DNC Winter Meeting: Resolutions

by: Hopeful

Fri Feb 02, 2007 at 12:54:29 AM EST

The DNC Resolutions, co-chaired by Maria Echaveste and James J. Zogby, had a surprising atmosphere: Throughout the meeting, loud jazz music from the neighboring room made it hard to hear. I was struck that many of the resolutions could have come from the blogs: "Calling for the Restoration of Habeus Corpus," "Stressing the Need for Action in Sudan," "Supporting Accurate, Open Transparent Elections in the United States of America," "Commending Howard Dean for the 50 State Strategy," and, of course, "Expressing Deep Concern with the Bush Administration's Performance in Iraq." Well, that last was kinder than any blog title would be, but the resolution clearly condemns every aspect of Bush's policies and his attempt to escalate the war. When the resolution opposing escalation came up, the chair asked "Are there people opposed to this?" Everyone laughed.

Hopeful :: DNC Winter Meeting: Resolutions

Donna Brazile sponsored the elections resolution, and I must say she was much more impressive in person than I had thought from TV. Donna Branch-Gilby spoke passionately about election problems in Tucson. She specifically mentioned the need for "Rush Holt's bill." It was great to hear that our favorite New Jersey representative's leadership meant so much across the country. Everything seemed so ordinary in the meeting, with people expressing their views, that it took me some time to realize that they were all high ranking officials. Branch-Gilby, for example, is First Vice-Chair of the Arizona Democratic Party. John Perez asked the resolution also mention the need to protect against discrimination based on sexual orientation and against citizens who are immigrants. A nice discussion, ensued with Zogby, Christine Pelosi, and others, to settle on the language `birth or naturalization.' Donna Brazile also warned that there will be continuing threats to minority rights through redistricting, and that Democrats have to be prepared for a Supreme Court decision. Overall, I was very impressed by the diverse group that worked together to review and approve these resolutions.

I can't help but reflects that since the netroots are opposed to war, the DNC members are opposed to the war, and the public is opposed to the war, that our Representatives and Senators could be more aggressive in actually doing something about the war. We'll see.