Take Back America Report

Here is the first installment of the Take Back America Conference that I attended last week. This report has details about the event but I will post another "insiders" account tomorrow.

The Washington Hilton is the premier of conference centers. Large rooms with chandeliers, good sound systems with large projection screens, crowd control hallways, delicious fresh food and an amazing staff that efficiently serves the guests. Over 2000 people representing dozens of progressive organization from all over America gathered for three days.

The conferences most exciting presentation was the Apollo project. With the slogan "new energy, new jobs, new independence for America". The theory is to put brains and resources toward energy independence. The amazing aspect is the organizations that are involved. These include Democrats (Harry Reid), the National Wildlife organization, the United Steel Workers and spokesman, Robert Redford. The plan is to create a big commission to set and accomplish energy goals by combining forces like we did to put a man on the moon. Now all the Democrats have to do is GET IT OUT THERE!

The afternoon session had the theme of "Common Good" or what I like to call, "We are all in this together." My very favorite congresswoman from my state of Illinois, Rep. Jan Schakowsky spoke on healthcare. She is a diehard Dean supporter so I know she has her priorities straight. Gary Hart also spoke and I had to explain to my 22 year old daughter who this man was.

The sessions were rounded out with a "bookstore" filled with leftie books and their authors for signatures and a mini film festival with the filmmakers present to give background to its production, The film makers of the "Big Buy" relayed how they followed Ton Delay and the Texas lawyers to get the live footage.

The big event was Tuesday morning breakfast, featuring Hilary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and John Kerry. Many of us don't think of Hilary as progressive and the media knew this too so they couldn't wait to write about how the crowd would hate her.

Hilary looked great. She is slender and wore the most stunning peach suit. She was very articulate and presented her views that seem progressive including issues such as healthcare, energy and dealing with poverty. It looked like she was going to close her speech without mentioning the war but she closed her talk by explaining that the war was a difficult subject. With about 3000 people present, she received about 8 mediocre boos. But of course the media picked it up as a big division in the party. I swear the reporters had the story written before the event.

Nancy Pelosi was a buffer zone. It was interesting to see her in action after hearing so much about her. Kerry also looked primed up in campaign mode. He was introduced by a Iraqi veteran that looked like a future politician. Kerry got right into the war topic and amazingly apologized for his vote for the war. Wow, I swear if this is how he felt, I sure wish he would have said this 3 years ago. The crowd was "with him"and was relieved to hear progressive talk.

We attended a session about blogs with Jerome Armstrong, and Matt Stoller. It was fun to see the next generation of political pundits in a new media form.

There were simultaneous trainings by Progressive Majority and we saw DFA was putting one on about using the inter-net in campaigns. Our very own Tara was there. It was fun to see her explain the basics of the DFA website that we all know so well.

Russ Feingold with Wed. breakfast, our true progressive presidential candidate. People in the audience shouted, "Run, Russ, Run" and passed out stickers with the same slogan. I put it under my "Draft Gore for President" pin. There was no lecture to behave this time from the moderators. Feingold had us on our feet several times and not one boo in the audience,

The final breakout session included heavy hitters of the antiwar movement such as Joe Wilson and Move-on.org, Tom Matzzie. Even though Ned Lamont wasn't listed on the original program, he certainly was the main attraction. He spoke with conviction and authenticity. His strong antiwar message resonated with the crowd hungry for a spokesman. Questions after the talk were mostly directed to him.

The event closed with Senator Obama. The noisy lunch crowd became quiet then enthralled, as Obama wove the story of an aged lady and progressed to the kind of America our children and grandchildren could inherit. His message of warning and hope could resonate with all Americans. I have become frustrated with Obama for not being the liberal spokesman that I had envisioned he would be when he ran for office. But I have changed my expectations and have accepted that he is the perfect person to take the Democratic message to independents and Republicans. The conference ended with a standing ovation at the conclusion of his speech.

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