Anyone who’s gone to a Netroots Nation conference knows what goes on there. They know that there are serious and wonky panels, as well as light-hearted and humorous ones. The best panel I ever attended was hosted by David Waldman (Kagro X) and it basically explained how Congress works. If I remember correctly, there were about three dozen people in attendance. It’s easy for one sensational panel to steal all the oxygen (as well as all the headlines), which is what has happened this year.
But what interests me is different. Is there still a sense of commonality of purpose? When we all showed up for the Yearly Kos convention in Las Vegas in 2006 we knew what had to be done. We had to wrest power from the Republicans. There was very little bickering. And, compared to the despairing conferences then being held in DC, there was tremendous optimism, and shared interest in innovation and creating new tools and new ideas. We were going to beat the crap out of the Republicans through superior organization.
You know, we did that. And then we lost our common purpose.
