Keep Pursuing the Dream.

Fifty years ago, he had a dream. Today, the dream is still here. We've come a long way since then, but there's still far more to do to fulfill it.

That's what we heard today from the official commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. , described the dream at the March. And many are continuing the effort to fulfill it now.

Fifty years ago, John Lewis also spoke at the March. Today, Rep. John Lewis (D-Georgia) noted what's changed in the past half-century. He also reminded everyone of what still needs to change.



Two years after the March, the Voting Rights Act became law. That opened the doors to greater voter participation as "legalized" voter suppression was done away with. But now, voter suppression is on the rise again as Congress has not (yet) fixed what the Supreme Court broke earlier this year.

This is just one example of the many highs and lows we've experienced in the past fifty years. President Obama also spoke today. He highlighted all that's been achieved, but he also mentioned the problems that remain today. Another one has to do with economic inequality.



Even as we've seen progress on legal equality, economic inequality is still very much the norm. However, it doesn't have to be this way. Former President Clinton also spoke today, and he talked about what we can do now to begin fixing it.



We can reinvest in our schools. We can invest in the rest of our public infrastructure. We can give more people the opportunity to work. We can invest in a better future again.

But will we? Will we invest in our people? Will we ensure the fundamental right to vote? Will we demand more and better opportunities? Will we keep pursuing the dream?

For our sake, and for the sake of future generations, we must.

Big Dog

He's back! And he won't back down.

With Republicans scheming to divide them and reporters reviving silly 2008 storylines to predict disaster, former President Clinton and President Obama got the last laugh: Obama joined his predecessor on stage, for his first appearance in Charlotte. Clinton actually bowed to Obama when the president came out. It wasn’t clear whether it was a bow of deference, or of a proud performer to an appreciative audience. You could both men them savoring the way they’d confounded the trouble-makers.

Republicans will rue the day they dragged Bill Clinton into this fight with their welfare reform lies and their silly claims that Obama is a socialist defiling Clinton’s centrist legacy. Clinton can say things Obama can’t. He vividly laid out the depth of the economic challenge his successor faced –as well as the right-wing hatred. “Though I often disagree with Republicans,” said the man who was impeached by the other party, “I never learned to hate them the way the far right that now controls their party seems to hate our president.” The Republicans’ “number one priority,” he said, “was not to put America back to work, it was to put the president out of work.” By contrast Obama, he said, was “committed to constructive cooperation –heck, he even appointed Hillary!”

Clinton also summed up the 2012 campaign more clearly than any other surrogate: “We believe that ‘we’re all in this together’ is a far better philosophy than ‘you’re on your own.’”

Last night, President Clinton completed the picture that Harry Reid and Michelle Obama started drawing. President Obama did try to include Republicans in "grand bargains" and "bipartisan solutions". They said no. Even when he was putting together tangible solutions to our economic woes, they kept saying no.

Yet now, these same "TEA" fueled Republicans want us to forget their role in stalling economic recovery so they can finish what George W. Bush started? This is where Clinton and Obama want voters to say no to the G-O-TEA. And perhaps in the coming weeks, their wish will finally be granted.

What President Clinton did last night was astounding. He took every argument that Mitt Romney has been using against President Obama, then he debunked it, turned it on its head, and fully discredited Romney like no one else could. After all, who would understand the challenges of building lasting economic recovery better than someone who actually made it happen?

As Salon's Joan Walsh suggested above, Team Romney must be regretting the day they pulled "Big Dog" Clinton into their fight. In his case, his bark and his bite can really pack a potent punch. And they did last night- for Obama.

What's at Stake: Our Jobs, Our State, Our Lives

We had a very special guest come to Las Vegas last night...



And he reminded us of what's really at stake in this election.

Former President Bill Clinton, in Las Vegas Tuesday night to stump for Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, knew he was “preaching to the saved,” as he called the partisan crowd.

The more than 1,000 people gathered at Valley High School couldn’t have been friendlier. They cheered when Clinton touted Reid’s accomplishments, booed when he mentioned Republican challenger Sharron Angle and drowned the auditorium with applause when the federal stimulus bill and health care reform were mentioned.

“I assume you’re all going to show up and vote,” Clinton said. “What really matters is the people who aren’t here.”

Clinton urged the crowd to spread the word about Reid — his influence as “the most powerful senator in America,” his success at creating jobs, his commitment to clean energy and his support of small business.

In any other year, Clinton said, Reid would be leading the Senate race by 25 percentage points.

“The only reason this is a tough race is because this is a tough time. When people are mad, it’s hard to think,” he said.

How very true. And Clinton reminded us what we see happening thanks to Harry Reid. We have a new LED manufacturing plant that will be bringing 1,000 new clean, green jobs to my community here in Henderson. We have another 1,000 new clean, green jobs coming online soon to North Las Vegas with the wind turbine manufacturing plant on the way. And we have plenty more progress being made on green collar jobs for a new 21st century economy here in Nevada thanks to Harry Reid and his forward-thinking energy policies.







These are real people. These are real jobs. This is a real possibility, and a real opportunity that Nevada must pursue to for a more sustainable future, both environmentally and economically!



And what's the alternative? Awfully scary, and makes absolutely no sense...

"He's been treated to this unbelievable abuse," Clinton said of Reid. But he cautioned Silver State voters not to cast their ballots in anger.

"I am old enough to tell you, if you forget about politics, any time in your life you make an important decision when you're mad, there's an 80 percent chance you're going to make a mistake," Clinton said. "I don't want people to abandon their anger. I want them to channel it so they can think clearly."

With less than three weeks to go before midterm elections, Clinton is barnstorming the country to rally the Democratic faithful as states begin early voting. Polls open in Nevada on Saturday.

Tuesday's crowd of several thousand booed and hissed as Clinton portrayed a scorched-earth Republican fiscal agenda of tax breaks for the wealthy and deep spending reductions to vital government programs, including "massive cuts for air traffic controllers. Who gets to decide which airports are unsafe? Maybe Sharron Angle will volunteer Vegas."

He ticked off food safety, college aid and teacher jobs as similarly vulnerable. "It would be unbelievably negligent to say, 'I know you're right, but I'm just too mad. I've got to vote for this woman - this woman who doesn't want women to have mammograms in their health insurance policies. Who thinks autism is sort of a flaky, made-up deal,' " Clinton said.

Angle has said she is opposed to government-imposed mandates for health coverage, whether for cancer screenings or brain disorders. "A lot of people you know are going to vote that way unless you tell them this," Clinton warned the crowd.

As President Clinton kept reminding us last night, we have a very clear choice. We can keep moving forward, or we can go back to the failed Bush policies of the past.



We can keep moving forward with true leaders, like Harry Reid and Dina Titus, making smart choices and listening to what we have to say here in Nevada...





Or we can go back to the same old failed George Bush policies that Sharron Angle and Joe Heck like so much.





We hear plenty of slogans from both of them, but no real solutions... And not even any interest in providing any! While both Titus and Reid have worked so hard on solutions on creating green jobs, stopping home foreclosures, helping more students graduate from college, and so much more, Heck and Angle offer...

Drumroll please...



OK, I guess that's stretching it. They are offering something. I think it looks something like this.



They never want to talk about how we fell into this mess in the first place, and when they talk about "taking our country back" it certainly looks like they want to "take it back" to what got us into this mess in the first place.

This is what's at stake in this election. And that's what President Bill Clinton was explaining last night. We have real choices to make. And it's up to us to move past blind anger, realize what's at stake, and do what's best for our state and our country. It seems we're coming along and may be making the right choice, but now we need to make sure all of us actually do it.

Rory 3.0?

It seems Rory Reid's campaign is going through another transition. Early on, it seemed Rory was just waiting for Jim Gibbons to fall... No, make that drunkenly stumble upon his own sword while attempting to flirt with yet another fair maiden. But unfortunately, Brian Sandoval changed that equation.

Then, we saw "Mr. Education Fix It". I really think he offered some good ideas...





But there were two major problems. One, Rory didn't want to talk about how he'd pay for his plan. And two, in my humble opinion he didn't stress enough the economic reality of broken down schools. Remember when I wrote this in March?

[T]he casinos can no longer be counted upon as a "free ride". We can't just expect new casino construction to prop up demand for construction jobs, which props up demand for new housing, which props up demand for housing construction, which props up the rest of Southern Nevada's economy. We may have lucked out in seeing this model work from 1989 to 2007, but all it really did was hide the weaknesses in this shaky economic model that ended up being exposed when "The Great Recession" hit and all the artificial demand for new casinos, new homes, new whatever fell like a row of dominoes. [...]

So again and again, we come back to this dilemma. As long as our education system is broken and as long as we continue to make ourselves overdependent on the casinos and casino-fueled development, Las Vegas will continue to suffer under this radical boom and bust cycle that lives and dies on discretionary consumer spending. Sorry, but this is not how a major metropolitan area with 2 million residents and a state with over 2.7 million residents can survive!

This is what Rory needed to illustrate in his ads. This is what he needed to talk about over and over and over again. And it seemed he was starting to "get it" and see some traction, then it stalled.

And on Wednesday, it looked like the great reveal of a new strategy, perhaps "Rory 3.0". Perhaps last week's ad was the sign of what's to come, but we definitely saw a change of course on Wednesday.











Apparently, Rory has a new attitude. He's populist! He cares for us! He's standing up against the big corporate interests!



Then Ralston blew it all up. Of course, we all know who Brian Sandoval stands with... But it isn't easy to get all "populist" when one is backed by many of the same power players who stand with the other guy. Sigh...

So what can be done? Honestly, I'm still trying to figure that out. I really think Rory Reid wants to do good for Nevada... Lordy knows he's been doing his best to turn things around on the Clark County Commission!

I just hope there's still time to turn things around. As Bill Clinton said on Wednesday, if Rory can reframe this on who can turn Nevada around, he can win. It just comes down to that. So is Rory up to the challenge?

We shall see.

Btw, here's the full rally in case you want to bask in that aura again. I also have more from Wednesday on my Twitter. ;-)

Heads Up: I'll Be at Rory Reid's Rally with President Clinton Today!

In fact, I'm about to jump out the door so I can get to Mandalay Bay for this!

Former President Bill Clinton is in Nevada to give a boost to Democrat Rory Reid's struggling gubernatorial campaign.

The Democratic former president is due to speak Wednesday at a rally at the House of Blues at the Mandalay Bay resort on the Las Vegas Strip.

The appearance for Reid is part of a nationwide tour by Clinton aimed at helping vulnerable Democratic candidates. Reid trails Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Sandoval.

I'll be live tweeting from M-Bay this morning... As always, follow me @atdleft!

President Clinton on Why We Can't Repeat the Same Mistakes of the 1990s

I mostly agree with him. While I don't think he was blameless in caving into the right-wing pressure, I understand that he did it in the midst of a right-wing insurgence with little progressive mobilization in support of Clinton. We need to make sure the same mistakes aren't repeated with President Obama. We need to support him in full force when he's doing the right thing... And hold him accountable when he's hesitant until we make him do the right thing.