[Peace-discuss] Liberal opinion

[C. G. Estabrook]

	The netroots agenda: War? What war?
	By: Byron York
	08/15/09 11:22 AM EDT

It's not getting much attention, but the Netroots Nation conference (formerly 
known as YearlyKos, a spinoff from the left-wing website DailyKos) is going on 
in Pittsburgh this weekend.  Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg has conducted 
a straw poll of the participants and found that a majority of those surveyed, 53 
percent, say they "cannot support a health care reform bill that does not 
include a public option."  Other results include word that most of the attendees 
are willing to compromise a bit on environmental legislation, even though it 
gives a lot of benefits to big corporations, and the finding that, amazingly 
enough, attendees voice near-unanimous approval, 95 percent, of the job Barack 
Obama is doing as president.

What's truly striking in Greenberg's poll is the degree to which the wars in 
Iraq and Afghanistan have fallen off the progressive radar.  I attended the 
first YearlyKos convention, in 2006, and have kept up with later ones, and it's 
safe to say that while people who attended those gatherings couldn't stand 
George W. Bush in general, their feelings were particularly intense when it came 
to opposing the war in Iraq.  It animated their activism; they hated the war, 
and they hated Bush for starting it.  They weren't that fond of the fighting in 
Afghanistan, either.

Now, with Obama in the White House, all that has changed.  Greenberg presented 
respondents with a list of policy priorities and asked, "Please indicate which 
two you think progressive activists should be focusing their attention and 
efforts on the most."  The winner was passing comprehensive health care reform, 
with 60 percent, and number two was passing "green energy policies that address 
environmental concerns," with 22 percent.  Tied for eighth place, named by just 
eight percent of respondents, was "working to end our military involvement in 
Iraq and Afghanistan."

Then Greenberg asked which one of those issues "do you, personally, spend the 
most time advancing currently?"  The winner was health care reform, with 23 
percent, and second place was "working to elect progressive candidates in the 
2010 elections," with 16 percent.  In 11th place -- at the very bottom of the 
list -- was "working to end our military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan." 
Just one percent of Netroots Nations attendees listed that as their most 
important personal priority.

Many observers have remarked that Obama's decision to escalate the war in 
Afghanistan, and also to escalate the campaign of targeted assassinations using 
drone aircraft, both in Afghanistan and Pakistan, will cause him trouble on the 
political left.  Indeed, some members of Congress have suggested that the 
president has just a year to show significant results in Afghanistan before 
lawmakers begin to pressure him to pull back.  But if the Netroots Nation 
results are any indication, Obama may have more room than previously thought on 
the war.  Not too long ago, with a different president in the White House, the 
left was obsessed with America's wars.  Now, they're not even watching.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/The-netroots-agenda-War-What-war-53296592.html