The Argument: Billionaires, Bloggers, and the Battle to Remake Democratic Politics

Matt Bai's book is a great look at the "new" left. Bai brings us into rooms we could not enter ourselves and talks about the fights over funding, message, and policy for the "new" left. For those of us who visit Daily Kos, have been part of organizations seeking funding from the Democracy Alliance, or search far and wide for new, progressive ideas, Bai helps explain the origin and organization of these groups. They do have a great impact on current politics and Bai's insider information are helpful in showing us how they came to be. Although at times the book's timeline can be a little muddled. It is not always apparent what events took place post-2002 and those that took place post-2004, both major turning points for Democratic politics.

Bai does seem to miss a major point however, which is that many of these "new" Democrats are "old" Democrats, adopting new tools. There are some who were disengaged in the 90s and before who have only been awakened by President Bush's failings and the blogs, but many more are just reenergized activists and voters.

If you are interested in the "new" left, have read Daily Kos, or ever canvassed for a Democratic candidate, this quick and interesting read is for you.

Over the last five to eight years, a progressive left political movement has been growing in the U.S. These days you can feel it when you walk down the street and Obama '08 signs and buttons abound. One might think the country has simply had enough of the right-wing politics of the Bush/Cheney administration, but in The Argument, by Matt Bai, a political writer for the NY Times magazine, gives you a behind-the-scenes look at exactly how the left has re-claimed its share of the American political debate.

Bai travels across the country tracing the steps of Howard Dean with his 50-state approach, Moveon.org, and their house parties, and the liberal blogosphere that fostered an environment for progressives to flush out their grassroots movements. He provides insight into exactly how the left took back the fight, where it started, and exactly for what they're fighting for.

After reading this book, you'll know why Barack Obama disposed of Hillary Clinton and her out-dated centrism in the Democratic primary and is leading Jon McCain in the polls. It's not just a pendulum swinging back and forth from left to right that controls American politics, it's a concerted effort by interests on both sides to frame the debate and influence the outcome of elections.

--Marc Amigone

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"The Argument" is about a disagreement between two groups of fairly far left wing
Democrats about how to control the politicians of the Democrat party. They do not
directly argue with each other. Rather, the book covers the arguments and actions
of both groups.

The two groups are The Democracy Alliance and the netroots. The Democracy
Alliance is a group of very, very rich people that seem to think they know better
than everyone else what is good for everyone. The netroots is the left portion
of the blogosphere. The only arguing that takes place is between the Howard
Dean wing of the DNC and other parts of the Democrat establishment.

Both sides agree that everything any Republican ever says or does is wrong.
Bai agrees, almost. He makes fun of the activists by claiming they would
respond to a Republican claim that the sky is blue, by claiming it was green.
But Bai uses "corrupt and incompetent" as the automatic adjective for Republicans,
much as some once thought "damnYankee" was one word.

Bai tells us the history of the two groups in an interesting way. It is a well
told story. Much of it is personal. Bai spent a lot of time with members of
both groups. Much of it is personal. There are no notes or references to
substantiate his version of the story. Still, it rings true.

Over and over, Bai laments that these groups, and the party establishment, and
the party as a whole have no "ideas", no grand theme, beyond hate Republicans.
Bai is openly sympathetic to both groups, and still reports many of the their
incidents as individual foolishness. I wonder if he will be able to do any
followup work with the same people.

The Democracy Alliance has not shown any notable accomplishments yet; however,
they took the long view. The netroots have a major victory to brag about;
they caused Joe Lieberman to not be the Democrat running for senator in
Connecticut, but Lieberman was reelected as an Independent.

You do not have to be a far left Democrat to enjoy this book. I'm not and I did.
Anyone that enjoys a well told story has a good chance of enjoying it.
Those with an interest in politics, from anywhere on the spectrum,
will get something from it, but what you get might depend on where you start.

Bai provides an engaging look into the worlds of the very rich and the bloggers who are trying to remake Democratic politics. The problem is that the thesis of the book is essentially repeated over and over and over, sometimes by the voice of the author, sometimes from the mouths of various characters. Again and again I found myself saying "Yes! I believe you that everybody of importance is focusing on small-minded issues of politics. Yes, they should think about some important Argument for the Democrats to make the country better! But are you going to expand on that at all? Apparently not."

That's the main problem with this book, but otherwise it is very good. I just like focusing on the negative...

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