On Thursday I went to a moveon.org meet-up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It wasn't clear what, exactly, they would occupy themselves with now that Obama had won. Dance party? Celebratory orgy? There seemed to be such an excess of energy post-victory I thought there'd at least be some catharsis.
The premise of the meeting was actually a surprise to many of the members. Moveon had concocted this bizarre photo-gathering project that, frankly, seemed a bit superfluous. Take photos of strangers holding up some sort of sign supporting Barack Obama? Really? And spend an hour discussing different places one could potential take said photographs? "A public park," said one. "A dog park," said the other. "No, it's too cold out." "Yes but they're already standing in the dog park." The members couldn't agree on anything. They just wanted to vent and come together, drink, maybe, release that nervous energy, that terrible elated now-what-ness. Also, they wanted Move On to listen to them.
The meeting quickly devolved into chaos. The young leaders couldn't control the older, liberal, opinionated members who just wanted to talk it out. A schism formed in the group. Eileen, the most vocal of the lot, started gathering emails separately from the Move On group. "No! No no! We want to have each other's numbers, not through the council!" There was cursing, anguished head holding/face-wiping, disingenuous applause, and then the "celebration." Weee!
Before Democrats won this election, I assumed every progressive meeting sort of resembled this one--a mess of opinion and open-mindedness, a rodeo of free-thinkers and non-leaders. I left wondering how we won. But really you can't infer anything here on a grand scale, except maybe that the most liberal and active troupe of the Upper West Side are like these few outliers (god bless the literate liberals on the UWS, though).
At the meeting there was much said about the difference between MoveOn.org and MyBarackObama.com. Throughout Obama's campaign, MoveOn struggled to find its purpose with "MyBo" so perfectly organized, an even rootsier-grass movement than MoveOn. Forged in the fires of the impeachment, and now with a president that shares its values, the progressive organization is struggling to find its place in this new era. But if Jon Stewart can still be funny without a Dubya punching bag, perhaps MoveOn can come back. Thoughts?
MoveOn Up to the Upper West Side (NYMag.com)
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