This concludes a three-part series highlighting the America's Future Conference, held from June 1 to June 3, following  Day One: We Took Back America, What Next? and A Democratic Majority Is Not the Same As a Progressive Majority

In many ways Obama's first one hundred days in office has been disappointing. Despite  the opportunity given to him by "the practical disgrace of right-wing economics" (to quote Robert Kuttner), the President has yet to confront Wall Street. Over the three days of the conference, one of the major themes addressed was how a grass-roots movement can be built that sets its own agenda and challenges the President to act.

Some of the elements are already in place. Members of the progressive caucus in the House and Senate, trade unionists from the SSEIU, AFL-CIO and the USW, community organizers from HCAN and other groups discussed  their organizing initiatives. Health care and the economic collapse, reform of the financial system, the right to organize,  are at the top of their agenda taken as a whole -- job loss, mortgage foreclosures, the collapse of infrastructure, the bankrupcy of major industries, state and local governments, the abuse of immigrants, protection of the environment follow.

The sweeping Democratic party victory in the last election signalled that a majority of Americans were no longer willing to buy the into the illusion pedalled  by right-wing ideologues,  that the magic of the market place and greed constituted  the American Dream, now that more and more people were faced with  a nightmare reality. This is reflected not only in President Obama's continued high ratings on opinion polls but on a shift in attitude among respondents on a number of key issues.

On day one of the Conference, Celinda Lake announced a new poll --sponsored by HCAN  and conducted  by Lake Research Partners -- that reflected "intense and widespread voter support" for public health insurance, 

62% of voters believe a public health insurance plan will spend less on profits and administration and force private insurers to compete, while only 28% of voters believe the attack that a public health insurance plan would be a “big, government bureaucracy.”

60% believe that if private insurers are really more efficient than government, then they won’t have any trouble competing with a public health insurance plan. 

Only 23% believe a public health insurance plan would have an unfair advantage over private plans.

While recent polling has shown consistent broad support for comprehensive health care reform, this poll specifically addressed whether people want a choice of a public health insurance plan. The answer is an overwhelming yes: 73% of voters want a choice of a private or public health insurance plan, including Democrats (77%), Independents (79%), and Republicans (63%).

Another repringt circulated at the conference by Alternet, reported results from  a study just released by the Campaign for America and Media Matters, that analysed  public-opinion data from a number of  nonpartisan polling outfits. 

• On what may be the key difference between liberals and conservatives today -- the role of government -- more than twice as many people agree with the statement, "there are more things government should be doing" than believe the Reaganite adage, "the less government, the better."


• In 1994, more than half of Americans said, "government regulation of business usually does more harm than good" and fewer than 4 out of 10 thought "government regulation of business is necessary to protect the public interest." That's been flipped on its head during the 15 years since -- today, fewer than 4 in 10 believe regulation causes more harm than good.


• A majority (55-70 percent, depending on how the question is worded) believes it's the government's responsibility to provide health care to all Americans; fewer than a third of those responding to a CBS/New York Times poll thought health insurance should be "left only to private enterprise."


• Almost 2 out of 3 Americans believe the taxes they pay are fair, and that the very wealthy pay too little in taxes; almost 7 in 10 believe corporations don't pay their fair share of tax. 

In the first commentary of this series I reported on a major health initiative being led by Howard Dean and health care activists. My point here is that the population will respond to this kind of leadership. The activities of the Progressive Caucus in Congress, with the exception of the heatlh-care debate, are under-reported and slandered by the Republican noise machine, but a lot is going on under the radar.

Representative of the kind of congressional activity that is not usually covered by major media are the hearings  held by the Congressional Oversight Panel. Deputy Chair, Damon Silvers spoke about these on the panel, "The Banks, Banksters and the Reckoning,"

The Panel is tasked with oversite of the TARP and determining whether the policies in place now will work in the short term and whether they meet certain criteria: are they fair; do they distribute wealth fairly or are they regressive; are reforms smart in the long run; will they lead to a financial system that works better.

With the disclaimer that the views expressed were his own,Silvers outlined the necessary steps that need to be taken if a successful recovery is to take place that meets these criteria.

Crucial is the removal from power of the top financial managers, "the mess makers" who bear responsibility for the crisis, and their replacement by people who would be accountable to the government, who did not have a stake in justifying past practices. He is especially concerned that provisions are made for an independent audit of these institutions rather than self-policing.

While he gave Obama and Geithner credit for applying a stress test to banks, he said emphasized that the process can't work if, as is presently happening, accounting rules are tinkered with in order to false value  toxic assets held by the banks. He discussed the historical precedent for resolving the crisis by temporarily nationalizing the banks and converting their debt into equity as a precursor to recapitalizing them.

Rep. Alan Grayson, was unable to come but sent senior policy advisor speak. in his stead. Grayson is fighting for a change in legislation to give  bankruptcy judges the right to revalue housing assets,.and he is also supporting Ron Paul's bill to force transparence on the Federal Reserve Bank. The hearings of the Congressional Financial Services Ctteee and of Grayson slamming the Fed are are available on YouTube.

Another initiatve is the establishment of a national infrastructure bank.On Wednesday, Rep. Rosa deLaura who was introduced as a leading Democrat, pointed to the Bush Administration's failure to promote US exports or support a pro-industrial policy domestically.  "We have to restore credibility to regulatory institutions, institute a long-term plan for job growth and reinvest in our national infrastructure," she said. She has introduced legislation,  the "National Infrastructure Development Bank Act of 2009,"  that  would finance improvements in transportation and telecommunications and energy investment through a combination of federal funding and private investment as a way to create jobs and spur economic growth.

Immigration is another issue coming before Congress and was featured in a panel.

Angelica Salas of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles described the specific problems immigrants face in dealing with the US Government and pointed to the way that the right uses immigrants as a scapegoat for a decaying health care system to falling wages..

Another speaker, Eliseo Medina of the SEIU which has a large immigrant membership, talked about her union's organizing and also the fact that the worsening plight of workers preceeded the financial collapse, huge numbers of people without health care, growing income inequality, the erosion of pension plans, a shrinking middle class, and an increasing disregard for labor laws that drained away the size and political clout of unions. Sara Robinson has written  a full report on this panel, The Next Fight: Immigration Reform. 

Legislation to guarantee the right to organize (EFCA , immigrant rights, along with healthcare reform Organizing already begun, led by labor group, Two articles today  Immigration Coalition Targets 279 Votes and .Unions Embrace Street Corner Solidarity provide a sense of what's happening at the grass roots level. It is the combination of grass-roots action on the streets and progressives within the congress that create the dynamic for a growing popular progressive movement.

 In his 2008 book, Obama's Challenge  Kuttner wrote:

“A crisis is an opportunity, but it hardly guarantees a successful presidency. For every Franklin Roosevelt, there is a Herbert Hoover,. For every Lyndon Johnson turning the civil rights impasse into a moment of national greatness, there is a Jimmy Carter fumbling the energy crisis—or Johnson himself blundering into Vietnam.” (6)

“But going forward, will Obama use [his] political genius as a true progressive? Here the jury is out—though my bet is that economic circumstances will compel nothing less, and that Obama is astute enough to grasp this reality.” (9)

President Obama may or may not rise up to the challenge but much will depend on how successful grass-roots organizing will be in strengthening the clout of the Progressive Caucus in the House and Senate. As the polls show Americans are looking to the President and Congress to enact progressive legislation.

In a speech given on Jan.1941, FDR said:: 

The basic things expected by our people of their political and economic systems are simple. They are equality of opportunity for youth and for others; jobs for those who can work; security for those who need it; the ending of special privilege for the few.

That  still represents the American Dream and defines the task before us.