Coordination

Duluth, MN City Council Member Tony Cuneo, AZ State
Representative Kyrsten Sinema and Senator Al Franken at the Greysolon
Plaza in Duluth, August 2, 2009

Senator Al Franken gave a keynote speech last Sunday to kick off the 2009 Progressive Roundtable, organized by the Commonweal Institute.  He spoke about the importance of passing health care reform and participated in an open discussion with Duluth, Minnesota City Council Member Tony Cuneo and Arizona State Representative Kyrsten Sinema.  The speech and discussion was attended by almost 300 local residents and Roundtable participants.

The 2009 Progressive Roundtable is convening leaders from across the progressive movement to address how idea generators can work with
local- and state-based community organizers and grassroots activists to build more integrated and effective processes for achieving progressive policy change. 

Debate is beginning to heat up in the blogosphere about the need for, and nature of, a progressive movement in this Age of Obama.  See recent posts by John Judis, Glen Greenwald, David Sirota, and Chris Bowers, plus the comments

Wade Hudson, co-founder of the Progressive Resource Catalog, and others in the Strategy Workshop are studying ways to help progressive activists become more effective.

Five years ago, I interviewed now-Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman for LiberalOasis.com, and I asked him about his past support for NAFTA-style trade and globalization. He responded: