Well, Netroots Nation is over and now I’m waiting for WaterFire here in Providence RI, so I figured I’d offer some comments. Van Jones provided the final keynote address, humorously poking fun at the media that’s been saying the netroots is done and depressed over the Wisconsin loss. What are we going to do, cry over mean tweets from gloating conservatives? He says. Not so much.
He made the case that the netroots and grassroots need a two-tiered strategy going forward: 1. Elect the President. We get nothing without him. 2. Have a plan in place to hold his feet to the fire after the election
It’s something the netroots have been very bad about thus far — organizing after a victory. It lets things like the Tea Party come to be.
It was a common theme all convention; even David was talking about it re:Deval Patrick’s campaing in 06.
The good news is we can kill two birds with one stone in Massachusetts. Elizabeth Warren has made it completely clear that she’s not afraid to tell the President when a plan doesn’t go far enough. She expects more and she demands more.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a Senator who, instead of working to undermine and water down legislation before he signs it and claims bipartisan victory, told Harry Reid and the President that they need to actually improve something to get their vote? That’s pretty much the progressive holy grail.
Part of being well organized is having someone on the inside who we can go to and who will listen. It allows us to create more effective strategies from the outside.
Well, that’s what I think.
There were a lot of things going on at Netroots Nation that I’m still mulling over. More blogs to come.
We also must elect allies to Congress, which includes not being afraid to primary incumbents as Lord knows the Tea Party has no such reservations when in comes to Republicans. We must also inundate Congress with communications insisting that they support the President as legislation comes up. Probably my biggest frustration with both our Governor and President post-election is that I rarely got emails saying “Call your delegation now and tell them to support…” That would have been and easy and obvious way to keep the grassroots engaged.
I understand the frustration of Democrats who won’t support progressive legislation, but I do think you have to be careful about primarying a Democratic incumbent. It may feel good, but it’s a risky strategy, since incumbents are difficult to defeat and you don’t always get a better Democrat in office. You can weaken the incumbent and lose the seat altogether, or you can burn bridges and push the candidate toward even more big money and away from your positions. Better IMO to come up with great candidates to challenge incumbent Republicans, as we’ve got with Elizabeth Warren.
The Tea Party has already shown the power of just a threat of a primary. Republicans know that anyone can become a target and therefore have to at minimum pay lip-service to this faction. Used wisely, the primary challenge can be a useful tool in the progressive toolbox.