Day One Wrap-Up

My time at the Big Tent was cut short today. While running around trying to interview as many bloggers as I could, someone came up to me with a black market convention pass. With a pass for the Pepsi Center marked “Vendor” I left the big tent for the big event. Instead of getting to take advantage of all of the free Fat Tire beer, the free massages, and the free Chipotle burritos, I watched as countless speakers (including the Speaker of the House) praised Obama as a leader. There’s nothing unique about saying the convention is just a pageant, but unless you are really there it’s hard to tell how unbearable it is (on tv, you can just change the channel).

Amidst the Pelosi-led chanting of “McCain is wrong,” the people dressed as super heroes (including the Captain Morgan), the instructions of the Megatron to “Text which state has the best cheering section to 62662,” it was Daniel Boorstin’s very definition of a pseudo-event (a superficial, planned, self-fulfilling news event). It felt more like American Idol than American Democracy. 

I have to admit, however, that listening to Ted Kennedy speak was moving. It’s hard not to listen to a dying man, especially one who has accomplished so much good in his life. When Kennedy pledged to be there in January standing beside Obama when he takes office, it was the injection of hope that was otherwise lacking from an Obama-less rally.

Drunk Bloggers

The Big Tent encourages drinking. There, the good beer flows like wine. Sponsored by Fat Tire, the Tent gives bloggers the chance to drink for nothing, without having to move more than 50 steps from their computer (and of course bringing the beer back to work stations is allowed). Because of this, there are plenty of motormouthed twenty-somethings. While working at my station, I sat next to a blogger from Florida. Here is the conversation he had with his buddy:

“I’m going to get you some lemonade,” his less drunk friend said. “But first eat this cheese, you need to eat some cheese.”

“Fuck lemonade, get me more beer,” he said. “Lemonade started 9/11. I don’t know how or why, but that shit is responsible for 9/11.”

“Listen,” his friend said angrily. “You need to eat this cheese, if you don’t eat this cheese you will die. This is not a threat, this is a scientific fact. I will not kill you, the booze will.”

A YouTube kind of patriotism

Big Tent, Denver, Colorado: Just before Ted Sorenson—JFK’s close adviser and speechwriter— got up on stage to compare Obama with Kennedy, I met the winner of the Democratic Convention Contest YouTube video winner. Rich Peters, a 27 year-old Iowa native, was in Denver as a result of winning the “Why am I a Democrat in 2008” contest.

“I love my country, I love America, but I really want it back,” Peters said about why he made the video. “I want our country to return to the preeminence that it hasn’t seen in the last 8 years. It’s not just about policy, it’s about returning to our principles. This country is for the people by the people, and those in charge need to remember this.”

Peters said that since winning this contest these ideals have only been reinforced.

“To get to Denver, I had to sit in airport, with a high power attorney from DNC and an executive from Morgan Stanley,” he said. “Now the guy from Morgan Stanley was a staunch Republican and the attorney from D.C. was a Democrat. Despite the differences everyone had politically, everyone seemed to agree about one thing. We were all sick of a government that wasn’t willing to do the people’s business. It’s not just a Republican or Democratic desire for this country to get its reputation back.”

 Like many of the people in the Big Tent today, Peters feels that New Media is the future.

“My inspiration for starting my blog was assault on reason by Al Gore,” he said. “Gore threw a challenge out to everyone, and it’s a challenge that I am trying to achieve. He said that it was important for citizens to drive conversation, not just listen to it. It’s time for everyone to be a part national discourse, and it’s time for people to realize that they have a right to be heard.”

Can’t take the beltway out of the blogger

Big Tent, Denver, Colorado: Five years ago Lucas O’Connor, 27, was trying to get as far away from places like the DNC as possible. Having lived all of his life in the D.C area, surrounded by wonks and policy makers, O’Conner graduated from George Mason, and then decided to move to the opposite end of the country: San Diego.

Despite a desire to learn to surf, and an even greater desire to leave Washington back east, O’Connor couldn’t help but be sucked back into the political scene. Arriving in San Diego at the same time that the Duke Cunningham scandal and subsequent special election happened, O’Conner felt that traditional media outlets were not giving the story a thorough investigation. Pairing up with national blogs, O’Conner took investigation into his own hands stating, “my inner beltway geek will not be denied.”

Four years later, he is sitting at the Big Tent at the DNC as an official California blogger for Caliticks.com. His experience in general, and his experience has shaped O’Connor’s views on the importance and the role of new forms of media.

“A lot of the conflict between the new and old forms of media, a lot of media pushback, comes from bloggers thinking they are going to replace journalist,” he said. “For years I have been saying I don’t want that job. I have never wanted that job. Our role is not to become the new and only journalists, but to play a roll of keeping traditional media honest, and creating nuance in the news cycle.”

One of the benefits O’Connor sees with blogs is that they do not have to be bogged down in giving background information with each dispatch.

“With newspaper has to give all the background, and they can’t give as much information,” he said. Blogs assume basic understanding and this allows them to work on building long-term narrative. It’s no longer just information, it’s a story that carries from piece to piece.”

When I asked whether this assumption of knowledge made blogs elitist and only informative to those in the know, he had an answer:

“People interested in insider baseball will turn around and talk to friends and family who are not,” he said. “ Blogs arm people with really good ways to talk about the issues, and transfer their knowledge on to others.” 

The Big Tent

Denver, Colorado: If ever there was a place to see the surge of youth involvement in the political seen, then it’s the Big Tent. The Tent (where I am currently sitting), located jut a couple of blocks away from the Convention Center is a veritable ant-hill of bloggers. WIth spotty internet, shorting power surges, and no air conditioning, tempers are short. Still, the dozens and dozens of young people filling the long cafeteria-style tables recognize that these are just the expected obstacles when shaping the New Media. I will begin blogging about bloggers. Let the meta-blogging begin.

No credentials

Denver, Colorado: Walking through Denver during the DNC without credentials is like being at the U.S-Mexican border without an ID. Entire streets are closed off to me. I can’t get without 5 blocks of the Pepsi Center. Even the places that I can go require me to walk through streets I am not allowed on. No worries, I am not here to listen to speeches. I am here to talk to young people on the streets!

So far I have basically just been polling the audience about Joe Biden. The young reaction has generally been good. I have heard a lot of people say things like:

“Well, I was really pulling for HIllary, but Biden is a great choice.” Or “My first choice would have been Clark, but Biden fixes the same basic problems.”

The general feeling among young people (and other generations, I think) is that Biden gives the ticket a much more well rounded feel. One Obama staffer who wished to remain nameless said,

“We all love Obama, but when it comes to politics, there are certain things that he lacked. I don’t think his relatively little experience will make him a worse president, but it might make him a weaker candidate. It’s harder to argue that he is a weaker candidate with Biden beside him.”

Twas the night before the convention

Walking around Denver tonight, the night before the start of the Democratic Convention was very eerie. By 9 p.m. it seemed that there were more armed policemen and SWAT cars than there were pedestrians (perhaps the city realized that it was the 40th anniversary of the 1968 Democratic Convention riots). 

I went to a convention kick off party hosted by a number of young Democratic groups. WIth the music pumping and the crowds swelling, it was impossible to do interviews there. It was, however, super easy to get numbers of people willing to be interviewed at a later date. These young Democrats were handing out business cards like it was a baseball card convention.

Let the games begin

The DNC starts tomorrow. I am going to a Young Democrats party tomorrow evening, and then we’ll see where the whirlwind of activity takes me.

A tribute to Stephanie Tubbs

Matt Segal, my friend and the founder of the Student Association for Voter Empowerment, just published a piece on Huffington about the late congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs. It’s a heartfelt piece. Check it out here.

The Baker and the Paralegal

Seattle, Washington: The baker wakes up at 3 am, and walks to work past the homeless beggars and the homeward drunks. He has Bob Dylan or blues music playing in his ears and Soren Kierkegaard and Frederick Nietzsche on his mind.

Four hours later, the paralegal gets up from the same bed, showers, and walks the same streets. As she does she remembers that it was not law classes, but rather a path of Russian literature and multiple readings of Little Women that she took to Seattle.

After graduating from Kenyon College, Andrew Kibbee (the baker) and his girlfriend Rachel Berkshire (the paralegal) took all their belongings and headed out west. Although the two have different influences—let’s say Kibbee is more driven by existentialism and Berkshire by transcendentalism—the two have arrived at similar outlooks on life and politics.

“In terms of applying what I learned from philosophy to everyday life I really take a lot from Kierkegaard,” Kibbee said. “He said that the meaning of your life is really derived from the actual existing in life. And it’s not as easy as just categorizing people. I don’t think anyone out there is saying about me that, ‘Andrew is a baker, or Andrew is a good person, or bad person, or will forever be in my kingdom.’ I think what defines me most are the interactions I have with the people I love, and the connections I am able to make with other people.”

Although the messengers may have been different for Berkshire, the message was basically the same.

“By spending so much time reading Russian literature or re-reading Little Women ten times, I feel like I have gained empathy and understanding for the people around me,” she said. “I have really been taught by these readings about what it means to try and be the best possible person you can be.”

The couple seemed to agree on most political issues (which can be seen as fortunate since they share a small one bedroom apartment). The two discussed the importance of social issues—especially gay rights— when thinking about politics

“You can’t live on Capitol Hill in Seattle with any real prejudices,” Berkshire said about the neighborhood they live in which has a vibrant gay population. “Living here and being surrounded by different cultures makes it so you can’t just ignore the problems of other people. It doesn’t feel like a distant issue.”

Both in terms of social policy and in terms of foreign perception of the United States Kibbee and Berkshire harkened back to their basic outlook on life: the importance of making personal connections.

“I’m not interested in voting for a candidate that I would like to have a beer with,” Kibbee said. “That’s the kind of thinking that got us the last two Bush administrations. But, there’s something to be said about Obama being able to galvanize whole groups of people, especially those outside of this country. The foreign perception of this country is terrible right now. Having a president that the international population can see liking, can see wanting to have a beer with, could be one of the best things to happen to this country. The fact that Obama can connect with so many people, could change the way people look at the U.S.”