Blogging from Netroots Nation (NN) in Austin, sitting at a table in the first row waiting for speakers Nancy Pelosi and Al Gore to show up. Gore is going to be the mystery, unannounced guest, . Looks like just about all the seats in this cavernous hall are occupied and there’s a big rack of media folks toward the back with their cameras. There are a handful of costumed demonstrators, but mostly the bloggers are looking like themselves, casually dressed, but intensely engaged mentally despite the early hour and more than a few hangovers following the parties last night.
Parenthetically, I went to the parties for Darcie Burner (running for Congress in the Seattle area, she’s strongly favored by the bloggers) and the “candidates” party, where a couple dozen progressive candidates were lauded. Among them was Debra Bowen, CA Sec’y of State, a real champion for election security and the right of Americans to choose who governs us.
Back to the main hall this morning. The blogger crowd is primed to be pretty negative toward Pelosi, who is seen by many as a grievous disappointment. “As soon as she took impeachment off the table, the Bush administration knew it could get away with anything,” as someone at dinner last night at dinner. Obama, who will NOT be the mystery guest, is now being regarded with mixed feelings by the blogging community which had earlier been such strong supporters; rather, with considerable skepticism mixed with residual hope. Folks are realizing that Obama has always been pretty moderate. His vote for the FISA bill has infuriated the progressive blogging community; it’s taken as a sign that he’s a sellout to major corporate interests. This perception is set in the context of distaste for the media and the major corporate forces that are seen as having sold out our democracy.
While this situation might be taken as a reason for discouragement and nihilism, I haven’t heard any of those sentiments here. Instead, there’s anger and determination. The bloggers to a great degree see themselves as leading defenders of democracy, responsible for shaking up the national conversation and holding those in power accountable. They’re a very determined bunch.
Announcement: “Any kind of organized disruption, the protesters will be escorted out. “ From the tone of the intro, it sounds like Pelosi at least has courage. She knows she’s going to be facing a skeptical crowd. Congressman Lloyd Doggett (Austin, TX) throws a bunch of anti-conservative red meat to the crowd, then introduces Pelosi with strong words of praise. Pelosi calls out energy independence & climate change, while not making things worse for the poor, as top priorities from the outset of her taking on her present role as Speaker of the House. She ends her formal remarks encouraging the netroots to continue to be persistent, dissatisfied, and relentless.
Questions from the floor about the FISA bill: Pelosi talks about the positive things she sees in the bill, laying most of the blame on the Senate for having sent the bill to the House, and especially the 17 Senate Democrats who sided with the Republicans on the Senate bill that forgave the telecom companies for going along with the Bush administration in spying on Americans. Questioned about this further—why those 17 Dems did as they did, Pelose evades & does not answer.
Question re: what the Dem party vision is of what this country should be. This question gets Pelosi up on her feet to talk passionately, with strong hand gestures. Four issue priorities:
1. Protect American people- -security, which seems to be mixed in with economic and technological security, not just military;
2. Healthcare – biomedical research & technology; customized, personalized care, with an emphasis on health promotion as well as care for the sick; common electronic records; prevention; universal access (mechanism not specified) to care for even the poorest people. Pelosi’s healthcare remarks are intertwined with an emphasis on science & technology – commitment to education for innovation, not only in healthcare.
3. Building infrastructure of America – spend as much on infrastructure as on Iraq. Rectify the infrastructure deficit.
4. Energy “security”—without further elaboration.
Finally, a short comment about ethics in government.
Why science? “We have to expand and compete.” Pelosi said she’s strongly into technology. Innovation, competing in energy efficiency.
In response to a question from blogger Natasha, Pelosi says unequivocally that abstinence programs are dangerous to young people’s health. So why does the Democrat-controlled Congress keep going along with the abstinence sham instead of supporting contraception and condom distribution and honest sex education? Pelosi says more pro-choice members of Congress are needed.
Question re: local broadband for communities. “Large areas of country don’t even have broadband available.” Pelosi says; high-speed, always-on broadband is part of the Democratic agenda. “Should be universally available. Will require technology & science realignments. The whole country has to be wired. High speed Internet access has implications for healthcare, education, families, opportunity. “ Pelosi adds that she strongly favors net neutrality.
Question about why people in the Armed Forces are having to beg for basic necessities – even simple amenities - from home. Pelosi shifts to talk about all the rest of the ways the administration is not supporting the troops with regard to healthcare, etc. Confronted again with the question, she finally says she’ll talk with Jack Murtha about that specific point; he deals with troop issues all the time.
A question about energy policy is used as a little gimmick with Pelosi dealing with her Blackberry, triggering Gore’s voice booming out loudly with a statement about energy, and then his walking up on the stage. Tumultuous applause for Gore. Gore’s first remarks have to do with the need for reason and discussion, reference to his book The Assault on Reason. Approximate quote: “To safeguard the future of our nation against a malignant hunger for power, it’s essential not only to have checks & balances. More important is the foundation, the bedrock of a well-informed citizenry, engaged in the future of our country – and that’s what you [refers to the netroots] represent. …The leading edge of a new move to recover the promise of our nation….” [Crowd continually applauding – can hardly hear Gore.]
Gore emphasizes a plan for how do we get from where we are to where we need to be. This also has to do with our national security and the economy. Industries dependent on energy from fossil fuels are failing. China’s & other countries’ ravenous demand for fossil fuels to build their economies is pushing the prices up enormously. Gore does not recommend drilling, offshore or in Alaska—it’s like taking “the hair of the dog that bit you.” He pushes switching to electricity for every energy need ASAP. With the end applications using electricity, then build an extensive national grid, a lot of it underground. Switch electrical generation systems—go to 100% renewable energy sources. Crowd on their feet, clapping and yelling. Gore totally opposes the expanded drilling option, says, “Am I the only one who finds it strange that our country is being sold a solution for a problem that isn’t really the problem? Drilling for more fossil fuel makes as much sense as attacking a different country—Iraq-- in response to an attack from people in Afghanistan.” “’The engines of distraction’ and the great concentrated power of communication [backed by the administration and the fossil fuel industries] are already turned on and at work – trying to distract Congress from doing what needs to be done. They insist that it’s unrealistic to switch to renewable energy. [To the bloggers] -- YOU have to mobilize public opinion about the reality of the situation. “
Gore puts out a strong push for the bipartisan Alliance for Climate Protection - www.wecansolveit.org. Fervent plea for bloggers to join this effort. “ We will not back down, we will not fall into partisanship.” Also mentions Current TV, as a means of democratizing the television medium.
“You here at this conference, here in this room will tell your children and grandchildren that you were here at the beginning of this effort to reclaim the integrity of American democracy.”
Questions from the floor:
• Would Gore take a position in Obama administration? Sounds very unlikely. “The highest and best use of my time is to expand the space within which the public and elected officials can take on this problem. Get the political opinion sea change required to make that possible.”
• Meat production requiring more energy that cars? “Increased dietary meat intensity in countries worldwide is contributing to the economic problems as well as the energy situation. We can only do so much at once.” [Gore himself is a meat eater.] “ Yes, it is a significant part of what needs to be done.”
• Mountaintop mining in WV? “It’s an atrocity. Poisons the ecosystem. It’s part of the same wrong approach to energy and the moral blindness that’s going on. Converting coal into liquid fuels is insane. If we look only at the dependence of USA on foreign oil, it would be theoretically possible, at great expense, to squeeze liquid out of coal. But that would only put even larger amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. We need to shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy.”
Pelosi comment –“The forces in control now are wedded to the past, not even to the present.” She’s thankful to Gore as a grandmother. Jokes that without Al Gore there would be no Netroots Nation [referring to his role in development of the Internet].
[Shouting demonstrators are being escorted out of the hall. The hall is so big their voices are faintly echoing in the distance.]
Q: Cat we put windmills on top of existing power transmission towers (Buckminster Fuller idea). Gore-- yes to the idea of more wind turbines. Present towers are not appropriate for support. Need to put towers where the wind is. Gore mentions T. Boone Pickens’ recent investment in wind. “Wind + solar + geothermal is a critical combination… Need to spread the power generation out over the 24 hrs. Solar can be used to do that, with storage of the heat in liquid, stored underground.”
Q: With NCLB, our kids aren’t getting any science education. Gore wants science and arts education. Pelosi said it won’t be taken up unless/until we have a president who can support it.
Q: To Pelosi – will you accept Gore’s challenge to switch to renewables within 10 yrs? Pelosi salutes Gore for the challenge, says it’s absolutely possible to do so. House passed a renewable electricity bill last year, but it failed in the Senate. The House will try it again. Need a Democratic president who will sign the bill.
Q: To Pelosi – get e-waste out of our devices and prisons (?!?!). Gore replies – need more progress on dealing with e-waste.
Q: Battery technology improvements? Same – need more progress. “As we use more fossil fuels, the costs go higher. As we use more solar power, the cost will go down.”
Q: What role for nuclear power? Gore: “It will play a role, but not a great one.” There still are all the usual problems with nuclear waste, security, reactor management errors. “All nuclear weaponry threats have been tied to nuclear reactors.” Not a flexible power solution: “Reactors only come in one size—extra large.” “Nuclear is most expensive option of all.”
Q: To Pelosi – Iraq PM Maliki endorsed a timeline for American troop withdrawal. Will Dem House support that? Pelosi – “We should talk with the Iraqis, work out plans jointly.”
Q: What can we do about the impact of global warming on areas of the world like Africa? Gore: We should be giving them the technology so they can have their own energy and develop without making global warming worse.
Gore, emphasizing the need for netroots action: “Even with a Democratic president and a greater Democratic lead in Congress, we will still have problems. Special interests, old ways of thinking, and denial will still be problems that need to be overcome. “
As the session is wrapping up, the mood toward Pelosi and Gore appears very positive. Pelosi seems at least somewhat redeemed in the crowd’s view. Gore is clearly a major hero. Lots are lining up to shake his hand, take photos of him.
As I’m wrapping this up, blogger David Neiwert comes up. He’s just returned from checking out the conservative bloggers’ meeting in another hotel across town. Encouraging conservatives to attend their meeting, the planners were claiming online that they “for the first time are confronting the progressive bloggers head-to-head.” Hah—what a farce! Dave says there were 300 of them at the conservative session, at the most—his photo shows their room half-empty; they’re all looking neat and clean, with long pants and dress shoes. This is in contrast to approximately 3,000 here at the progressive Netroots Nation conference, including folks in T-shirts, Hawaiian shirts, shorts, sundresses, flip-flops and sandals (it’s about 100 degrees F outside).
Signing off from Netroots Nation, 2008 – another roaring success for democracy and citizen journalism in the Internet age.