On November Fourth, the Netroots Should Be More Than an Afterthought

With the obvious caveat that the outcome of any election is uncertain until voters vote, it's fair to say that the triangle of media, political establishment and the online community have come together around the view that the McCain-Palin ticket has zigzagged off course, that Barack Obama has displayed tremendous discipline and steadfastness and that his election as our 44th president is at hand, an occurrence whose import will only be fully realized from the vantage point of history. It's an axiom of elections that things can change overnight, but this coalescing of opinion is devastating to McCain's prospects.

In the final days of the campaign, the netroots, whose ranks (and influence) have swelled since 2004, will redouble their efforts, working around the clock to elect Obama and expand the Democratic majority in Congress. They will attack McCain and Palin, fact-check the press and help lift Democrats to victory in races across the country. In their role as a central conduit of political information and opinion, they will calibrate, amplify, and disseminate the messages and themes that shape people's beliefs and bolster their convictions, providing the impetus for organizing, fundraising and GOTV. They will serve as the media's validator of first and last resort, confirming or denying traction on a daily flood of stories. And on November 4, 2008, eight long years of doing battle against the excesses of the Bush presidency will come to a triumphant conclusion.

In that seminal moment, much will be celebrated. And much forgotten. One thing that shouldn't be overlooked is the tortured path to that day and the ragtag group of activists who, from the fear of knowing that America had taken a terrible turn at the dawn of a millennium, embraced a new medium and labored tirelessly, thanklessly, defending the Constitution and the rule of law. Day after day, they congregated on websites, blogs, message boards and any other online forum they could find to write, debate, argue and resist a radical administration and a lockstep Republican Party. Mocked and feared, dismissed as 'angry' and treated with disdain, they fought their opponents, fought their own party, fought the media, fought one another, all to a single end, the defense of inviolable American ideals against a brazen onslaught from a shameful and shameless administration.

When we look back at the eight years beginning with a grim night in 2000 when George W. Bush was declared the victor over Al Gore, we should give credit to those who held tough when Bush was at the height of his swagger; we should honor the 'ten percenters' who took pride in opposing Bush when his approval rating was near 90%, the media fawning over him, the likes of Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Ashcroft, Yoo, Addington, Wolfowitz, Rove and Gonzales holding sway over the nation, with Coulter, Hannity, Savage and Limbaugh spewing hate and liberals labeled traitors.

We should acknowledge that the netroots kept hope alive when our system of checks and balances was in mortal danger, kept hope alive when civil liberties were fast becoming disposable niceties. We should realize that back when Billmon and Bob Somerby and a gentle soul with a sharp pen named Steve Gilliard were required reading, when Digby was a mystery man and Firedoglake was a new blog with an intriguing name, when citizens across the country began logging on and conversing from the heart, there was no glory in political blogging. There still isn't. No one knew if blogs would become quaint artifacts. Many hoped they would. Blogging was about speaking up for America's guiding principles, liberty, justice, equality, opportunity, democracy.

In 2005, I published an essay (mostly out of frustration) arguing that the netroots, forged out of a common purpose, weren't big enough or respected enough to change people's views but could raise their voices enough to pressure the media and elected officials and thereby influence the public debate. Things have improved -- though many bloggers still feel that their voices aren't fully appreciated. I hope that on November fourth and beyond, we will look back on these online progressives as we do others who have spoken out when it was heresy to do so, their patriotism doubted, their motives questioned, words like 'treason' used to intimidate and silence them.

The 2008 election is a watershed and when my newborn daughter is old enough to understand, I'll share my pride (as fathers do) in the small part I played in a presidential race where two brilliant and dedicated Democrats, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, smashed through impenetrable barriers and changed the world. I'll tell my daughter about the despicable ways women are treated across the globe and how she should fight every day of her life for fairness and dignity. I'll talk to her about the unspeakably ugly chapter in our history that so many brave men and women sacrificed their lives to bring to an end. Then I'll tell her where, when and how I cast my vote for President Obama, about the moment a thoughtful, decent and courageous man took the oath of office, when he reclaimed the White House, changed America, and when George W. Bush receded into that place in our minds where bad nightmares reside.

I'll tell her how the triangle closed and hope returned. But I hope I don't have to tell her that the netroots never received proper credit for their lopsided, outsized role in crushing Bushism, initiating a seismic shift away from rightwing extremism and laying the groundwork for a progressive resurgence.

Follow Peter Daou on Twitter: www.twitter.com/peterdaou

Comments

[SonofLiberty1]

In other words, it's a simple as this:

When you back a whole nation into a corner and you frighten them because you have caused them to lose their jobs, you have to expect that at some point, they are going to get mad as hell and crash out.

My advice is that when it happens, you don't want to be in front of that Steamroller, cause you aren't going to live to tell about it...

And that's what exactly is happening to the Grand Old Party right now!

[SonofLiberty1]

In the end, it comes down to one thing...

Voting...

I have a feeling that a heck of a lot of folks are going to vote, and yes, you can say with pride you worked on it...but....

Who could have predicted how bad the economy would be this close to the election?

Maybe it's going to be more about the economy than anything else?

[imajoebob]

Ned Lamont, Paging Mr. Ned Lamont ...

Great points, but where are the kudos to the real pioneer: Ned Lamont. Lamont used the Netroots to galvanize the party and defeat Lieberman in the senatorial primary in Connecticut. He was able to create an entire network of people, pundits, and sites both strategically and organically. Unfortunately, the medium wasn't yet mature enough to transcend print and television, and Lieberman had his in-house support locked up. Lamont could barely get an inch of print or 10 seconds on the news without twice as much given to Lieberman. And the number of swooning Lieberman reports was revolting (hear that Mark Davis?). But Lamont ruled the 'net, and used it for more than just an online bumper sticker, leveraging it as no one before.

But the 'roots have caught up with MM, and seemed to have forged an alliance with 24-hour cable news, feeding the beast. But the first true master of the medium has to be Lamont. Any discussion without his campaign is woefully incomplete.

[letsmakesense]

90% of us were against the big bank bailout. Obama and McCain voted for it. 70% of us are against the war. Obama and McCain voted for it. 90% of us want our boarders secured. Obama and McCain failed to led. 80% of us were against immunity for phone companys. Obama and McCain voted for immunity. Obama and McCain have failed to address the will of the people on the most important issues of the day. Next move for netroots will be to work for independent candidates as we figure out that the Demos and GOPos are the same party the corporate party. Wake up America. END THE FED starts on Nov 22 the day Kennedy was murdered for ending the FED, breaking up CIA, and refusing to go to war.

[standforpeace]

Maybe you will never get the credit that you deserve, but there are people in this country (and I count myself among them) who had their hope in democracy sustained over 8 very dark years by the efforts of those in the netroots. As we watched the country fall in line behind the madness of King George led by the cheerleading mainstream media, the netroots is where we turned to remind ourselves that we weren't the crazy ones. This is the place that we came to for community, and it's where we went to get the facts that no one else was reporting. And it's the place that we organized to resist the war. And it's the place that provided the beginning of the end for the Republican reign of terror. So thank you!

[Gary47]

Methinks Mr. Daou is just a tad bit overfull of himself. Lots of people wrote, lots of people organized, lots of people fought, lots of people worked hard to keep the dream alive There are so many people and groups in the movement not to overlook. Why don't you write a story about them too?

[lovethesinner]

If I could CHANGE one thing more through my use of the internet, it would be to literally STARVE the Bill O'Reilly's, the Michael Savage's, and the other merchants of HATE, like Sean Hannity, Glen Beck, Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Malkin and others.

I HOPE that one day, we will rise up and boycott the advertisers who support these media outlets like FOX, Clear Channel, and force the FOURTH ESTATE to stop turning us into doughy little balls of fat with hydrogenated corn syrup too stupid to read a paper because their bottom line says all that sells is INFOTAINMENT NEWS.

Here's a story that played on Bill Moyers Journal that I think explains what the real problem with talk radio is, but it applies to a milder extant to all the media. HATE IS UNACCEPTABLE as a broadcast ethic.

Watch this video, and think about the other "climate change" that threatens us:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/09122008/profile.html

Here's a link to the Wiki page about the Knoxville UU Murders (note the three books they found at the guy's house):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Knoxville_Unitarian_Universalist_church_shooting

[AnalyzeIT]

Many of us are doing that already and they are pissed. Although MSNBC has been good.

OBAMA-BIDEN

[madfeline]

I, too, want to give a shout out to Keith Olbermann. People seem to be irritated with him lately, but he was one of the first and few journalists to bring truth to the people over five years ago, night after night, when it was considered unpatriotic to challenge the Bush Evil Empire. He inspired me to congregate, "debate, argue and resist a radical administration and a lockstep Republican Party."

[ElectricSlim]

Anyone irritated with Keith is probably also irritated by Randi and Mike Malloy too. These people just don't get it. We need these voices. Screw "balanced". We don;t need balanced, we need the truth, we need it often and we need it loud. In this day the truth is NOT balanced. You have have nothing but B.S. coming from the right. Lincoln Chaffe left the party and Chris Shays thinks Palin is awesome so there is no one left anymore we can even come close to the truth on right. If anyone is annoyed by Keith get your head out of your butt.

[jinjinpinti]

Agreed. Keith's passion in this election cycle got us through many a frustrating moment, also the inimitable Rachel Maddow and the whole cast of characters who bucked the system like Jonathan Alter of Newsweek and even Chris Matthews who finally saw the light. That said, it was the blogosphere that had the most influence with ordinary people because we got to have our say and read that we were not alone.

[DocJerome]

The dawn of a new era.

[MPeter]

Absolutely. The netroots need to stay as engaged and involved with the process through and through, because they will be owners of the administration. Netroots should never again lay off and pull back because Lobbyists and Corporations, Right Wing loonies and every bigot out there is looking for an opportunity to reverse all the gains the netroots have made possible.

[DragonMama]

take your daughter to vote with you and have someone take a picture of the two of you in the voting booth together. My firstborn dropped my ballot for Kerry in the box when he was 5 months old (we have the picture, plus one of Daddy holding him while waiting in line with a sign that says 'vote here" pointing at them). My second born dropped my primary ballot for Barack into the ballot box, with a camera flashing, and there are pictures of big bro playing around the legs of the voting booth while Daddy was voting.

This is why we don't absentee vote. We make it a special family occasion. It's part of raising citizens, in our opinion. My baby baby is almost 16mo and this will be the 4th time he's been in a voting booth with mama (we had an October mayoral primary last year, which was his first time).

But first and foremost, enjoy these sleepless days. She's only exactly this small for this instant, she'll be bigger in a minute, and it's all amazing!

[joeinvt]

Let's not forget Howard Dean and the 50-state strategy either.

[MyVoiceHere]

I agree- our Gov. Dean is a big part of this election for all Democrats getting elected.

[SENATORCALLENBOWE]

COMBINED WITH THE BREAKIN NETWORKS, THE CLASS OF THE NEW GENERATION IS UNBREAKABLE :)

[GeorgeP922]

Afterthought, PLEAAAAAAAAAAAAAASE!

We are not even close, electing Obama is still just phase 1 !

You think for a second its over, we have Plenty of weak sauce Democrats to send home in the primaries, and we still need to maintain our Congressional seats and god willing get more of them in 2010.

Man, it aint over by a damn sight, we're just warmed up!

[lockewasright]

Absolutely. This is going to take a long time. It's going to be a very long process. More and BETTER democrats is not something that we're going to wait for the people in office to give us permission or cooperation on. We in the netroots aren't waiting for permission. We are going to assert ourselves.

[boymom]

Change Our World.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7R1N3Yr9-M

Please pass it on.

[honeydiva]

If he wins, i'm sure your folks won't be forgotten so make sure he wins. okay.