This week through January 1 I am appearing
on five one hour shows with Mark Riley, on his Air America show, which
can be heard on AM and XM radio and streamed, downloaded, podcast at
airamericaradio.com.
For those interested there are several large
overriding themes discussed in our analysis
of 2006 and forecasts for 2007, especially:
1. Democrats should aspire to build a new era in American history of
patriotic reform and national renewal similar to the eras of FDR
and JFK. By electing a Democratic President
and Democratic Congress in 2008 we can
inaugurate the next New Deal and New Frontier
and we should think in large, idealistic terms.
2. 2007 will see the coming together of this
growing alliance between Democratic leaders,
national grassroots, the progressive blogs and
progressive radio which will all flourish and
support each other more than pundits predict.
News and communications power will be further
shifted from MSM to independent news sites.
This new alliance will empower voters, lift the
party, widen the debate and attract political
support and investment capital. The sites
mentioned include Arianna and Huffington,
Caro Kay and makethemaccountable, Mark
Karlin and Buzzflash, Rob Kall and OpEd News
and Bob Parry and consortiumnews among
others.
3. The Democratic Party will regain its historic
leadership on natonal security by expanding
on its major gains in 2006 with Senators,
Members of Congress, and candidates with
military service addressing issues important
to our troops, vets and mlitary communities.
This appeal has the potential of establishing
a major political realignment in America that
would compare to the FDR coalition. Those
mentioned on air include the Fighting Dems
and their candidates, the Fighting Dems News
Service and new leaders such as Jim Webb.
Discussion includes the commitment of Harry
Reid as Senate leader and Nancy Pelosi as
Speaker who view America as a national
family and will act as though we are all
security moms and security dads when it
comes to our brave troops. Howard Dean,
Don Fowler and Christine Pelosi are praised
for leading on military family issues through
their work at the Democratic Nat'l Committee.
We discuss rising issues such as global warming, particularly Al Gore's
historic
leadership and the reemergence of voting
rights, social justice and "God's work must
truly be our own" as a galvanizing issue in
this new Democratic realignment.
The theme of these five hours, from Iraq to
Middle East peace, from global warming to
integrity in government, is that Democrats
can create a new majority coalition if we have the principles to stand
for a new spirit in our politics, government, and world leadership
and work together to achieve it.
2006 will leave behind the politics of division,
negativity, scandal and failure and in 2007 we
should set our sights high, and set the stage
for the next New Frontier, that can emerge in
2008.