The White House dispatched Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer for a different kind of press conference on Friday in Minneapolis, where he tangled with a prominent writer known only as Angry Mouse. Hundreds of other writers were there, too, since Pfeiffer was headlining a conference for liberal bloggers.
The skepticism facing Pfeiffer is dominating coverage of this year's Netroots Nation, along with broader stories recounting liberals' "frustration" and disappointment with President Obama. But having attended this conference six years in a row (my life is the Internet), I think these stories miss the mark. They fit into a precooked narrative about "Progressives vs. Obama," which is well-known, easy to write and, yes, partly true. Some of the most active and committed liberals in any area are going to have informed critiques of elected Democrats (from the White House on down). But that's not what Netroots is about.
This conference is unusual because it was hatched online by activists, not any funded group with a formal agenda, and then evolved into a large and relevant draw for the upper echelons of the Democratic Party (Pelosi, Reid, Both Clintons, Gore, Dean). But it's not focused on them. Obama felt the need to attend in person in 2007, when he was running for president, along with every other major candidate. But in the off years, when fewer candidates (and the reporters who trail them) drop in, the conference goes on, with three days of programming on policy, organizing, writing, publishing and politics. Most of the time and energy is devoted to wonky, detailed discussions -- not presidential scheming or Obama-bashing.
For example, I'm writing this post from a session on government surveillance of American citizens, with two ACLU lawyers, policy blogger Marcy Wheeler, who made her name during the Libby trial, and Julian Sanchez, a libertarian writer. The ACLU is talking about S. 913, Sen. Rockefeller's bill to create a one-stop ban on Internet tracking; Wheeler is detailing a new law enforcement program to use nail polish purchases in data mining to target potential terrorists. Along the way, they are noting which Democrats need to be pushed on civil liberties, flagging who is in town for the conference (Franken, Wasserman-Shultz). But the goal is to influence policy, with the elected officials as a tool. They're not basking in a meta-political discussion of how "warm" people feel towards Obama, or whether they "have anywhere else to go."
Still, like so many political activities, the press coverage here is doled out inversely. So these wonky panels are packed but undocumented, while the handful of sessions about Obama's relationship with the left looks like a Green Room. There were 42 panels on the first day, for example, but the one titled "What to Do When the President is Just Not That Into You" kept showing up in articles about the conference. There were definitely more nationally-themed fireworks at that talk, but I thought the session on local labor organizing in Wisconsin, for example, was more significant.
Then again, who cares, right? Bloggers talking about reporters talking about bloggers sounds pretty irrelevant. The media and political perception of The Base/The Left matters, however. Gatherings like this -- with 2,400 people, this is one of the largest liberal conferences -- are one of the few times when real people and in-person reporting could substitute for recycled narratives about Obama angst. Maybe that's asking too much.
Originally published at The Nation.
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Since the GOP is afraid of its right-most members they submit readily. The Democrats do not fear the left-most members since they will not work hard to punish anyone who betrays them as the right wingers are sure to.
Still too early to have any grasp of who the GOP will invest in. I hope its another incompetent oaf a la Mccain.
I don't imagine you're any good at chess.
One of the largest? Where are the rest and why aren't there bigger conferences to rival CPAC etc? Where is the liberal or progressive infrastructure which informs, advances, and publicizes the progressive agenda to ordinary Americans? How can Obama or any other elected official pass left-of-center policies without the backing and publicity of organized liberal think tanks and other organizations which openly and unabashedly operate in the public sphere...
The right gets massive funding from the guys who buy legislation. The left is not funded in the same fashion. The left is also able to communicate in a fashion that does not require personal appearances so that loud screams can set straight potential candidates.
It all boils down to this. Do we want to return to the days of Republican rule like between 2000-2007 when they and Bush spent us into oblivion with two wars and two tax breaks for the richest (3 now) and a crashed economy and lost 8 MILLION JOBS? Or do they want to get off their dead, whiny butts and see more progressives in Congress, take back the House, put more progressives in the Senate and keep Obama in the WH ?? Surely they realize that Republicans are playing a hostage game of chicken, with the debt ceiling and blackmailing Democrats to accept Radical Ryan's budget and his KILLING GRANNY with Medicare vouchers. Next is Social Security, both of which Republicans have hated and tried to eliminate over the years.
Excerpt:
" Big crowds for panels with titles like "Where Crazy Comes From: Reckless Republicans in State Legislatures," and "After Citizens United: Combating Corporate Power." These rooms are so full that bloggers sit cross-legged on the floor with laptops. Meanwhile, the crowd for a panel about how political groups should lobby Congress can be counted on three hands."
You will get no arguement from me on the cowardly congressional Democrats and had they been Obama Democrats, they would have helped him more. Pelsoi did try to forward his agenda with blue dogs nipping at her heels and going Republican.
I'm a "Granny" and I'm telling you that the Republicans are lying and they intend to hand out vouchers that will be worthless. That's no scaring Granny.....that's telling the truth,
The ACA does fix Medicare in that they are taking on these Advantage Supplements.
I don't think the Democrats plan has ever been heard of, since the press have not covered it. It's a lot better than Radical Ryan's that he got from the Heritage Foundation numbers.
How can anyone make this claim? Long-term government spending (as a % of GDP) has increased over the past 100 years. Combined federal, state, and local government spending is over 40% of GDP now and will soon hit 50%. At the current rate of growth....Â.governmenÂt will be 100% of GDP within 100 years. There will be no business, there will be no private sector, nothing...Â.just governmentÂ. And you say the "progressiÂves" are losing??? You say "Obama" is losing ??? The progressivÂes have already won...it's a done deal....anÂd there is nothing we on the right can do to stop you
The wealthy in the private sector continue to dominate the USA and that's not changing anytime soon or within the next 100 years...
You can come down from that ledge now...
balanced media coverage of the new (3rd) war, the foreclosure crisis, the watered-down fin reg mess, the bankster enabling - want that? me too!
so what? it is what it is. your candidate was massaged and toe-sucked into the Oval with a resume that fit on an index card. sorry if you now want us to devote (more!) attention to two groups of Wisconsin civil servants fighting over which side gets more of the taxpayer loot. I have heard plenty of that, but it is a free country.
yawn. bored with whining by people who have already had several trips to the well.
This website would be very open to carry a story like that as would the mainstream media.. Why? BECAUSE THEY HAVE NEVER DONE THAT BEFORE.....
We had all three branches for two years and only moved right. That is not what I voted for in 08.