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An Honor For 'A Born-Again American'

Isaiah J. Poole — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 09:04:06 -0400

Lessons from the 1960s for 21st-Century Change

Isaiah J. Poole — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 15:44:30 -0400

The Rev. Jesse Jackson and Roger Wilkins — an activist outsider and a White House insider in the 1960s — say that today's progressive movement needs to lay claim to the successes of the 1960s in order to advance its agenda in 2008 and beyond. “The third rail is where the energy is, where the power is, where the fire is,” Jackson said. The focus of this year's Take Back America conference has been the need to build an independent progressive movement ready to hold accountable whoever controls the White House and Congress.

Watch the video | Read our blog

TBA 2008: Maria Leavey Award Winner

OurFuture.org Staff — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 17:45:59 -0400

Jim Gilliam of Brave New Films is given the Maria Leavey Award at Take Back America 2008. The award is given to a person who has given outstanding service behind the scenes to the progressive movement. To read more about Gilliam, the Maria Leavey Award and the finalists, click here.

Issue No. 1: The Economy

Isaiah J. Poole — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:59:28 -0400

Given the headlines of the past few weeks, it's perhaps no surprise that the number one issue on the minds of Take Back America participants is the economy, according to a poll done by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research and Politico.com.

"The economy and jobs" was considered by 30 percent to be the issue that "the president and Congress should be paying the most attention to." At last year's conference, 34 percent said the war in Iraq was the top issue and 13 percent said the economy. This year, 24 percent rated the war as the top issue. More than 700 Take Back America attendees participated in the poll.

Other issues rated as important by TBA participants are health care (15 percent) and energy and global warming (12 percent). Other issues listed in the poll fell below 5 percent.

The headline for the political reporters at the conference was which presidential candidate drew the most response from the conference participants, and there the answer was not a surprise, either: Illinois Sen. Barack Obama was the choice of 72 percent of the conference, while New York Sen. Hillary Clinton was supported by 16 percent. "Either" got 12 percent of the vote.

Last year, Clinton had the support of 17 percent of the TBA participants who were polled at a time when there were eight candidates in the primary and a non-candidate (Al Gore) who had significant support. The result indicates that Obama has convincingly won the support of activists who were in the camps of the other presidential candidates.

Progressives On the Rise, Conservatism in Decline

Isaiah J. Poole — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 13:24:35 -0400

Activists head to Washington for the Take Back America conference amid signs that the progressive movement is on the verge of a political transformation as dramatic as the infamous "Reagan revolution" of the 1980s. A resurgent progressive movement is emerging as the evidence mounts that the conservative movement's heyday has ended, done in by three decades of failure.

Read our blog on the opening plenary featuring Robert Borosage, Diane Archer, Van Jones and Donna Edwards.

See our latest reports:

"Progressives Rising—2008: A Sea-Change Election"
"The Decline of Conservatism," by Stan Greenberg
"Conservatism is Dying," by Eric Lotke

Check the conference home page for new details on schedule and speakers.