America's Future Now!

The Rights Revolution: From Utter Disgust To Utter Accountability

Isaiah J. Poole — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 12:12:03 -0400

Anthony Romero, the president of the American Civil Liberties Union, did not mince words earlier today when he assessed how well the Obama administration has lived up to the promises he made on civil liberties issues.

"I am utterly disgusted," he said, because Obama "is a president who breaks promises."

VIDEO

Nan Aron of the Alliance for Justice on the panel discussion, "Where Rights Went Wrong."

From the administration's wavering on the issue of closing Guantanimo Bay and its decision to try the 9/11 terrorist defendants in federal court, to its refusal to prosecute human rights crimes committed by the Bush administration, Romero has a long list of bitter disappointments, and he has let Obama know that personally. "Frankly, I think we have been too polite," he said.

But he said that progressives only hurt themselves "if we hold our punches with our friends and only use them against our enemies."

The panel discussion "Where RIghts went Wrong: What Happened to the Rights Revolution?" included representatives from several civil rights fights in which progressives generally believe the Obama administration has fallen short: Kierra Johnson of Choice USA, Adam Luna of America's Voice (which works on immigration issues), and Rea Carey of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund.

There was some optimism in the room. "We've found that this president does respond to criticism," he said, and said that immigrant rights groups have made some progress when the White House and Congress finds itself confronted by "an educated base that smells a rat."

"We've been trying to build a movement that puts wind in our sails that we can't turn off" so that the administration and Congress feels sustained pressure, Luna said.

Johnson added that it is important for organizations serving different constituencies to work on shared goals. "It's about finding the common denominators" and building campaigns around those, she said. Romero said that the emphasis for this kind of action should be at the state level, not necessarily in Washington. Carey recommended an approach based on "how can we not tell but ask."

The bottom line, as moderator Nan Aron of the Alliance for Justice said in a video interview afterward, is that we need an engaged, activist base that is prepared to speak truth to power in order to hold accountable the Obama administration and those who seek the support of progressives in Congress.

'Infuriated' And Pushing For Change

Isaiah J. Poole — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 06:42:41 -0400

Building the new economy and reinforcing the progressive majority were the top agenda items on Day 2 of the America's Future Now! conference, with speakers that included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former Gov. Howard Dean, American Prospect editor Robert Kuttner, New York Times columnist Bob Herbert and NAACP President Benjamin Jealous.

Now That's Progressive: Insurance Exec Honored For Movement Support

Isaiah J. Poole — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 00:04:10 -0400

Most people know Progressive Insurance from its quirky commercials, starring a character named Flo who staffs the checkout counter at an supermarket that sells insurance in neatly labeled boxes. But the leaders of the nation's leading progressive activist organizations know Progressive Insurance's chairman of the board, Peter B. Lewis, for another kind of insurance: vital financial support for the kind of activism that enables the movement to fight the right in Washington and beyond.

It was that support that earned Lewis the Campaign for America's Future Lifetime Leadership Award at the organization's Gala Dinner Tuesday night. Lewis joined two other honorees at the dinner: James Rucker of Color of Change, winner of the Paul Wellstone Citizen Leadership Award, and Rep. Donna Edwards of Maryland, winner of the Progressive Champion Award.

Anthony Romero, director of the American Civil Liberties Union, called Lewis "someone who invests in social justice," and those investments have supported the creation of the Center for American Progress, Media Matters for America and the Democracy Alliance, which supports the work of Campaign for America's Future.

In accepting the award, Lewis said that the progressive movement had made significant progress since 2004, when he created the organization called Americans Coming Together with George Soros in an effort to defeat President Bush. "But we haven't done nearly enough," he said, reflecting both the political and social policy challenges ahead and his own perpetual dissatisfaction with the status quo.

"I am obsessed by doing things well and never being satisfied by how well you're doing them," he said.

Lewis also touched on the oil catastrophe unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico, saying that he wanted the event to prompt radical change away from the use of fossil fuels. "I hope that the oil spill is the disaster that is catalytic, that lets us know that we've got to do something and do it soon," he said. And he put in a plug for one of his pet causes, ending what he called "the irrational prohibition of the use of marijuana."

Earlier, Rucker was introduced by green energy activist and, for a short time, Obama administration official Van Jones. "Sometimes you need somebody who's a little bit weird," Jones said of Rucker, someone to "come into a movement and shake it up."

Rucker founded Color of Change after working with MoveOn.org and gained national prominence for his work as an advocate for New Orleans residents in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and for the freedom of the Jena 6, young black youths who received discriminatory treatment in connection with the beating of a white student. Color of Change also worked to police voting rights issues in the 2008 election.

The success of Color of Change is based on the belief that the real power of the progressive movement is in the grassroots, Rucker said, and that is from where the movement's direction should come. As a movement, he added, "we will fail if we wait for politicians and advocacy organizations to set the agenda and invite the grassroots to come along," he said.

Edwards accepted her award on crutches, having suffered from a knee injury. Referring to her ideological foes on the right in Congress, Edwards said, "you've really got to kick them hard and sometimes you get it in the knee."

Recalling her own struggle as a low-income single mother, Edwards encouraged the activists at the dinner to support leaders who come from humble backgrounds and share the struggles of working-class families.

"The American people want to know we are on their side," she said.

She ended her short remarks by saying, "Now I'm going to walk very slowly so I don't injure this other knee because I need both knees to fight this fight." The audience gave her sustained applause as master of ceremonies Lizz Winstead, commentator and former comedy writer for The Daily Show, helped her limp off the stage.

America's Future Now! We Are The Change

Isaiah J. Poole — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 07:21:44 -0400

On the first day of the America's Future Now! conference in Washington, activists wrestled with how to respond to the Obama administration's first 17 months, and came to a consensus that rather than depending on President Obama's leadership to move progressive change, it is up to progressive activists to prod and set the stage for progressive action by elected leaders. Here are excerpts of some of the plenary session speeches at the conference and interviews with some of the participants.

Obama, Progressives, and Leadership: or, I've Been Doing Some Thinking About Us ...

Richard Eskow — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 02:22:51 -0400

I was getting ready to attend next week's America's Future Now conference, whose theme is that progressives must lead, and thinking about the relationship problems progressives are having with Barack Obama and the Congressional leadership. All the relationship books say that you need to be clear about what you need, so that you can communicate those needs to your partner in a healthy way. (At least that's what I imagine they say; I don't really know.)

The relationship between progressives and the Democratic leadership involves love, anger, and a lot of co-dependence. Some progressives seem to defend the President no matter what he does. Others have written him off as the hopelessly cynical tool (or manipulator) of a corrupt political system. Then there are those in the middle, the ones who get disillusioned and then fall in love all over again whenever he gives a great speech like he did yesterday. Political life must be a series of fifty first dates for them.

The first two groups periodically get angry at each other, while the third group probably alternates between ecstasy and heartache. It's a dysfunctional relationship, all excess and no balance. Here's an example of a middle way, inspired by this week's events: Progressives can congratulate the President when he speaks brilliantly about topics like the environment, while letting him know that he'll lose credibility if he doesn't back his words up with concrete action.

When I say "progressives," I mean people who care passionately about achieving a core group of goals - goals like universal healthcare, real financial reform, a renewing of the social contract with working people, an end to fruitless wars, and a commitment to caring for the poor, the elderly, and all children. I mean people who don't just support these ideals, but are engaged with them - as activists, organizers, bloggers, and/or as people who read and think about these issues on a daily basis.

In other words, I mean you guys - most of the people who are reading these words.

Some progressives think the only problem with Obama's performance so far is that people like - well, like me - don't give the guy a break. When I criticized Obama's continued use of Larry Summers to lead the financial reform charge, for example, this was a typical comment: "Sigh. Doesn't Obama get to do ANYTHING without being second-guessed?'" There were lots of others like this one, too, about the Justice Department's decision not to prosecute anyone in the AIG case: "... every politician, sooner than later, is but a paid stoodge (sic)."

Even Paul McCartney got in on the act on the pro-Obama side, when he said this week that the President's "a a great guy, so lay off him." Pace Paul, here's what I consider to be the right progressive response: The President seems to be a nice guy (though I have no idea if he is or not, and nobody's ever accused Rahm Emanuel of excessive niceness). But he's clearly responsive to political pressure, so we need to keep the pressure up from our side. If you're more comfortable putting it this way, let's say that we want to make a nice guy even nicer.

Other people will express their opinions at next week's event about how to lead in the age of Obama. (That's a session topic at next week's conference..) But here's my take: Don't support politicians - support results. Help politicians who are likely to achieve those results, oppose those who are likely to obstruct them, and pressure all of them to do the right thing whenever possible. (Note, for example, that a number of Republicans supported some meaningful financial reforms.) My view about politicians is respectful, but strictly utilitarian: They're tools for the greater good. I like some of them, but I reserve my deepest emotions for people in real need.

In some ways politicians - and make no mistake, they're all politicians - are like one-celled organisms. They'll respond to positive stimuli and avoid negative ones. So our role becomes a form of behavioral mod: reward them when they do the right thing and to degrade their quality of life when they don't. We should work to make sure that all politicians, from Obama on down, develop a splitting headache when they work against the progressive agenda. And we should work just as hard to help them to experience a warm and satisfying glow of satisfaction when they support our goals.

That means showering them with calls and letters of praise for their positive actions, followed by flowing cascades of donations, volunteers, and support. Believe me, that'll make any politician's cheeks turn rosy with afterglow. When they don't do the right thing? Stony silence, angry letters, lack of funds or volunteers - hey, maybe even a primary challenger. This needs to be tactically applied, of course - to have a Democrat replaced by an even worse Republican is usually a Pyrrhic victory. But Halter's primary challenge to Sen. Blanche Lincoln was an excellent example of the progressive movement's ability to punish anti-progressive behavior, which discourages it, while also pressuring pols to take better policy stands (like Lincoln's excellent amendment on derivatives.)

I've been disappointed at times with the behavior of some progressive colleagues during the health and financial reform debates, too. That includes activist organizations, progressive politicians, and liberal pundits that I respect and appreciate. Many of them are too eager to heap undeserved praise on a bill even before it's finished. When you do that you undercut yourself. Politics 101: If you're no longer a threat, you no longer have leverage.

Some colleagues were horrified at the criticism some of us directed toward the health bill as it was being defined, too. We were even called "traitors." One friend, for example, tweeted something like "Bernie Sanders likes the bill. Is he a liberal sell-out?" My answer was "No, but Bernie Sanders got $12 billion for primary care centers before he went along. What did you get?" Sanders' handling of health reform was a perfect example of bold, pragmatic, goal-oriented progressivism. Support the bill if it's a good one - but only after you've won every concession you can possibly win.

Progressives shouldn't follow leaders - they should exploit them. Politicians aren't heroes, they're tools to be used in a greater cause. So are we. We need to be unrelenting in their challenge of the right, whose ideology has demonstrably failed. We need to take that case to the people, even if - especially if - Democratic leaders won't. And we need to be much bolder in our vision, in our articulation of that vision, and in our willingness to lead instead of being led.

Action is a bitch. Leadership is a headache. Passionate involvement can mean a lot of sleepless nights. But take the reins anyway, progressives. It's your time. Let the politicians follow you for a change.

It can be done. We can do it. Let's start by telling our political "significant others" that it's time we had a little talk ... about us.

#AFN on Twitter

Terrance Heath — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:15:43 -0400

One particularly fun part of America's Future Now 2009 was joining conference attendees and others in "tweeting" the conference. Here are some of our favorites from Twitter.

OurFuturedotorg Everybody who was at our #afn conference in DC - thanks! Working now on big follow-up plans. Let's stay in touch! #followfriday

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tzfoley had a great time at america's future now.. met a ton of awesome progressive leaders/activists.. anyone know marcy wheeler's email? #afn

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fedor4pa #afn very impressed and I'm energized to mobilize to revolutionize america. Who's w me?

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jengon74 @#afn was a great success. Thanks to all the attendees, volunteers and staff that made it happen!!

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JUSTECO1 #AFN so great to see so many fellow Progressives, no back to work...

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sayhar was at a panel in #afn bout the future of the media. i think local news will be driven by the partisan press & outraged bloggers/citiz ...

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CarmenSpinDiego Just finished the last day of americas future now conference it was incredible #afn

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zdry http://twitpic.com/6jj9l - Erica Williams, Campus Progress, repping our folks at the closing session of #afn

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ahynes1 RT CarmenSpinDiego: There's no reason except greed that the unted states doesn't have universal healthcare-leo gerard #afn

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KagroX Pleased to have heard a great speech by @ericawilliamsdc at #afn !

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itseddie naomi klein, you are amazing. erica williams, you are inspiring. #afn

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addiestan #afn Gabriela Sanchez, winner of the Maria Leavey Award, gave a moving presentation that combined speech and song.

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tzfoley Leo Girard: I'm tired of Wall Street throwing up in my shoes #afn

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JUSTECO1 #AFN Erica L. Williams for President!

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JFierce RT @zdry Erica Williams quoting Hemingway: the world breaks everyone, and afterwards some are stronger in the broken places. #afn

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Adriennemaree RT @JFierce: There's no such thing as a transformative president- you can't have that without transformative movements. - Naomi Klein #AFN

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NobleFreshEnerg RT @wellstoneaction: Keith Ellison: no "allies" in global warming fight- we ALL have skin in that game, at America's Future Now, DC #afn

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JFierce The President will be okay- we need to have the backs of people, of folks on the ground- Naomi Klein #AFN

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ahynes1 #afn Representative Keith Ellison rocks the final luncheon

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zdry If we could make Nixon pull out of Vietnam and create EPA, what can we make this president do? Rep Keith Ellison #afn

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digitalsista digital divide & broadband was mentioned about the fact that those voices are still not included b/c they can't afford $65 a month #afn

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Phillyberg @digitalsista exactly! and their towns are rural and don't have wireless. #afn

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digitalsista fundamental shift of media for minority is a loss to that community that gets hits the hardest in this economy #afn

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zdry We must work together to defend our civil rights even when it means pushing our friends. (Vagins) #afn

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DCBadger RT @jephilip: Brandon Silverman making great points abt online organizing on a budget. invest in a microphone u don't need an hd video #afn

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zdry Targeted universalism recognizes that our fates are linked - these issues will spill into all of our lives if not fixed (powell) #afn

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ahynes1 @digitalsista I am at the New Media Session at #afn Good turnout. Starting off interactively.

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jephilip Great turn out for Progressive Majority session on new media. Still have seats if you want to join us in the senate room.

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zdry Insurers say competition is good - until they have to do it. (Sen. Sharod Brown on a public option) #afn

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tzfoley brown: clean water, medicare, etc none of these battles won because politicians are kind-hearted.. came from pressure from progressives #afn

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ahynes1 #afn Collaborating on Ideas for the Long-Term has great brainstorming session on progressive headlines in ten years.

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The Next Fight: Immigration Reform

Sara Robinson — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:06:09 -0400

Republicans have been running on immigration as a signature issue for the past several elections, so it's ironic that progressives are the ones with the most to gain from solving the immigration problem. But before we can do that, we need to understand—and agree—on what the problems are, and what can and should be done.

That was the conclusion drawn by the four speakers at the "The Politics of Immigration: Workers, Justice, and Immigration Reform" panel at America's Future Now! on Tuesday afternoon.

Moderator Gabe Gonzales of the Center for Community Change tipped his hat to the GOP for their role in galvanizing the Latino vote in recent years. He noted that the pro-immigrant demonstrations in 2006 brought over three million people out into the streets. "The Republicans have done something that hasn't happened in 30 years, " he reflected. "When they started making generalized attacks on Latino immigrants, everybody came together in self-defense. When this panel is over, I'm going to take up a collection for a statue of Pete Wilson and James Sensenbrenner -- they're the Number One and Number Two Latino organizers in the country."

Still, it's not going to be easy, especially as long as progressives themselves remain divided on the issue of immigration.

VIDEO

Watch the June 2 immigration reform panel discussion at the America's Future Now! conference.

The Politics of Immigration at America's Future Now! from AmericasFuture on Vimeo.

Angelica Salas of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles opened the discussion by describing the specific problems immigrants face in dealing with the US Government. Strikingly, an estimated 40 percent of undocumented immigrants do have an application for legal status pending. They're in the system, and following the law; but processing takes so long (upwards of a decade in many cases) and the system is so chaotic that their cases simply haven't been resolved.

Others have been through the process, and been denied—often for purely bureaucratic reasons. A 1996 overhaul in immigration law penalized people who waited too long after their arrival to start the application process. If you wait over six months, you can't file an application for three years; and if you wait a year, you need to wait ten years to apply. In effect, this rule means that these people can't apply for legal status at all.

And while they're waiting, these immigrants have no protection against employer abuse, discrimination, or exploitation. Since they're forced to live in the shadows, their ability to fully integrate into the mainstream of American culture is compromised, too. Immigrant parents with American-born children can be deported in an instant, forced to leave their children behind. And, Salas makes clear, as long as we tolerate this situation, these immigrants will be a perfect right-wing scapegoat that can be blamed for everything from a decaying health care system to falling wages to labor issues. Having these immigrants in our economy gives conservatives a too-perfect excuse for their failure to address a great many issues.

Empowering these immigrants can also be a major win for progressives as a movement. "Immigration will matter as long as labor issues matter," said Eliseo Medina of SEIU, which organizes more immigrant workers than any other union in the country. He stressed that we cannot solve one issue without also addressing the other -- and the way we solve both has serious implications for how we address our larger economic problems as well.

Even before the recession, said Eliseo, we were struggling with huge numbers of people without health care, growing income inequality, the erosion of pension plans, a shrinking middle class, and an increasing disregard for labor laws that drained away the size and political clout of unions. But in attacking Latino immigrants, he noted, the right wing has awakened a giant. They underestimated the number of Latino-American citizens, citizens who are now unified and voting in numbers never seen before.

"They've learned what it is to participate and win," said Medina. "And they're going to be a force going forward." He pointed out that about two-thirds of Latino voters voted for Obama. Reforming immigration will put 12 million currently undocumented people on the path to citizenship, which will further expand the coalition of progressive voters.

"Will we win?" asked Ali Noorani of the National Immigration Forum. "Yes." Noorani pointed out that last year, 20 out of 25 House races in swing states -- and five swing state Senate races -- were won by candidates who stood for comprehensive immigration reform. In North Carolina -- not exactly a progressive stronghold -- Liddy Dole spent half her war chest on anti-immigrant ads...and lost anyway.

Noorani noted that the right wing has no real coherent answers to the problem of immigration. They're mostly interested in beefing up Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and deporting immigrants and their families. Real reform involves a much broader solution that brings the immigration system back under control; restores stability and responsibility; adds structure to the system; makes application for legal status mandatory; reunifies families; gives immigrants access to due process and the courts; and builds an enforcement system that's efficient, effective, and humane both at the border and in the interior. And it needs to create a pathway that allows immigrants to integrate, and succeed.

"This is not the silver bullet to the economic crisis, but it's a critical part of it," Noorani said. Undocumented workers are a "trap door in the wage floor," exploited by crooked employers. When we let immigrants slide through that door, we're also leaving it open for those same crooked employers to exploit African-American workers, then white workers. "We close that trap door, and everybody can compete for a job on a level playing field, for a living wage."

And, said Noorani, this fight begins right now. Next Monday, President Obama is convening Congressional leaders to start the push for an immigration reform bill, which he wants to get passed this year. The goal is to get 279 votes in the House, and 60 in the Senate. The fight will continue through the summer and fall, so this is the moment our representatives really need to hear from us.

What will that fix look like? Noorani offered three hard criteria for any successful bill. First, it must create a pathway for quick legalization of existing undocumented workers, so they can stop living underground and be counted. Second, it has to continue America's tradition of family reunification. Point systems encourage solitary immigrants, who arrive without any community or personal support infrastructure. When families arrive together and join up into immigrant communities, they're far more successful, and ultimately assimilate more smoothly. Third, it needs to be viable over the long run: if it doesn't allow us to process future immigrants in a sane, reasonable, timely way, we're going to keep having this conversation over and over in the future.

We also need to oppose any proposal to eliminate the Constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship; recognize border-wall proposals as the boondoggles and gimmicks that they are; and reject any bill that makes undocumented workers into instant felons—a move that would drive them even further underground.

Ray Marshall, who was Jimmy Carter's labor secretary and is now teaching at the University of Texas, concluded the panel with a positive vision what the world could look like if reform succeed. He sees immigration reform as an integral part of a larger shared prosperity, because our immigrants would be fully empowered to succeed and contribute to America's culture and economy. And it's the necessary first step to improving protections for native-born American workers as well.

But first, Marshall continued, we need to convince the other side that maintaining the status quo is no longer an option—and that if they oppose it, they will be overridden in Congress. "We will have more immigrants in five years. The question is: on what terms, and how do we use the immigration process to support our shared prosperity agenda? We need a system that's fair, transparent, and in the best interest of the country."

Furthermore, said Marshall, we need to think globally. Five or ten years on, we might include Canada and Mexico in this "shared prosperity agenda," harmonizing the labor and immigration laws of all three countries in ways that discourage immigration from Mexico. "And then the world would be talking about the North American miracle, about how shared prosperity set a new standard of living for the entire hemisphere."

As the panel ended, the panelists and audience reflected on how much more useful it is for progressives to organize around ideas and goals, instead of cultural identities. Salas talked passionately about the importance of finding strength in your own identity -- but then reaching out beyond that to join with others to create a progressive vision we can all share. We all want the same things for ourselves and our children -- but because our issues are all so deeply interwined, we can only get those things by working together.

Supporters of immigration reform are encouraged to text 69866 justice to sign up for updates from the immigration action network.

Progressives Draw The Line On Health Care

Isaiah J. Poole — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:53:58 -0400

Most people attending the America's Future Now conference are clear about one thing when it comes to health care: They are not prepared to compromise away the choice of a public health care option in order to get other reforms.

In a straw poll at America's Future Now! done jointly by Democracy Corps and the Campaign for America's Future, 63 percent said they agreed with the statement that "including a public option is the only way to hold the insurance companies accountable and force them to bring down costs. I can't support a health care plan that does not include the choice of a public option."

Only 24 percent said they "could support a health care plan that does not include a public option as long as it expands affordable coverage to all Americans and prevents insurance companies from denying coverage."

That should send a clear signal to Capitol Hill that progressive activists will not stand for having the public health insurance option being used as a political bargaining chip. It is a core demand.

There were disturbing signals in the Senate that a deal is being worked out with the Obama administration that a public plan option would be subject to a "trigger" that would only fire if private insurance companies fail to meet some yet-undetermined goals that they would presumably use their clout in Congress to set. Progressive health-care activists have already made it clear that such a bargain is unacceptable, and the grass-top activists at the conference largely agree.

Health care reform was considered one of the top two priorities of the country by 70 percent of participants, with 43 percent considering it a number one priority. Ranking second was alternative energy policy, with 32 percent ranking it in the top two priorities.

Some other key results from the poll:

Ninety percent on poll participants said they generally support President Obama and the job he is doing, while 10 percent disapprove.
The administration's most important accomplishment so far has been Congressional passage of a budget framework that allows for energy and health care reforms, 41 percent of participants said.
Eighty-one percent would like to see an investigation of Wall Street excesses that contributed to the financial crisis. Such an investigation is authorized in legislation recently signed by President Obama. Another 67 percent would like to see an investigation of Bush administration alleged illegalities with regard to the handling of terrorist subjects, which the Obama administration opposes.
On the question of whether progressives should focus on helping President Obama accomplish his legislative goals or whether progressives should be more independent and focus on pushing him to be bolder, 48 percent said they preferred the latter.

The Politics of Immigration

Isaiah J. Poole — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 10:40:32 -0400

Gabe Gonzalez of the Center for Community Change leads a panel discussion on how progressives can forge common ground on an immigration reform strategy. The panel includes Angelica Salas of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, Ali Noorani of the National Immigration Forum, former Labor secretary Ray Marshall and Eliseo Medina of the Service Employees International Union.

Awards Gala

Isaiah J. Poole — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 10:40:32 -0400

Three people on the front lines of the fight for social and economic justice—John J. Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO; Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus; and Deepak Bhargava, executive director of the Center for Community Change—were honored Tuesday night at the America's Future Gala Awards Evening. Rep. Donna Edwards, D-Md., a rising progressive leader in Congress, was master of ceremonies.