The Future of Netroots: GOP Disruptions, DailyKos, and the Role of OfA

With Netroots Nation coming up next week, we have joining us DailyKos General Manager Will Rockafellow for today's Wilshire & Washington. We talk the future of the netroots and, now that President Obama has been in office for six months, how tactics will change online. The Republicans are certainly getting into the swing of things with the recent disruptions of congressional town hall meetings against health care reform. While these disruptions should be expected, do they have any goal beyond simple disruption? The progressive side, despite the Democrats' hold on Congress, still needs to continue its efforts in policy analysis, idea generation, information distribution, and, from sites like DailyKos, fighting the right wing noise machine and providing a positive place for intelligent progressive discussion.

A crucial question in the next couple of months will be what role Organizing for America will play; OfA is still raising money but what are they doing with it, other than countering the GOP soundbites? They have to take a more aggressive stance, as does President Obama if he hopes to actually pass a progressive health care bill. In some ways, with a number of books and documentaries coming out soon that look at how Obama won the election, this is a good time to reconsider what happened last year and see if there are disappointments in how Obama has governed. Should Obama be wrestling the headlines away from the wanton attacks on both sides and provide a laser-beam approach to domestic policy? We didn't have much serious discussion of domestic issues in all of Bush's eight years, except for the occasional GOP wedge issue like gay rights in 2004, pushed by the irredeemable Mr. Rove, so finally facing the true issues that confront this country can be incredibly daunting and confusing for Americans. If we knew what country we wished we were, we might have direction; but today, our better angels can give us only so much guidance.

We also touch on the release of Current TV journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling from North Korea, facilitated by former President Bill Clinton. He always surprises, doesn't he? But crucial questions remain: Why did the issue ride under the radar for so long? Why did Current TV and Al Gore stay so silent? (They probably didn't want to be seen as using the story as a form of publicity. Imagine how CNN would respond if Anderson Cooper had been absconded. Network would barely describe the madness that would ensue.) And why hasn't Current TV taken off as a product in the media marketplace? Maegan thinks it'll always remain a niche product, aimed at young people who are engaged in both politics and new media, bridging the gap between user-generated content and news gathering. Finally, what will Al Gore do with his social and leadership capital? The inconvenient hero to the environment has been curiously silent over the last year.

Listen to the show here, subscribe to the iTunes podcast, or use the Blog Talk Radio player:

Wilshire & Washington, the weekly Blog Talk Radio program that explores the intersection of politics, entertainment, and new media, features co-hosts Ted Johnson, Managing Editor of Variety; conservative blogger Teresa Valdez Klein (www.teresacentric.com), and liberal blogger Maegan Carberry (www.maegancarberry.com). The show airs every Wednesday at 7:30am PST on BlogTalkRadio.com.

Comments

[HonestAbbie]

These so-called grass roots attacks are hangovers from 1850's when northern Senator Sumner was
protesting against slavery being advanced. He was attacked with a cane, WHILE SITTING DOWN,
bY SOUTHERN REP. Preston Brooks.

This is an the example of the methods used to keep control of the laws passed in the nation by southern slave holding representatives. THE FINAL ACT OF AGGRESSION WAS THE SHELLING OF
FORT SUMPTER WHICH STARTED THE CIVIL WAR.

If SOUTHERNERS IE (current Republican Party) cannot control the country THEY WILL DESTROY
IT.

They must remember however, Preston Brooks died less than a year after he attacked Brooks and
THE SOUTH ALSO LOST THE CIVIL WAR.

YOUR ACTIONS AND LIES WILL CRY OUT AGAINST YOU.