OK here are some facts. And let me say first that
Sam Graham-Felsen is a terrific journalist. He has
asked me better questions about Campus Progress
than any other reporter.
Sam went to the national security panel and
focused on it. In planning that session, after we
had latched on to some very smart panelists we
wanted to include -- people whom we thought were
fundamentally progressive, experienced, articulate
-- we sought to add at least one person on the
panel who was a tougher critic of US foreign
policy. But a number of people turned us down for
scheduling conflicts, we were juggling over 50
speakers, and we ran out of time. I asked our
student moderator, Asheesh, to stand up for the
outsider perspective, and no doubt he did, but the
panelists were who they were.
Did we feature some speakers with more provocative
perspectives? Here are some lyrics from singer /
songwriter Ted Leo, who spoke. This song popped up
on my Ipod tonight:
In the days when we were young,
We were free, we were free...
Now that Georgie's reign's begun,
We won't be, we can't be...
And no more shall I be, loyal to my sorrowful
country
No more shall I be, loyal to my sorrowful
country.
Not loyal anymore! Hey right-wing guys, go ahead
and Dukakis or Begala me for pointing this out.
Some of our speakers were to the left of President
Clinton! Many of our student attendees were to the
left of President Clinton on many issues, but many
admire and respect the man for his lifetime of
service and the many good things he has done. Some
were just excited to be in the room with a former
President. Fogive them for dropping their
ideological purity for a few minutes.
Also, what I heard President Clinton say was not
that we should meet Trent Lott and Rick Santorum
halfway, but that we should genuinely be listening
to the concerns of working people who vote for
these folks.
If we are to create a strong young progressive
movement, there should be room for a fairly wide
range of views. (I would leave out Joe Lieberman,
though.) Because when you look at who is in power
and what their agenda is, there is so much more
that unites progressives than that divides us.
Following the 1st Campus Progress National Student Conference and a convention in my home state, I'm just starting to recover. DC is something else. And this Conference is something else. I met so many people who have done and are doing work all across this country that is great. And I met even more with plans in the works to do even better work.
I finally met, in person, friends like Asheesh and Ezra. I made new friends. I missed some people that I would like to have met (with 600 people, it would be near-impossible to catch them all). What can you do?
Still, I'm incredibly impressed by how the whole event came off. If you only watch one video of the conference, make sure you check out the opening panel on the battle of ideas. The panelists did a great job. If you watch another, watch the one on economic policy. I'm looking forward to downloading the videos of the panels I couldn't be at.
At this point, though, now that we've had an opportunity to look back, what would you want done differently? The greatest thing about blogs is that they allow for the dialogue, so, please, jump in and tell the folks at the Center what you would want to see done differently next year.
Talking to others, I can say that one of the frequent complaints was that there wasn't enough...time. The day we had was packed, fun, emotional, and exhausting. But we've got hundreds and thousands of young leaders across this country seeking skills and education to go out and do good work. One day was not enough.
One of my other concerns was that the skill trainings were all related to communications. All four were great and loaded with excellent panelists, but where were the basics of campus organizing, the Student Government Elections 101, or the live version of Nico Pitney's guide to quick, dirty, and great research.
These are some of my thoughts and thoughts I heard from others I met with.
What are yours?
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Sam went to the national security panel and focused on it. In planning that session, after we had latched on to some very smart panelists we wanted to include -- people whom we thought were fundamentally progressive, experienced, articulate -- we sought to add at least one person on the panel who was a tougher critic of US foreign policy. But a number of people turned us down for scheduling conflicts, we were juggling over 50 speakers, and we ran out of time. I asked our student moderator, Asheesh, to stand up for the outsider perspective, and no doubt he did, but the panelists were who they were.
Did we feature some speakers with more provocative perspectives? Here are some lyrics from singer / songwriter Ted Leo, who spoke. This song popped up on my Ipod tonight:
In the days when we were young,
We were free, we were free...
Now that Georgie's reign's begun,
We won't be, we can't be...
And no more shall I be, loyal to my sorrowful country
No more shall I be, loyal to my sorrowful country.
Not loyal anymore! Hey right-wing guys, go ahead and Dukakis or Begala me for pointing this out. Some of our speakers were to the left of President Clinton! Many of our student attendees were to the left of President Clinton on many issues, but many admire and respect the man for his lifetime of service and the many good things he has done. Some were just excited to be in the room with a former President. Fogive them for dropping their ideological purity for a few minutes.
Also, what I heard President Clinton say was not that we should meet Trent Lott and Rick Santorum halfway, but that we should genuinely be listening to the concerns of working people who vote for these folks.
If we are to create a strong young progressive movement, there should be room for a fairly wide range of views. (I would leave out Joe Lieberman, though.) Because when you look at who is in power and what their agenda is, there is so much more that unites progressives than that divides us.