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GRITtv: Hope: After a Year, What Does It Mean?
Hope. It was the word for the Obama campaign, epitomized by the famous Shepard Fairey poster, with eyes uplifted, bright primary colors declaring that Americans believed in something good again. Last year on election day, we discussed the election and the future of America; hoping for an Obama victory and with it some restoration of the things we'd lost under Bush. This year, we look back with some of our guests from that day on what they said then and what they think now. Chris Hayes of The Nation remembers the feeling of social solidarity from the Obama campaign, hundreds of thousands of people coming together to work for a common cause, while Danny Schechter of MediaChannel and NewsDissector points out that Obama had plenty of support from Wall St. as well as Main St. Air America's Ron Reagan wonders why Maine managed to expand its rights to medical marijuana while closing off rights to same-sex couples, and Esther Armah of WBAI notes that Obama's election maintains its symbolic importance, even if dealing with the reality is somewhat more complicated.
Email this pageGRITtv: One Year Later, Still Politics as Usual?
Election 2009 was a mixed bag for all sides. But what did these results have to do with Obama? Our panel agrees on one thing: Democrats neglected the base that Obama worked so hard to build up. Jehmu Greene of the Women's Media Center notes that Democrats reverted back to the old way of doing things, and Jane Hamsher of FireDogLake points out that the candidate who supported the public option, Bill Owens in NY-23, won, while Creigh Deeds in Virginia, who said he might opt the state out if he was governor, lost. Mark Green of Air America, who once ran against Michael Bloomberg, noted that despite the massive outlay of cash, Bloomberg ran a tight race and could've been defeated if the Democrats put more effort into supporting his opponent. Katrina vanden Heuvel of The Nation notes that the youth vote was critical in 2008, and warns Democrats of what they risk losing if they ignore the young voters now.
