Howard Dean’s Movement Now Has the Power

At this Convention, I have so far attended a mock Iowa Caucus, a presentation from most of the Democratic Presidential candidates’ campaigns on how they’re working with the netroots, a panel of 3 bloggers who broke through the media cycle to defeat Republicans, and an informative – though frustrating – panel about holding our newly elected Democrats accountable. And with Howard Dean’s Welcome Address last night in front of 1,500 “netroots” activists who celebrated a new Democratic Congress, a presidential campaign that had come crashing down three years ago in the Iowa cornfields has matured into a powerful political force.

“What you have done for the past six years,” said Dean, “is to fight to restore the democracy that George Bush has undone. It takes a very long time to bring folks out of power who have been entrenched for so long. The Republicans are always talking about their moral values, but apparently democracy is not one of them. We can still win the battle for democracy in the world, but it will not happen by sending troops to Iraq. The Internet is the most empowering and democratizing invention since the printing press.”

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