Tonight will be one of our first major events to celebrate the release of my new book, The Progressive Revolution- Gara LaMarche, Eli Pariser, Laura Flanders and myself will be talking about what I call "Big Change Moments", how they were created, and what movements like ours need to do to create the next big shift in American politics. Or, lots of good meta discussion, sponsored by Living Liberally and Progressive Book Club.
We'll be hosting a live USTREAM of the event tonight here at 7 PM EST for everyone out there on the 'tubes, so check back here then. If you're in the NYC area, come on by tonight. You can still get advance tickets here or at the door.
I'm chatting about my new book, The Progressive Revolution, with Nicole Belle over at Crooks and Liars right now (1 PM EST) for the next hour. Nicole tells me she's worked up some really challenging questions about the lack of progressive leadership in Congress, the legacy of Tom Paine, "post-partisanship", and more.
Update: Steve, alas, has completely lost his voice this morning. My good friend Mark Schmitt, executive editor of The American Prospect, will be kindly filling in this afternoon. Feel better Steve!
Today at 3:30 PM EST, Steve ClemonsMark Schmitt and I will be discussing my new book, The Progressive Revolution, at the New America Foundation in DC. Steve always has great deep thoughts and questions, so I think it will be a really excellent discussion.
If you haven't RSVPed yet, you can do so by clicking here.
And for the rest of y'all not in DC, you can watch the streaming feed here on OpenLeft using the embed below.
Things are moving right along in book world as I'm starting to hit the road. I was just in Philly last night with the inimitable Chris Bowers:
as well as Natasha Chart, Adam Bonin (whose own event today promises to be great), Atrios and the Center City Drinking Liberally crowd. We had a great discussion about Obama, the economic stimulus, and whether his post-partisanship is symbolic or real. You can view photos from that and my last two events on the book tour Flickr album by clicking here.
Also, I wanted to let y'all know about two new events:
Friday, Feb. 6th, D.C.: I'm going to be sitting down for an event with Steve Clemons at the New America Foundation to discuss The Progressive Revolution and the emerging political environment we're seeing with the new Obama administration and the progressive movement. If you're in D.C., you can RSVP by clicking here and also get a signed copy of the book while you're there.
Tuesday, February 10th, NYC: To celebrate the launch of the book, Eli Pariser from MoveOn, Gara LaMarche of Atlantic Philanthropies, and myself will be discussing what I call "Big Change Moments", how various elements in progressive movements create them, and what will need to happen to create the next one. Laura Flanders from GRITtv will be moderating. It should be a fascinating discussion. You can get tickets in advance for $10, or for $25 with a copy of The Progressive Revolution included. Buy your tickets here, and RSVP on Facebook here.
Get your copy of my new book, The Progressive Revolution: How the Best in America Came to Be
Cross-posted at Huffington Post
As we come off the high of the Inauguration, we have to get ready for what will be some very tough fights ahead. I have been doing some thinking about the challenges of this whole post-partisan theory of change, and wanted to spend some time addressing it strategically.
As you may know, I recently did an interview with Sam Stein at the Huffington Post about my new book, The Progressive Revolution: How the Best in America Came to Be, where I talked about the fact that history doesn't really support the whole post-partisan, bring everybody together theory of change-that every big change in American history has only come after a very intense and rancorous battle to the end between progressives and conservatives. That caused some heartburn for some of my friends in the Obama White House, but I stick by what I said. There are a lot of nuances and layers to what is going on right now, and we need to do some real thinking about the strategy going forward.
Get your copy of my new book, The Progressive Revolution: How the Best in America Came to Be.
For those of y'all who missed it, it was a good weekend around the blogosphere for The Progressive Revolution. On Saturday evening Jan Schakowsky and I went over to Firedoglake Book Salon for a chat about the book, and a bunch of other interesting meta questions (some teased by Adam here). Jan also had several interestings comments.
On Sunday, SusanG over at DailyKos gave the book a fantastic review, and really summarized the book's theme, argument and important very well. You can check it out here.
Many thanks to the good people at FDL and DailyKos for taking the time to read the book and have me on to chat.
I just wanted to let folks here know that the good people over at Firedoglake Book Salon, along with my dear friend Rep. Jan Schakowsky, will be hosting a chat about my new book, The Progressive Revolution. It'll be tomorrow, Saturday the 24th, from 5-7 PM EST. It's always a good time, so if you enjoy sparring in the comments here, head on over and we'll dance. Jan is also always an interesting person to chat with.
If you can't get enough of either, or at 2 PM EST today you're still struggling to make it out of bed after inaugural partying, I'm appearing on a panel with Cheryl Contee, Ari Melber, Sam Graham-Felsen and Amanda Terkel on the future of the netroots and its role in the new Administration as well as the Administration's use of technology. You can watch the live stream by clicking here. You can also ask questions in Twitter by tagging them as #NNDCSalon. If you're in DC, the event is at capacity, but hope to see you there if you've RSVP'ed already. We're also selling copies of my new book, The Progressive Revolution at the event, so make sure you get one and say hi.
Also, if you're around tomorrow evening, stop by Drinking Liberally at Timberlake's in Dupont Circle, where I'll be regaling everyone with stories of how the first few weeks of an Administration tends to go.
Of course, Mike presented it a little more diplomatically, but the point was crystal clear. And unavoidably so, since it goes to the very heart of his book.
The piece began:
Barack Obama's pledge for a post-partisan America has a skeptic in his former liaison to the progressive community.
Mike Lux, who served for nearly two months on the incoming president's transition team before recently leaving, applauded Obama for taking on the gargantuan task of trying to mend the rifts that have divided U.S. government. But in an interview with the Huffington Post on Tuesday to discuss his new book, "The Progressive Revolution," he cautioned that any effort to enact wholesale change in the country would likely come on the back of hard-fought political fights and primarily Democratic support.
"I don't believe there is [such a thing as post-partisanship]," said Lux. "My theory of change is somewhat different than the president-elect's. And I will be fascinated to see how this plays out. But I think, ultimately, even if Obama can be post-partisan on some issues, and I think he can on some issues... At the end of the day the argument between progressives and conservatives does not yield. You don't have moments in American history where everybody is thrilled to come together and the ideas happen easily. There has been no major change in American history that has happened easily, without rancor or without partisanship."
This is, of course, about as clear a message from US history as any you could name. But apparently it's not quite clear enough for folks who seem to think that Forrest Gump was a documentary. Hence, the rationale for Mike's book, which is, perhaps most importantly, to remind folks, as the subtitle says, "How the Best in America Came to Be."
Since a lot of y'all will probably be coming to D.C. for the inaugural festivities, I thought I would let you know about two events where you can stop by and say hello. They are also the first two events we've organized to promote my new book, The Progressive Revolution.
The first is a roundtable discussion I'm doing on the future of the netroots and technology, with several other interesting folks, on Wednesday, January 21st, from 2-4:30 pm at the Center for American Progress. You can find out more about the event on my website, including RSVP info, here. Space is limited. I'll also be signing and selling books there courtesy of my friends at Progressive Book Club and Politics and Prose.
The second is that on Thursday the 22nd, I'm speaking and signing books at the weekly Drinking Liberally meetup in D.C., at Timberlake's, which is in Dupont Circle. More about that on my website here.
If you're in town, stop by and say hello. Both are free and should be fun.
Also, we're starting to organize my book tour outside of D.C. and are hitting a whole bunch of cities and towns, including a Philly/NYC swing, an LA/SF trip, a couple of CO events, and a tour of the Midwest. We are adding new events all the time. If you're willing to help organize and bring a crowd in, get in touch with Adam Bink, who is planning the tour and helped organize the two above events, via Adam at theprogressiverevolution dot com.
I have big news. Today, my first book, The Progressive Revolution: How the Best in America Came to Be, comes out in bookstores, and you can order it online through my website. While you're there, please sign up for e-mail updates, as well as my Facebook and YouTube channel, and I'll keep you informed on all the happenings.
Those of you who have been following OpenLeft for awhile know that I started writing the book about a year ago. It's been a fun and exciting thing to do, made especially so because I am so fascinated by the topic: the history of how progressives and conservatives have been battling each other since 1776, and how progressives have broken through in what I call "Big Change Moments" that have fundamentally remade our country for the better. I relate all of this to the political battles I have been fighting my whole career, and to the present moment of opportunity for progressivism to once again break through in a major way. The book develops a coherent, compelling narrative about the historic battle between progressive and conservative thinking, and makes the case that when our side has won the day, the big changes that happened moved America forward and built a country we can be proud of: the Bill of Rights, the abolition of slavery, the national park system, women's suffrage, the New Deal, the civil rights movement, the New Deal, the civil rights movement- all part of a progressive heritage that is the best of America.
I have always been a big believer in building progressive infrastructure, in promoting the groups and media voices and bloggers and books that are part of our broader progressive movement in any way I can. I am heartened now to see the favor returned by so many people at different blogs who are helping me push this out through donated ad space. The folks at FDL are having me on their book salon. Friends like Arianna Huffington, Tom Daschle, Paul Begala, Donna Brazile, Wes Boyd, David Brock and David Sirota have done blurbs for me. Others like Drew Westen, Victoria Hopper, Digby, Max Bernstein, Waymon Hudson, James Boyce, Mike Connery, and Sara Robinson have agreed to do reviews for me. Netroots Nation, USAction, Media Matters, Campaign for Community Change, ACORN, and others are helping me in a wide variety of ways. It's heartening to get all their support.
I hope I will get yours, too. As I've written time after time over the years in the support of other progressive authors, books need to get off to a fast start to have a chance of making an impact. If they do, it gives the author an even better chance of getting their message out through the extra media attention a successful book brings.
My entire point in writing this book is to build the movement, to give progressives the narrative and the facts about history to carry the day in their debates. Please buy a copy, and spread the word, through your Facebook page, your listservs, and through whatever political groups you are a part of. Every dollar I make on the book will go back into supporting politics in one way or another, so I need your help.
The deal that I cut with my friends in the transition was that I would get released a couple of weeks early so that I could begin the process marketing my new book, The Progressive Revolution: How the Best in America Came to Be, which will be in bookstores and available online January 14th. I will still be talking with my friends in transition, helping good people find jobs, etc. but I am officially phasing out. I will write more about my book in the coming days, but as I am leaving transition work, I wanted to reflect on the incoming Obama administration for a moment.
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