Progressives for Obama

The Nation has published a call for action by a group that calls themselves Progressives for Obama. The four co-authors includeTom Hayden, Danny Glover, Barbara Ehrenreich, and Bill Fletcher, Jr. They lay out their case for those of us who identify as progressive (rather than liberal or Democratic Party followers) to support the Obama campaign as our best hope for achieving our political goals because they believe he will be most responsive to organized pressure from the left. They point out that the social movement that has sprung up around his campaign (not to be confused with the Democratic party insiders) can be a powerful lobby for moving Obama to solidify his support of a progressive rather than a centrist agenda:

However, the fact that Barack Obama openly defines himself as a centrist invites the formation of this progressive force within his coalition. Anything less could allow his eventual drift towards the right as the general election approaches. It was the industrial strikes and radical organizers in the 1930s who pushed Roosevelt to support the New Deal. It was the civil rights and student movements that brought about voting rights legislation under Lyndon Johnson and propelled Eugene McCarthy and Bobby Kennedy's antiwar campaigns. It was the original Earth Day that led Richard Nixon to sign environmental laws. And it will be the Obama movement that will make it necessary and possible to end the war in Iraq, renew our economy with a populist emphasis, and confront the challenge of global warming.

We should not only keep the pressure on but also connect the issues that Barack Obama has made central to his campaign into an overarching progressive vision.

Their piece lays out an overarching vision not limited to the person of Obama. In particular it includes concrete ideas about our relations with Latin America, an area not being given much attention yet in the campaign. They have, of course, a blog. The most recent piece is a moving and heartfelt declaration by
Alice Walker.

I have always considered Barbara Ehrenreich to be one of the most astute analysts of how class works in the U.S. I have been reading her books since the early seventies. She was one of the earliest feminist writers about women on the global assembly line, and has been a consistent advocate for a politics that puts the needs of the poor and of working people first.

But hey! don't just listen to us old people. Listen to these kids talking in their class. Are they not awesome?

Thanks to the great Pam Spaulding, of Pandagon and Pam's House Blend, for turning me on to this wonderful video.

ETA: Profa Cero turned me on to the post over at Lumpenprofesoriat