Liberal 'netroots' convention will test Democratic activists

[NJmaverick]

Below are a few snippets of a very good article that discusses the Netroots liberal activism and all the difficult issues faced by them and the Dems. It looks at the issue from all sides and is quite informative. I urge everyone to read the whole article and not just the couple of paragraphs I provided.

They'll probably be told that (a) Washington works in complex, deliberate ways, and one should be happy to achieve 80 percent of one's goals, and (b) since Democrats took control of Washington 18 months ago, they've won the enactment of historic legislation on health care, economic stimulus and financial regulation — no small achievements.
While Netroots Nation leaders are sophisticated enough to understand, they're also torn. Should they keep pushing hard for more accomplishments this year — perhaps on energy, climate change, immigration and job creation — knowing well that most Democrats in Congress, worried about re-election prospects, are unlikely to go along? Or should they agree to compromise and incremental progress?


Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/16/1733888/liberal-netroots-convention-will.html#ixzz0tx2NQjqn

Those familiar with Washington, though, know that getting things done takes not only 218 of the 255 Democrats in the House of Representatives — rarely easy when at least 50 of them consider themselves moderates — but also 60 senators in a chamber where the party controls 58 seats. (It will become 59 on Tuesday when a new West Virginia senator, Carte Goodwin, is sworn in to replace the late Robert Byrd.)
"The process of how do you deal with power has been a learning process, and people have struggled with it," said Robert Borosage, a co-director of Campaign for America's Future, a liberal group.
Will Marshall, the president of the Progressive Policy Institute, a moderate Democratic research group, put the dilemma differently:
"Have they matured?" he asked of the netroots. "They have to decide whether they want to make the grubby political compromises often needed to govern effectively."
There's another big question to be answered at this gathering: How does the Democratic Party deal with them?


Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/16/1733888/liberal-netroots-convention-will.html#ixzz0tx2Ynz00

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/16/1733888/liberal-netroots-convention-will.html

[msongs]

1. uh oh you said a dirty word on DU and in democratic party Inc circles nt

[NJmaverick]

3. How is it a dirty word?

[SidDithers]

2. K&R...

thanks for posting.

Sid

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. I went to Netroots last year and didn't find those folks all that far left

They booed Code Pink. There were single payer advocates there who didn't get much attention. A gay rights activist was booed. The best conference session I went to was Don Siegelman and it was sparsely attended.

The best part for me was hanging out with Hissyspit and sharonRB.

But I've attended lots of progressive conferences and this one was more mainstream than progressive. I would expect no less this year.