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The Argument: Billionaires, Bloggers, and the Battle to Remake DemocraticPolitics

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Shortly after the November 2006 election the Democracy Alliance, an exclusive group of about 100 Democratic Party millionaire activists, met in Miami, Florida. Members and their guests heard their keynote speaker and liberal legend Mario Cuomo, former New York governor, analyze the Democratic Party in the wake of its stunning electoral victories that had given Democrats control of the US Congress. Cuomo criticized the Democratic Party for lacking vision, big ideas and a winning political argument. His recipe for future Democratic victories was simple: "You seize the biggest idea you can, the biggest idea you can understand. And this is what moves elections."

Cuomo then dared to voice an inconvenient truth: "Now it's 2006 and we're all rejoicing. Why? Because of Iraq. A GIFT. A gift to the Democrats. A lot of whom voted for the war anyway." The former New York governor challenged his partisan audience, "If Iraq is not an issue, then what issues do we have to talk about? ... Where does that leave you? It leaves you in the same position you were in in 2004 - without an issue. Because you have no big idea."

The story of Cuomo's speech is from the concluding pages of Matt Bai's new book The Argument: Billionaires, Bloggers and the Battle to Remake Democratic Politics. Bai writes, "An uncomfortable silence hung over the ballroom. No one had yet expressed the situation quite that crassly, although everyone knew it was an accurate accounting."

The Argument is an important book but Bai muffed the title. He should have titled it "The Gift," because as Cuomo points out it was primarily the political gift of voter anger and revulsion over a horrific, continuing war that caused them to oust Republicans.

And how have the Democrats treated their gift now that they control Congress? The Democratic House and Senate have continued to fund the war while posturing against it. For example Hillary Clinton, who pollsters regard as the Democratic frontrunner for her party's presidential nomination, told the New York Times that when she is elected she would keep troops in Iraq but run a smarter operation. The public's opinion of Congress has plummeted with no end in sight to the bloody occupation.

Bai's book is the first since the 2006 election to examine the new power alliance within the Democratic Party composed of the organizations referenced in his long subtitle. They include the "billionaires" such as George Soros and other members of the Democracy Alliance; the major liberal "bloggers" such as "Netroots Nation" guru Markos Moulitsas Zúniga with his Daily Kos blog and the Yearly Kos conventions; and the related "battlers" re-making the Democratic Party such as party chair Howard Dean. Bai devotes an entire chapter to MoveOn, the Netroots money and messaging machine controlling an email list of 3.3 million Americans built in large part on their opposition to the Iraq war.

This is one of those rare books that really causes you to stop and think, and helps you to formulate new ideas.

For the activist, blogger, or political junkie you should really consider this a textbook. It illustrates some of the battles over the future of the Democratic party that have raged over the past 5 years or so pitting party outsiders vs. party insiders. It also points out the mistakes that have been made and the opportunities that have been missed. But probably most importantly it sums up the critical task - define the argument for a Democratic governing majority.

For the casual observer this book holds many things too. It is one of the few non-fictional books that paints a tail of political intrigue, presents you with vividly developed characters (flaws and all), and really tells a story about the recent past of our political history. The casual observer might not be aware of these undercurrents in modern politics, but it is important to understand them because this is the direction things are heading.

The "argument" referred to in the title of this book is the search for an agenda among liberal activist groups that make up in Howard Dean's words "the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party." Matt Bai, a reporter for the New York Times Magazine, has been in close contact with these groups for many years and is sympathetic with them. However, he finds them lacking in two major respects. One, they do not have the "big ideas" based on principles that inspired, say, Roosevelt's New Deal or Johnson's Great Society program. Second, they spend too much time being negative and divisive. They're acting too much like Democratic Karl Roves, which incidentally works only in the limited way of winning elections. Bai laments the fact that they are more about partisanship than ideology.

Like the liberal activists, Bai does not care much for the Clintons and the Democratic Leadership Council. The Clinton's practice of triangulation - poaching moderate Republicans and swing voters - does not make for big ideas. Clinton politics are the "politics of the center" whereas liberal activists practice the "politics of the base." (For more on this distinction read The Way to Win: Clinton, Bush, Rove, and How to Take the White House in 2008 (Unabridged) by Mark Halperin and John F. Harris.)

For the past 30 years Republicans have been very successful on the big idea front due to their funding of such think tanks as the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute. According to Bai, the Democratic effort to replicate that success was initiated by George Soros and other wealthy Democrats. Their foundation, the Democracy Alliance, attempts to transform what they see as the bankrupt Democratic establishment. So far, they have not come up with the big ideas that Bai and others are looking for.

Another group Bai discusses is MoveOn. They are a netroots organization on the other end of the economic spectrum from Soros. It's a member-driven organization that is more about tactics than strategy. They are self-mobilizing and their goals of healthcare for all, renewable resources, and restored democracy are laudable but without a strategy they are merely feel-good.

The most strident activists and the ones most focused on getting elected are the bloggers such as Markos Zuniga of the DailyKos. They are unyielding in their negative assaults on the Bush administration - and given the administration's track record, not unjustified. However, being the Karl Roves of the Democrats may win them elections but it does not give them an agenda for governing the country - as I hope Karl Rove himself has found out.

Bai finds the bloggers deficient in their understanding of history - say anything that happened before 1998, the Clinton impeachment. He goes on to argue that bloggers view politics as an online wargame. They assault anyone who disagrees with them, even moderate Democrats who have compromised their views with Republicans. The bloggers do not seek to persuade any Republicans, they are after the 50 percent of the populace that does not vote. Why that non-voting electorate would sign up with uncompromising liberal bloggers is still unclear.

What Bai and the liberal activist insurgency seem to forget is that politics is the art of the possible. Piecemeal ideas and baby steps are the stuff of legislation. These activists could never achieve power and impose their agenda if they can't even find common cause with the centrist branch of their own party. They are not only disconnected from history, they are disconnected from reality.

At the end of the book, Bai touches on a big idea - if there is one - that could transform the Democratic Party. Andy Stern, a union leader, has formed a partnership with Walmart to move the country toward universal healthcare. This is an issue were large corporations and unions can find agreement, and both need to support it to make it a reality. Although denounced by the left for working with Walmart, Stern is on the right path. Liberal activists should learn that they will get nowhere if they can't work with big business.

Lush. Bai has a way of setting a scene, from a smoke filled dive bar in Connecticut, to the swanky pads of the country's billionaires. What's more, he seems to never take himself too seriously as he tells this tale. The first chapter is worth the price of admission alone.

Bai's personal bias is clear, and at some points, perhaps unfair, but for the most part he paints a compelling picture of a burgeoning movement and the people who are helping to shape it. On the blogger side, he leaves out a lot - but a book could be, and has been, written on just that alone. He could have written much, much more, certainly if he had a different guide to the upstart side of things, but where he draws the line will satisfy most, with only the most knowledgeable beltway insider saying things like, "but he should have added...could have said..."...

Overall, some people will hate the book, but most will appreciate it. Even if it isn't a perfect assessment, even if Matt doesn't have the whole story here, he spent years trying to find out how the new progressive movement wanted to work and puts up a mirror to show us all how it actually is working. What is clear is that we have work yet to do. And that is ok.

As I plunked this book down on the counter at Stacy's Bookstore in San Francisco on Friday afternoon, I never would have believed I would be up at midnight on Sunday finishing the last page to the glow of my clip-on reading light. While it touches on a lot of pressing political issues, do not miss the fact Matt Bai's The Argument is a seriously fun read.

Bai tagged along with billionaire political activists and the founders of the netroots for the last few years and generously spills the insider details as he weaves a larger and strangely compelling narrative about the forces currently reshaping the Democratic Party.

Like many readers, I came to this book with some context for the larger
tale. Given what I had read about the book, I also braced myself
for some criticism of a movement that I had really enjoyed cheering from the
sidelines. Instead of hearing more of what I already knew or a rant against the netroots, however, I was pulled along by a great narrative in a book that in the end I felt was less a critique or polemic but something more rare altogether these days, good old fashioned journalism.

By letting the reader know just enough of his own thoughts on the people and ideas he encounters, Bai trusts the reader to set their own bias filter, which then freed at least this reader to embrace both Bai's narrative and, more importantly, his Argument.

This book will make you think anew about the larger purpose, or lack thereof, propelling the re-awakening of the Democratic Party. The book is worth buying for the stories Bai tells alone, but its real value is in how it will give you a slightly different angle for understanding how the netroots and insanely wealthly donors are changing the Democratic Party itself.

I offer the following (quoted)excerpts as evidence of the valuable insights and material found in this book (from pages 202-204).

The truth was that if the new progressives had anything in common with the party's Washington insiders, it was this: Both suffered from a kind of bunker mentality when it came to thinking big or differently about government. This was, in a way, the great tactical victory of American conservatives. They had spent so much time attacking the policy achievements of the New Deal and the Great Society, and had done so with such devastating effectiveness, that Democrats and their interest groups now thought themselves justified in devoting all their energy to trying to preserve the party's legislative legacy, rather than to update or build on it. ....

When they [Democrats] talked about new ideas, they were almost always talking about ways to protect or modestly enlarge existing programs - extending Medicare to cover more Americans, enlarging the Head Start rolls. Any Democrat who dared to wonder if these programs were still optimal under an entirely new set of economic conditions was immediately accused of siding with conservatives and trying to destroy the social safety net. You couldn't have a real debate about building a modern retirement program that wasn't financed by a payroll tax that hurt wage earners and the self-employed but left big-time investors untouched; or about a portable, comprehensive health-care plan that might replace Medicare and Medicaid; or about updating affirmative action to address economic disadvantage, rather than skin color. The working ... assumption was that ... even talking about the need to reimagine any of these programs was the same thing ... as aiding those Republicans who wanted to dismantle them.

The only way to protect activist government ... Democrats believed, was to remain unified and obstinate in defense of an old agenda ..... There may have been some political realism to this, but it came at a cost, which was that it deadened the party's intellectual response and it added to the perception that Democrats had nothing to say beyond opposing Republican reforms. The new Democratic mission was essentially to protect the old one.

what separates bai's book from other prez politics books is that it's reported and reasoned whereas the rest tend to mistake heated opinion for insight. bai does us a favor by explaining why, despite bush's terrible run, the democrats are by no means ensured a bright future. he makes it plain that the democrats didn't so much win in the 06 midterms as the republicans lost. no matter how much you disagree w the republicans, the truth is that their ideas have been as strong as their ground game. bai shows the mainstream democrats denying or not getting that, and he shows the new progressives trying grapple w how to build a left-wing conspiracy. what becomes clear is it's not simply a matter of pouring water and stirring. highly recommended if you want to understand the forces shaping the 08 election.

Starting with the collapse of the Kerry campaign and the Democrats losing "another election we should have won," Matt Bai takes the reader on a 2-year road trip to points unknown to repair and rejuvenate the Democratic Party. And like a lot of road trips, not every moment is a Kodak one.

This is an interesting and thought-provoking book about the future of the Democratic Party and the progressive movement. But just as importantly, it's a fun read. It is full of grand ideas and visionaries (I,for one, was privileged to see Rob Stein's "killer slide show" before it became famous). And it is full of hilariously puffed up egos and barenaked in-fighting knife-throwers. For Democrats, like myself, it is both uplifting and a little disconcerting. This is a Party struggling for its identity and you can't help but wonder if the cast of characters that Bai follows is really up to the task.

The final sequence, when Mario Cuomo, gives a talk without notes is the perfect destination to end this road show. The would-be, erstwhile, don't ask me again presidential candidate calls the Iraq War a "gift" to the Democratic Party. A gift! What a cynical, yet prescient view. He then goes on to talk about how and why ideas matter. That seems like a very simple and obvious statement, but it goes to the heart of the Democratic struggle. Are we to be built to win or to lead, or can we be both?

The Bai book is a gift to the reader. Funny, provocative, and just the right amount of seriousness. Anyway, excuse me, I have to take a leak. Talk amongst yourselves.

Matt Bai doesn't pretend to be an objective journalist: he proudly admits to his sterling left-wing credentials. And his left-wing outlook blazes forth on almost every page of this book.

Truth, of course, is the first casualty for any partisan, and by page 7 Bai has rewritten 20th Century American history as he describes the Democrats as "a great party whose legislative ingenuity had fueled the greatest period of national prosperity in the history of the world". There are many whose legislative ingenuity was responsible for the periods of prosperity the United States experienced in the 20th Century. But at least Bai leaves no doubt whatsoever where his loyalties lay.

The story Bai claims to be telling here is how the "netroots" - bloggers, the technologically aware and very wealthy left-wingers - have seized the reins of the Democrat Party and are guiding it to the day when left-wing ideas will prevail.

The story Bai actually puts before the critical reader - one who doesn't necessarily agree with the idea of a left-wing nirvana - is how the left's special interests are buying and guiding unthinking followers. None of the ideas put forth by the "new" left-wing leaders are new. Almost all of the ideas have been rejected by voters in elections past.

What has changed is the medium, not the message.

Bai doesn't care since his interest is in making it all seem new and shiny.

It is a well-writen book and I heartily recommend that everyone who fears the left-wing read it, for your fears will be confirmed.

Jerry

Bai's book traces the emergence of the "Netroots", the left/"Progressive" online movement kicked off by Howard Dean's abortive 2004 Presidential campaign, from its pre-Dean roots in MoveOn-dot-com through the late stages of the 2008 Democrat primary season.

If you can get past Bai's somewhat toadyish tone, the book is filled with great insights into how the left took away the internet from the right-leaning early adopters, who had owned online political commentary in much the way they still own political talk radio. While not a paint-by-numbers guide to how the left established itself online and used the newly-available social networking and messaging methods to trump the GOP in 2006 and 2008, it reveals much that is useful to the right in catching up. The right can learn from the left's mistakes and missteps, as recounted by Bai, as from their obvious successes. In this regard, the Democrats and Bai have done those of us on the right an enormous favor, showing us many of the pitfalls that await us in rebuilding the GOP for the internet age -- thanks!

Another revealing insight the book presents is just how fractured and petty the left really is. Competing factions struggled at first to marginalize the emerging "netroots", and later fought amongst each other to control the movement when its potential became clear. Plainly, it isn't only the GOP that has factional problems between its status-quo, position-protecting old guard and its tech-savvy, idea-oriented younger generation.