How Are We Doing?by: Matt StollerSun Jul 29, 2007 at 15:41 |
| We started OpenLeft on July 9, with the goal of focusing on building a progressive governing majority. Politics is not about parties so much as it is about coalitions, identity, and elites, and that's what we've tried to write about. I've written about how Eliot Spitzer is paying the price for refusing to work with allies, Chris has discussed identity in MA-05 and the Democratic primary, and Mike Lux has discussed the failure of Democratic elites in the 1970s. There is a new America waiting on the other side of the transition away from an oil-dominated state, but the transition is going to be ugly. We won't get a universal internet, a sustainable energy system, a democratic media, impeachment, or an end to the national security state without strong coalitions. We're not just writing about coalitions, we're trying to help build them. That's what Legislation 2.0 with Senator Dick Durbin was about. Writing legislation online, and working with the Communications Workers of America, the Open Internet coalition, One Economy, Hands off the Internet, DaveyD, Free Press, Moveon, and many others is a model for building a coalition behind universal broadband. The significance of this experiment isn't clear, but it's gotten a lot of notice. Grant Gross at IDG News Service (the AP of the tech world) wrote about it, and it was picked up in PC World and InfoWorld. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, a paper that covers Durbin, also wrote about it, as did National Journal's Aliya Sternstein (subscription only). This effort got into political insider press, local press, and tech press. Now, there were problems. The most common complaint was that the project was hard to follow and/or intimidating. Do you agree? Do you have suggestions for improvement? Chris and I have been discussing doing something similar for residual troops in Iraq, so we're open to suggestions. On a larger note, how is the site? I still feel like I'm finding my voice, like the transition from electoral focus to governing focus is rocky and difficult. The progressive blogosphere is no longer in a growth period, institutionalizing into YearlyKos, Dailykos, the Huffington Post, Firedoglake, Americablog and of course, Talkingpointsmemo. The torch of innovation has passed to youtube stars like EmergencyCheese and Obama Girl. This is a more nonpartisan and less ideological group, comfortable with empowered citizens. And on the governance side, anti-Bush energy has turned into coalitions around energy, Iraq, media, economic justice and political legitimacy, as well as simple pieces like bringing Web 2.0 to government. I'm honestly a bit confused about what's going on in politics. Anyway, we've been trying to figure out how to make the transition from sheer partisanship to a larger and more movement-oriented perspective. So how are we doing? |