the Movement

Two of my favorite bloggers/activists--Chris Bowers and Matt Stoller, both formerly of MyDD--have officially launched their new community blog--Open Left--along with Mike Lux, whom I've never heard of before. Matt Stoller explains the name:

Why Open Left? Why not just netroots?

Good question. We've never been comfortable with the term 'netroots'. It's a term without a coherent meaning, sometimes pointing to liberals that organize in online communities, sometimes meaning anyone online who does so. This term doesn't describe who we are, because there is no divide between online and offline at this point; insiders use email and blogs, and outsider activists run campaigns and have in-person conferences. The term 'Open Left' is a much wider and more descriptive way of understanding the larger political dynamics at play. It is not the use of the internet that matters, it is the expression of traditional left-wing American principles on open systems that is the institutional innovation at work here.

This has been a long time coming. The internet itself expresses certain values that go back to very early American philosophers, and its communal and networked structure combined with its rampant capacity for individualism is uniquely situated for our moment in history. The third important left wing movement in modern American history is nearly ten years old, it's time we recognize what's going on.

Thus, OpenLeft.com.

I'll be very interested to see how this effects MyDD and its readership. One thing that I've been thinking about a lot over the past few years, and espescially since Mike and Co. left Music for America, is that we have to look at staffing of progressive institutions that are a part of, or provide services to, the movement in a new way. This movement has arisen partly because of the political climate, and partly because of the rise of networked technology. And since the network is really a mixture of connections between people and through technologies, the network (or movement) might "abandon" an organization or site when the person (in network terms, the connecting node) who was connecting that org or site to the broader movement leaves. In this case I believe that Jerome Armstrong and MyDD are entrenched enough within the movement that this may not have much effect at all on MyDD's readership. I guess we'll see.

Update: Well it didn't take long for things to get a bit testy. Check out Jerome's response to Open Left forgetting to put MyDD on its blogroll. Jerome is also tiring of all of this "movement" talk and doesn't seem too happy with the choice of Clintonite Lux. Hmm... This could get interesting...

It seems clear that Barack Obama is the candidate who generates the most excitement among Millennials, but I have no trust or understanding for the man. I don’t really find his speaking to be that inspiring, though certainly better than Hillary and a bit stronger (if a bit more vague) than Edwards.

It’s his lack of specificity most of all that leaves me feeling rather “meh.” I think the intensity of his support is largely from people projecting their own political hopes and dreams onto Obama, and I think he knows this and uses it to his advantage. The cypher thing. It’s potentially very smart electoral politics, but it doesn’t make me trust him or want to help put him in power.

My honest opinion is that it’s very unlikely that “our people” will be meaningfully integrated into any official presidential campaign this cycle as anything other than pawns. It takes not only a political outsider, but also someone willing (in fact needing) to take risks to open up their campaign in the way that happened in 2003/04. In spite of his freshman status and his positioning against “politics as usual,” Obama does not read as an outsider to me, and he’s certainly not one for taking risks.

My sense is that most official campaign or campaign-backed efforts are going to be square and bland; milquetoast. Like Trippi, I sense regression…

Couple quick items.

• First, Ben Waxman has an article in Dissent about how badly conservatives are kicking progressive ass when it comes to investing in the next generation. It's a good primer if you're unfamiliar with just how massively behind we are in this critical piece of movement building.
  
  Summer Internships: Liberals and Leftists Strike Out
• Speaking of which, Brandon Silverman of The Center for Progressive Leadership just updated the Jobs and Training section of our DIY Politics wiki. While Ben may be right that conservatives are investing more in their future leaders than progressives, there are a variety of training programs, fellowships, and internships available for those looking for a way into the progressive movement. Some of them even come with financial assistance.

  Check them out at DIY Politics.

  The wiki has grown quite a bit in the last two weeks. It may not look pretty (yet), but we're making headway in compiling content. Young People For has agreed to let us republish their Little Black Book series in wiki format, so we now have fairly robust sections on campus organizing and media/messaging (Thanks to YPF Executive Director Iara Peng). Thanks also to reader Erin Kenzie, who is single handedly building a great section about organizational operations.

  If you haven't yet contributed, sign up and write an article.

• Finally, this article goes beyond CNN/Rock the Vote's insulting (and planted) "PC vs. Mac" question and examines where the major '08 candidates stand on IT issues like Net Neutrality.