July 28, 2004
Take Back America conference (starring Howard Dean, Michael Moore, and Robert Reich)
by Jonathan Watterson, the Rambling Rover
Omigod what a thrill. I got to see the two politicians I?ve worked hardest for, and been most passionate about, and the biggest Hollywood political star, like, ever, all in one afternoon. The Take Back America conference, sponsored by Campaign for America?s Future, was the place to be this afternoon. There was a whole lineup of prominent speakers in addition to the stars, and overall the feeling was one of optimism and determination to work hard to get the Democratic Party to pay attention to issues of social justice. It was a good antidote to the rah-rah of the Convention.
I arrived at the Cambridge Royal Sonesta Hotel with two SC friends at 11:30 and took places a couple hundred places back in the line for the 2:00 forum. Turns out they got over 3000 RSVPs for the 700-capacity event. The ballroom was packed with excited people, and they made the classy but questionable choice to serve us coffee (two of us got stains on our shirts). Before the speeches began, an MSNBC reporter interviewed my friend Robin, and her headshot ended up on msnbc.com. Represent, yo!
The humming crowd was thrilled to see Dr. Dean take the stage. He gave a version of the speech he gave us on Sunday, adapted for a more public crowd (rather than a throng of supporters). He emphasized the need for unity among Democrats and progressives to support Kerry in overthrowing Bush, and the importance of supporting progressive candidates and causes in the red states. Dean?s familiar trick is to begin listing states (a la Iowa), which always draws applause, but only we hard-cores get to see him scream. He plugged the ?Dean Dozen? lists of DFA-supported candidates for local office and encouraged us to run for, and support candidates for, local offices like mayor and school board and library commission. And he promoted the new Dean-ish decentralized mode of politics that?s creeping into mainstream campaigns, using blogs and meetups and word of mouth to complement top-down campaign management. I, of course, spent about a month this past winter volunteering for the Dean campaign, working with campaign operatives that had been brought into Columbia to prepare for the SC primary, and seeing my hero twice this week has been a thrill and reinforced the rightness of the cause I?ve adopted.
Robert Reich was secretary of labor under Clinton in the early nineties, and in 2002 he ran for governor of Massachusetts. I gave many hours to his reform-minded campaign, and continue to admire his brains and his tireless championship of working Americans. He stepped up to the podium with a new short joke. It used to be he would put a box down behind the podium, step up onto it, and announce that he?s the only candidate who has a platform (rim shot). This time he stood his 4? 10 1/2? frame behind the podium, his chin barely clearing it, told his joke about how he was six feet tall when he started fighting Republicans, and slowly lifted himself onto his platform as he said that our activist energy was causing him to ?rise up like a phoenix!? He gave many of his familiar insights into economics. To wit, it?s not ?trickle down? but ?trickle on.? Tax breaks to the rich do not stimulate the economy, because when you give them money back they save it, they don?t spend it, while tax breaks to middle-class Americans go straight back into the economy as we find ourselves with more spending power. The rich do invest extra money they have, but they?re just as likely to invest it abroad as here. Reich has a history as a burr in the side of complacent Democrats; after all, he nearly beat Shannon O?brien for the gubernatorial nomination, and he dissed his former co-worker Al Gore by endorsing Bill Bradley for president. So when he tells us to go out and support Kerry, people should listen. By the way, in the ballroom there I ran into Kim, the fellow Reich supporter who first emailed me about this guy Howard Dean whom many Reich folks were supporting. So it?s all connected, you see.
Michael Moore was several hours late in arriving; I heard later that a morning appointment was delayed and he was late in everything today. Meanwhile, hundreds disappointed not to have gotten into the packed ballroom formed their own meeting outside, and the speakers began to go out to speak to them after finishing with us. Other speakers, like the heads of the AFL-CIO and the NEA, gave predictably intelligent and impassioned speeches about the needs of their constituents and of sympathetic public officers, while we waited for Moore.
Oh boy was it worth the wait. Moore gave us the burst of raw emotion this crowd needed. He mostly played nice with the Democrats, encouraging us to support Kerry and not to let any ideological differences discourage us. The most creative and useful point he made was addressed at the question of how to reconcile Kerry?s vote in favor of the war in Iraq. He compared it to a soldier who apologized to him for having booed Moore at his famous Oscar acceptance speech ? the soldier, and Kerry, had been guilty of nothing more than believing the president. (I think Kerry didn?t completely believe the president; he?s too smart to be that gullible, and I think he was being more disingenuous than that; but I?m willing to disregard that in the face of the alternative.) Moore also heavily, though politely, criticized his former ally Ralph Nader for continuing to run as a potential spoiler. He said that the Democratic Party is better now than in 2000, partly because of Nader?s actions, and that he should rest on his laurels. No danger of that.
Afterwards, Moore resumed his tirade outside to the crowd that had formed there when most of the audience quit the ballroom after Moore?s speech ended. I?d stuck around for the last few speakers, including the head of the new interfaith group Let Justice Roll, who I learned is already fostering ties to my UU Fellowship of Columbia. The outdoor speech was more of a pep rally, in which Moore dug into the media for sleeping on the job. ?Do Your Job, Do Your Job,? he had us chant at the camera crews. One of the camera crews for NBC interviewed me and Robin; I don?t know yet if it?s aired anywhere.
By the way, did anyone catch Barack Obama?s speech at the DNC tonight? That was a speech of a future president. The large crowd gathered in Harvard?s JFK School of Government?s large TV atrium burst into a real-live standing ovation at the end of the televised speech, and I shouted ?Obama and Dean in 2012!? That would be an absolute political dream. This kid is going places. And he seems to be about my age.
Posted by Hannah at July 28, 2004 08:55 AM