You know the narrative by now. We're in disarray. We're depressed. We're running for the hills, or running for our lives. The conservative movement is on the ascendancy once again, ready to bring tea party values to Congress and prevent Obama and the Democrats from bringing even more socialism to this country.
Except...not quite. You can follow that link to the Gallup poll about voter preferences for the generic Congressional Ballot as of July 19, and for the first time in a long time, Democrats have the lead--by six points, no less. And there are a lot of reasons for that, but the main one is this: The more we do, the more the voters like us.
We had a monumental struggle over health insurance reform that robbed progressives of their energy and drained our party's approval rating. And yet once that bill was signed and something was accomplished for the American people--even if it wasn't exactly what we were looking for--our numbers increased. And the most recent Gallup numbers are a result of the aftermath of the passage of a landmark financial regulation bill that--again--doesn't do everything we want, but will make a significant difference. On other things, of course, we haven't been so lucky--and of course it's difficult to keep up the enthusiasm morning, noon and night for an administration that on occasion seems more willing to disown its friends and embrace its enemies than the other way around.
On the other hand, why we fight couldn't be clearer. We fought to have a president who would do what it took to save the American automobile industry and bring it forward into the future, despite the barrage of attacks against him from those who would have rather seen the engine of American industry die than see the government have a hand in its salvation. We fought tooth and nail to elect a president and a Congress who would at least fight like hell--regardless of the overall result--to make sure that the excesses of America's health insurers were reined in for the good of the American people. We fought to ensure that the American people understood that the way to treat the banks who nearly drove us into a depression was to regulate them, not to deregulate them further. And the examples could go on and on. But despite everything we've accomplished so far, winning back the allegiance of the voters is still, by any admission, an uphill struggle.
And that leads to the main point here. There was something special about Netroots Nation 2010. It felt much more like the first YearlyKos way back in 2006 than any YearlyKos or Netroots Nation has since the beginning, and not just because we were all back in Las Vegas. It felt that way because just like four years ago, our movement is locked in a monumental struggle against the notion of Democratic despair.
In 2006, that despair arose from the question of whether we would ever end what was seeming at the time like a permanent Republican majority in Congress. In 2010, the despair is a little different; this version is born more of a feeling of helplessness as to what it could possibly take to get strong progressive policy passed if we can't even do it right now with a Democratic president and overwhelming Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress--especially when conventional wisdom dictates that those majorities are about to shrink.
The despair is understandable. But as Van Jones does so often, he said it best at this year's Netroots Nation. He told us what we needed to hear. He told us that a lot of us thought that when we won in 2008, our work was over; that we had crossed some sort of finish line, when the truth was that we had only crossed a starting line. We did not cross the finish line of guaranteeing action on progressive policy; rather, we approached the starting line of ensuring that we even had a chance of winning that metaphorical race to begin with. And while it's much, much easier to find those last extra reserves of energy when you're trying not to drown than it is when you're trying to scale a mountain, it's crucial that over the course of these last 95 days, we make that last extra push. As Jones said:
whether or not this country goes back to despair is largely up to you...if you keep the hope alive, then change is still possible.
Van Jones is right. It's up to us and this movement to keep the hope of progressive change alive. And when we convene in Minneapolis on June 16, 2011, there's only one narrative to which we should aspire:
Last year, we took their best shot. The hardest haymaker that the conservative movement has to offer. The full brunt of a Fox-fueled astroturf campaign designed to inflame the rage of an emboldened minority that just can't deal with the fact that their country doesn't look they think it should--and neither does their president. The most outrageous slings and arrows of Sharron Angle, Rand Paul, Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck. The countless millions of dollars spent by corporate citizens united in their attempt to defeat any hope of permanently loosening their golden grip on the halls of Washington's power. And we came out clean on the other side.
And not just clean, but stronger. Stronger in the knowledge that even with all the odds seemingly lined up against us, we pulled through and put ourselves in a position to continue to advocate forcefully and responsibly for even more progressive change. It may not be exactly what we like. It may not be as fast as we like. But at least the other side will know that when they were supposed to be at their most powerful, and when we supposed to be at our most despondent and distressed, our movement was strong and our cause can still prevail.
Inspiring thought, isn't it?