If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
Liberal activists rallied in Minneapolis on Thursday for Netroots Nation, a blogger conference that is now one of the largest gatherings in progressive politics.
Even if the President whom we all worked hard for cares more about the deficit than jobs, caves to the Senate Republican minority on the Bush tax cuts, and proposes draconian budget cuts for the poor, now is not the time to just give up.
In addition to pressuring the regime through sanctions and offering moral support to the Iranian people's legitimate demands, the US should follow a two-pronged approach in dealing with the opposition.
Occupying the grey area between politics and entertainment has helped Sarah Palin turn what should have been her greatest vulnerability, a lack of familiarity with the basics of American history or policy, into something of a strength.
A few years back, billionaire Charles Koch donated around $1.5 million to the FSU economics school in exchange for, well, control of the FSU economics school -- or at the very least the ability to decide which professors it hires.
Appearance at GOP fundraiser is less than 24 hours after holding up the country. Stamford, CT -- On the heels of helping to avert the looming budget...
I travel around the country a lot. You know that song, "I've been everywhere, man," well, you could say that's my theme song. I am always on the road ...
The Democratic Party lost its spine the moment it decided to cash in on corporate political money. If we don't reverse Citizens United and get the money out of our political system, progressive causes don't stand a chance.
Perhaps after the recent election losses, bloggers will stop viewing elections as the key to challenging corporate power -- and instead focus on creating power in the workplace.
As he negotiates with Republicans going forward, President Obama must not forget about his left flank. Re-engaging with his grassroots base, in a real and meaningful way would be a good place to start.
If politics continues on its present course, about the best one might expect for 2012 is that the Republicans will nominate such a nut-case that Obama will stagger to re-election. But unless he is re-elected with a mandate to carry out drastically different policies, we can anticipate continued economic pain and continuing drift of the electorate to the right. So what is the alternative? My audacious hope is that progressives can move from disillusion to action and offer the kind of political movement and counter-narrative that the president should have been leading.
We'll have lots of time to examine Obama's new course before he actually formally announces it next year. In the meantime, Obama has two short months remaining to convince the Senate to get something done to bolster his legacy.
The conservative wing of the Democratic Party just drove it over a cliff, but you'd never know if from reading Matt Bai's latest New York Times piece.
Dean's not going to run against Obama in 2012, nor should he. But that doesn't mean Obama couldn't learn a thing or two from Dean's presidential campaign and chairmanship of the party.
It's hard to develop a public narrative and a legislative record as a champion of the underdog when you spend so much time pandering to giant corporate interests.
Like the San Francisco Giants, the progressive movement will someday win if we believe in all of our players and play as hard as we can.
