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PDA Featured at Rainbow Convention

The National Rainbow/PUSH Coalition held its annual convention in Chicago all last week, and the Progressive Democrats of America played a role. One of the first panels highlighted Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr's. proposed Constitutional Amendments on Voting Rights, and featured Rep. Jackson, Jr., DNC Chair Howard Dean, Constitutional lawyer John Bonifaz, and PDA Political Advisor Steve Cobble. (Bonifaz and Cobble are also co-founders of the extremely hot web site www.afterdowningstreet.org, along with 3 other PDAers--David Swanson, Bob Fertik and Tim Carpenter.)

Bonifaz spoke eloquently on the importance of protecting our constitutional right to vote. Cobble pointed out the vast organizing potential that could arise from serious nationwide organizing efforts to pass Constitutional Amendments to guarantee the right to vote, the right to health care, and the right to a good, high-quality, public education. Cobble also took the opportunity to encourage Chairman Dean to confound his critics by speaking out on issues that matter to real people, like the war in Iraq and health care for all, and by continuing his efforts to fund the Democratic Party with low-dollar donations, giving us the chance to change the party's direction.

There were numerous highlight moments at the week-long convention, including:

• Rep. Jackson, Jr's. impressive summary of the need for progressive Constitutional Amendments, to counter the right wing's use of their own amendments to constantly fire up their base.
• Rep. Maxine Waters giving a blistering antiwar speech, bringing the crowd to its feet repeatedly with her passion. (She was so on fire that Jackson snuck up on her from behind, put his fingers on her forehead, and then jerked them off suddenly, as if her forehead was so hot it had burned him!)
• Leslie Cagan of United for Peace & Justice followed, with another fiery speech. The good crowd response made it clear to everyone that the people are ready for this occupation to end.
• Emira Woods of the Institute for Policy Studies/Foreign Policy in Focus talked movingly and precisely about both the opportunities and the obstacles for real grassroots victories in the struggle for debt cancellation for Africa, in the coming weeks.
• Reverend Jackson calling for a "Black/Brown Coalition" focused on our urban areas, followed a few minutes later by a short, precise summary of our current condition, and the need for long-term planning, by Antonio Gonzales, head of the Southwest Voter Registration & Education Project.

It was a good Rainbow conference, and PDA played a part.