Progressives hope 'One Nation' coalition can recapture grass-roots fervor

[DCBob]

from the Wash Post..

If imitation is the highest form of flattery, the "tea party" movement must be honored. In an effort to replicate the tea party's success, 170 liberal and civil rights groups are forming a coalition that they hope will match the movement's political energy and influence. They promise to "counter the tea party narrative" and help the progressive movement find its voice again after 18 months of foundering. The large-scale attempt at liberal unity, dubbed "One Nation," will try to revive themes that energized the progressive grass roots two years ago. In a repurposing of Barack Obama's former campaign slogan, organizers are demanding "all the change" they voted for -- a poke at the White House.
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The groups involved represent the core of the first-time voters who backed Obama, including the National Council of La Raza, the Service Employees International Union, the NAACP, the AFL-CIO, and the United States Student Association. (The effort is separate from the Democratic Party's plan to spend $50 million trying to reach those same voters.)
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Liberal leaders see "much of the progressive agenda at risk in this election," said Paul Starr, a professor of public affairs at Princeton University and co-editor of the American Prospect, a liberal magazine. "There is no choice but for these groups to get together. The historical pattern is that voter turnout falls disproportionately among minorities and young people at these midterm elections, so they are fighting a historical trend."

Leaders of the groups have been meeting for about three months in a planning process that some participants called arduous, debating everything from the name of the coalition to what the branding and logo should look like. The coalition's first goal is to plan a march to "demonstrate to Congress that these agenda items have support across multiple demographics," Jealous said. The demonstration, to be held Oct. 2, will center on pressing for more government spending on job creation.

more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/11/AR2010071103540.html?hpid=topnews

I think this is good but I dont think the goal should be to copy the teapartiers.. they are destroying the GOP from within.

[Enthusiast]

1. The unrecommenders are out.

I'm all for this. Anything to move the party and legislators back to where they were historically. Capitulation to every corporate wish is no way to prepare for the future. Of course there are those that will paint this as an extremist fringe group while it is actually centrist for the Democratic Party.

[DCBob]

2. There are those who will also paint them as not extreme enough..

But any coalition, even a progressive one, needs to moderate somewhat simply to maintain the coalition.

[quaker bill]

3. Isn't October 2 a tad late?

Early September would seem more timely. Starting this late, they will have to hit the ground running hard to make any measurable difference.