Netroots Nation began 4 years ago under the name Yearly Kos, a chance for liberal bloggers, and their readers from sites like Dailykos.com, to meet face-to-face. For many of the participants this free-wheeling gathering is the first time to put faces to names…or at least faces to usernames.
The success of that first gathering put the event on the Democratic primary map in 2007. The entire field of contenders, including Senators Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards attended to answer questions and meet with conference participants. By 2008, the event was firmly established and drew House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for a contentious session focused on President Bush’s warrantless wire-tapping session, as well as a surprise keynote from Al Gore.
Now, with the Democrats properly in power, the conference has become one of the most important political meetings of the year, not only for bloggers but for most mainstream progressive advocacy organizations, unions, think tanks, and pressure groups. There are T-shirts from a non-partisan poverty campaign group in the gift bags, progressive members of congress wandering the convention center, and the chance to take batting practice on the field at PNC Ballpark, courtesy of the steel workers union.
It couldn’t have come at a more opportune moment. Seven months into the Obama Administration, Democrats are enduring a long, hot summer of their own, dominated by the political scrap around health care reform. The proposed legislation has provoked a strong backlash from beleaguered Republicans, who have activated their base by accusing Obama of everything from turn the United States into a socialist nation, to setting up “death panels” to euthanize the elderly (supposedly in the mold of the British NHS). http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/british-twitterers-rush-to-defend-hawking-nhs-from-us-death-panel-attacks.php
The attendees last week certainly needed a pick-me-up. Elsewhere around the country usually staid August town hall events hosted by senators and congressman have turned into shouting matches, with a noisy minority attacking health care reform, egged on on the airwaves by Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Sarah Palin. The legislation itself, meanwhile, is stalled in Congress,
In the end the rallying cry came in two parts, from two very different Democratic leaders: Bill Clinton and Howard Dean.
The jet-setting former President, fresh off his heroic turn in North Korea and what was surely an equally exciting 63rd Birthday party in Las Vegas, gave the keynote address on the opening night. Running a truly Clintonian hour and forty minutes late, Clinton seemed tired – requiring, it was said, multiple cups of coffee on the ride from the airport to the convention center – but still more than up to the task. He spoke for over an hour, without notes on a broad range of topics.
Less than computer literate, but still insatiable reader, Clinton began by flattering his audience: his morning clips contain an ever-increasing number of printed-out blog posts, many of them on healthcare. From there he waxed introspective on the politics of his own presidency and today. The drama kicked off when progressive and GLBT activist Lane Hudson shouted out “Mr. President, will you call for a repeal of DOMA [the Defense of Marriage Act] and Don't Ask, Don't Tell? Right now?”
President Clinton’s calm demeanor quickly turned stormy and the crowd witnessed a flash of the legendary Clinton temper as he shot back at Hudson in defense of his record:
You want to talk about Don't Ask Don't Tell, I'll tell you exactly what happened. You couldn't deliver me any support in the Congress, and they voted by a veto-proof majority in both houses against my attempt to let gays serve in the military, and the media supported them. They raised all kinds of devilment. And all most of you did was to attack me instead of getting me some support in the Congress. Now that's the truth.
It was Clinton at his best, showing passion and just enough restraint, and it won the crowd to his side. The speech ended in a standing ovation and seemed only to be missing the traditional playing of “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow” as he waved to the crowd and excited the stage. Participants later gave a spirited rendition around 2:00am at a local karaoke bar.
For those who were awake at 9:00am on the closing day, the other moment of inspiration came from Dean. He spoke about health care, reminding the faithful about the importance of including a “public” insurance option, in which the government will effectively set up its own insurance scheme as part of mooted health reforms. Insurance companies, unsurprisingly, aren't keen on this competition, but Dean argued: “the only health care reform worth doing is the public option. If you give away the public option you have no health care reform.”
On the opposition, he added “The Republican party is running on anger and cynicism. They are polling for anger points and mobilizing the far right of the party…Their anger isn't logical. And they are appealing to the fringe.”
It was red meat for a room where many first became active in politics during the heady days of Dean’s dark horse 2004 run for the presidency. After he eventually lost out to John Kerry those same supporters catapulted him into the ultimate insider job, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, where he invested in a “fifty state strategy” that many credit with laying the ground work for Democratic victories in 2006 and 2008.
Now Dr. Dean – a longtime physician before he entered politics – is back on the outside, providing hope amidst a fierce battle over the role of government in health care reform:
“We're winning. Things have changed a lot. The anti-public option people are desperate. that's why they are making things up and appealing to the fringe. We're in good shape. We're going to win this fight.”
Is the good doctor right? The actions of the faithful gathered this week at the David Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh will go a long way towards answering that question.When Netroots Nation began 4 years ago it was called the name Yearly Kos, a chance for liberal bloggers, and their readers from sites like Dailykos.com, to meet face-to-face. For many of the participants this freewheeling gathering is the first time to put faces to names…or at least faces to usernames.
With the Democrats finally in power, the annual Netroots conference (see my first update here), has become one of the most important political meetings of the year—not only for bloggers but for most mainstream progressive advocacy organisations, unions, think tanks, and pressure groups. There are T-shirts from a non-partisan poverty campaign group in the gift bags, progressive members of congress wandering the convention center, and the chance to take batting practice on the field at PNC Ballpark, courtesy of the steel workers union.
This year, it couldn’t have happened at a more opportune moment. Seven months into the Obama administration, Democrats are enduring a long, hot summer of their own, dominated by the political scrap around healthcare reform (see Faisal Islam's article on this in the forthcoming issue of Prospect). The proposed legislation has provoked a strong backlash from beleaguered Republicans, who have activated their base by accusing Obama of everything from turn the United States into a socialist nation, to setting up “death panels” to euthanise the elderly (supposedly in the mold of the British NHS).
So attendees last week certainly needed a pick-me-up. Elsewhere around the country, usually staid August town hall events hosted by senators and congressman have turned into shouting matches, with a noisy minority attacking healthcare reform, egged on on the airwaves by Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and Sarah Palin. The legislation itself, meanwhile, is stalled in Congress.
In the end, the much-needed rallying cry came in two parts, from two very different Democratic leaders: Bill Clinton and Howard Dean.
The jet-setting former president, fresh off his heroic turn in North Korea and what was surely an equally exciting 63rd birthday party in Las Vegas, gave the keynote address on the opening night. Running a truly Clintonian hour and forty minutes late, Clinton seemed tired—requiring, it was said, multiple cups of coffee on the ride from the airport to the convention centre—but still more than up to the task. He spoke for over an hour without notes on a broad range of topics.
Less than computer literate, but still insatiable reader, Clinton began by flattering his audience: his morning clips contain an ever-increasing number of printed-out blog posts, many of them on healthcare. From there he waxed introspective on the politics of his own presidency and today. The drama kicked off when progressive and GLBT activist Lane Hudson shouted out, “Mr. President, will you call for a repeal of DOMA [the Defense of Marriage Act] and Don't Ask, Don't Tell? Right now?”
President Clinton’s calm demeanor quickly turned stormy and the crowd witnessed a flash of the legendary Clinton temper as he shot back at Hudson in defense of his record: "You want to talk about Don't Ask Don't Tell, I'll tell you exactly what happened. You couldn't deliver me any support in the Congress, and they voted by a veto-proof majority in both houses against my attempt to let gays serve in the military, and the media supported them. They raised all kinds of devilment. And all most of you did was to attack me instead of getting me some support in the Congress. Now that's the truth."
It was Clinton at his best, showing passion and just enough restraint, and it won the crowd to his side. The speech ended in a standing ovation and seemed only to be missing the traditional playing of “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow” as he waved to the crowd and exited the stage. Participants later gave a spirited rendition around 2am at a local karaoke bar.
For those who were awake at 9am on the closing day, the other moment of inspiration came from Dean. He spoke about healthcare, reminding the faithful about the importance of including a public insurance option, in which the government will effectively set up its own insurance scheme as part of mooted health reforms. Insurance companies, unsurprisingly, aren't keen on this competition, but Dean argued: “the only healthcare reform worth doing is the public option. If you give away the public option you have no healthcare reform.”
On the opposition, he added: “The Republican party is running on anger and cynicism. They are polling for anger points and mobilising the far right of the party…Their anger isn't logical. And they are appealing to the fringe.”
It was red meat for a room where many first became active in politics during the heady days of Dean’s dark horse 2004 run for the presidency. After he eventually lost out to John Kerry those same supporters catapulted him into the ultimate insider job, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, where he invested in a “50-state strategy” that many credit with laying the ground work for Democratic victories in 2006 and 2008.
Now Dr Dean—a longtime physician before he entered politics—is back on the outside, providing hope amidst a fierce battle over the role of government in health reform: “We're winning. Things have changed a lot. The anti-public option people are desperate, that's why they are making things up and appealing to the fringe. We're in good shape. We're going to win this fight.”
Is the good doctor right? The actions of the faithful gathered this week at the David Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh will go a long way towards answering that question.
