate, ‘reality-based’ political analysis. I hope someone can return that to OL.

Self-refuting Christine O’Donnell is proof monkeys are still evolving into humans
 
Hear Hear (4.00 / 3)
But what about middle-aged or OLD smart talent out there? What is it about youth that somehow is better in all cases?

I’ve often wondered if Open Left has a business plan, not so much in the financial sense as the organizational sense. The real beauty of the site is how people present ideas with facts. If you can’t back up what you say, you get called on it and you’re expected to respond. That’s very different from some other sites I’ve tried to read over the years.

If Open Left does not have a business plan, perhaps the community should identify what sorts of voices we want to hear then crowd source the problem by trying to recruit people to cross post here (worst case) or post here (best case). What has worked up until this moment is the balance of voices and interests. I will miss the brass tacks statistics till you die approach of Chris Bowers, for example. And while I often disagreed with Mike on issues, I really valued his insider voice. It’s hard, as a citizen and a voter, to gauge my judgement without the insight people like Mike can provide. Open Left needs to find these kinds of voices to replace Chris and Mike, as well as add new voices (like promoting Paul to week days and jeffbinnc, finding more women front pagers, and old farts and the middle aged).

So here’s hoping Open Left doesn’t just drift some place with these departures. This is a very special community as progressive communities go.

[ Parent ]  
As a 50-something… (0.00 / 0)
…on the way to geezerdom, it seems most of the Internets is young…

Self-refuting Christine O’Donnell is proof monkeys are still evolving into humans
[ Parent ]  
Best Wishes, Mike (0.00 / 0)
Now you tell me after getting me up to my eyeballs in that Pepsi/Progressive Slate deal.  What a prime pain in the butt that daily “sign in process” is.  Thanks a bunch. 😉

Lord knows, we gotta do something to effect the change Obama promised but seem incapable of delivering.  I guess if that means we lose you and Chris to other – bigger – venues, it’s all for the good.  Selfishly, I’d wish otherwise, but I have a few altruistic instincts.

Seemed inevitable that some changes would happen after NN2010.  Where we were was part of what got Obama elected… but clearly that ain’t enough to move us forward.

Personally, I find DKos unpalatable.  I have a number of individual writers bookmarked, and check in on ’em periodically… but I actively avoid the threads.  Pretty much feel the same way about The Huffington Post and the greater part of Salon, as well.  It’d be nice if DKos could do something like email alerts for particular writers as HuffPo does.  I’m always interested in what Dan Froomkin and his troops are up to.  Email alerts are the least painful way for me to follow them.  I’d readily sign up for the same thing from Kos.

Anyway.  Best of luck in your projects going forward.  And, thanks for all the work you’ve done here – and, the time you can afford us here going forward.

 
Best of luck Mike (0.00 / 0)
Even though you’ve been infected, your point of view is good to hear. This sucks, but in a good way I guess.

If teaching is so easy, then by all means get your degree, pass your certification test(s), get your license, and see if you can last longer than the five years in the classroom 50% of those who enter the profession never make it to.
 
Peace, Mike (0.00 / 0)
and thanks for all the great stuff you’ve posted. I’ve learned a lot and you’ve kept me sane.
 
Best wishes Mike (0.00 / 0)
Though I’ll miss reading your posts, I’m glad both you and Chris appear to be focusing more on “infrastructure development” for a next generation of progressive community media.  While I much prefer the discussions at OL vs. dkos, the latter seems like a good place to apply this shift. This kind of development is much needed and hopefully will significantly increase leverage in promoting progressive change.  I don’t know where it will lead, but Marcos is fortunate to have you two as key members of the team and community he’s trying to build–imperfect as it is.
 
An insider goes outside | 17 comments
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