Liberal Bloggers Brace for Victory

[BlueJessamine]

Liberal Bloggers Brace for Victory
Obama's Prospects Pose New Concerns for Netroots

Washigton Post by Jose A. Vargus

AUSTIN, July 20 -- "Yep, the way it's looking, we might actually win this thing . . ."

That's Markos Moulitsas talking, a.k.a. "Kos" to everyone here at Netroots Nation, the four-day liberal blogapalooza that ended Sunday at the Austin Convention Center. He's got a head cold, which explains his hoarse, strained voice, and by "we," he means the Netroots and their candidate of choice, Sen. Barack Obama. If the Netroots can be compared to high school -- still maturing, somewhat cliquish but definitely a community -- then Obama, as the presumptive nominee, had been voted Most Likely to Succeed.

Hardest Worker and Best Dressed honors went to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who kicked off Saturday morning's program with a freewheeling 40-minute "Ask the Speaker" session. ("Damn, Nancy looks grrreat in that pantsuit," a blogger was overheard saying.) Most Popular would go to Al Gore, who brought the crowd of more than 2,000 conventioneers to its feet with his surprise appearance, repeatedly asking bloggers to visit WeCanSolveIt.org, home to his new group, the Alliance for Climate Protection.

But Obama, who leads Sen. John McCain in recent national polls, is Topic A among the Netroots, his fate somewhat married to theirs. Five years ago liberal bloggers made a name for themselves at a time of defeat; Republicans controlled not just the White House but both houses in Congress. They craved a fight, and President Bush was their punching bag.

But these are changing times, and Obama, in his calls for getting past blue vs. red America, and in his recent positions on issues such as telecom immunity, is somewhat of an enigma. With the Dems taking back Congress in 2006 and the prospect of an Obama victory come November, many in the influential Netroots are left in a precarious, ambiguous position. The question is, who needs whom: Does Obama need the Netroots, or vice versa?


Article continues here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/20/AR2008072002191.html

h/t to Matt Stoller who had this to say about the article:

Jose Antonio Vargas of the Washington Post has a piece up about Netroots Nation. There was lots of coverage of the event, but it seems like it's settled into its niche; a conference with a bunch of liberal bloggers. Vargas to his credit explores the links between bloggers and mainstream issues, while still failing to grasp what makes up movement building. FISA is not the be-all and end-all of anything, it's a symbol of a government gone mad.

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=7051


Are you attending The Democratic Platform for Change? Take this with you!

The Get FISA Right group has created two fliers (one that covers constitutional rights in general, and one that covers only FISA) with 3 simple bullet points to be added to the party platform. We are asking that people take these bullet points to their local platform meetings and ask that our party restore our constitutional rights.

The Constitutional rights platform statement flier .

The FISA-only platform statement flier

Note: The flyer was made as a two-sided half sheet to save some trees. Print copies of the first page, then put those pages back into the printer drawer, and print the second page onto the back side..

Use whichever flier you feel more comfortable using.

We think that the text of these statements is simple enough that it can both help educate other attendees at the platform meetings and strong enough to provide a basis for restoring our fundamental rights when our new president and new congressional delegation take office in 2009.

http://getfisaright.com/

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/7/21/14324/5673?new=true