The Take Back America Conference is in session. Progressives unite. Air America is reporting there is "no slime, no mud-slinging going on" between Obama and Clinton supporters. It's a gathering of the forces. I might point to the Los Angeles debate in January as evidence of what effect civility has on our democracy. I don't know what kind of filming and broadcasting the conference is doing, but podcasted coverage is available through at least Thom Hartmann's show.
The Nader team is poised to enter the progressive arena. Come September they want to be on the same floor as McCain and Barack or Clinton. And why not? I completely support the dialogue, and I think it would ultimately improve the Democratic party's platform, because progressive voices and votes would finally be answered rather than assumed.
By email, Nader's Raders went on the attack...
Let's have a full blown debate about why Clinton/Obama/McCain reject Canadian style single payer national health insurance.
Let's have a full blown debate about why Clinton/Obama/McCain would take cutting the bloated, wasteful military budget off the table.
Let's have a full blown debate about war in the Middle East, from the fertile crescent to the Straits of Hormuz.
But right now, we're focusing on putting Nader/Gonzalez on the ballot all across the country.
Here's the key rhetoric that's coming out of the conference.
“We learned since 2006 that we have to be willing to challenge legislators regardless of what party they are from,” said Robert Borosage, who kicked off the conference.
Building that capacity, he said, not only means thinking beyond the next election but “we have have to expand the bar. We have to continue to expand the vision and develop a reform agenda that’s big enough to face the challenges that we have.”
Obviously 2008 democracy aims at changing more than our voting pattern. I predict strong anti-hawk rhetoric will rear its head against a McCain/Lieberman ticket, and who knows, maybe we'll start talking about the Israel-lobby that dictates most Middle Eastern foreign policy.
