Great issue of the Nation re punkvoter.com & youth vote issues.

May 11,2004.

This is my pollyanna blog--but it's how I feel today.

My book consisted mostly of complaints about how the political left and Democrats had screwed up in communicating with younger people and in using the popular American language. At this point in time, eleven monhts after it came out,(and eighteen months after I finished writing it) I think it's important to look at the positive changes
in the last year from the progressive standpoint.Part of being effective politically, part of speaking to young people and part of undersanding American culture is to understand the role of optimism and positivity. For progressives, things may still suck in many important ways--but things are much better than they were a year ago.First of all Kerry,whatever his flaws is a much better candidate than Gore was, and I believe at his core, is more progressive than Clinton was as well.Secondly, the war, and Bush's wierd stubborness about everything has created an environment in which there is much more interest than there has been in several election cycles. MTV execs have told me that at the peak of Clinton's schmoozing of MTV in 1992--the highest rating they got for a half hour program with him was a .6. Last month, MTV did a half hour with Kerry--with only very limited promtiion--and they got a 1.6--almost triple the
rating Clinton got at his peak...close to two million people.

Kerry's challenge is not to get overly influenced by pundits who pressure him to reach out to the mythical "center," and to focus--at least as much--on reaching out to the people who currently tell pollsters that would vote for Nader. Kerry need clear statements to distinguish himself from Bush in the minds of such voters. If he picked up the Nader vote--he'd be clearly ahead now.

Bush is anti-choice, Kerry is pro-choice.
Bush is for a consistutional amendment banning gay marriage, Kerry is against it.
Bush doe snot have a budget to fully fund Head Start, add police officers and fire fighters etc,Kerry is for those things.
Bush is for tax cuts for millionaires, Kerry is against them.
Bush is for cuts in environmental regulation, Kerry is for increases (not as much as progresives would like--but clearly better than Bush)
Bush support everything n the Patriot Act, Kerry is opposed to many of the most anti-civil libertarian provisions.Again not as much as I would like but far better than Bush.And its impossible to imagine Kerry appointing an Attorney Geenal who wouldnt be better on civil liberties than Ashcroft,even though its likely that ACLU types like myself will complain about certain policies of any government.
Bush is irrationally certain that his plan in Iraq is perfect--Kerry is rationally uncertain.Kerry needs to embrace the part of him that likes to think things over and contrast it with Bush's loony insistance on never admitting a mistake.Again, progressives may want a more accelerated exit from Iraq than Kerry will support--but there can be no quetion that Kerry could improve America's image in the world and would be less comitted to macho violent solutions to
a complex clash of civilizations than Bush is.

Meanwhile, Air Ameerica is up and running,proressive think tanks are being funded,Moveon.org has emerged as a populist progressive force, and the best seller list is filled with progressive books. Things could be better--but they could be a lot worse--and they have been...