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No it isn't whining. But on the other hand, all those structures are in place around here and many other places. There are more local political groups and lawyers here than I can count or know about. They've evolved over time to become an in-depth local system or `structure' that is permanently mobilized on every issue from Gay rights to Green stuff, to health and welfare and education. All the local issues are also the issues the elected officials like Barbara Lee, Loni Hancock(state assembly), to Barbara Boxer deal with on their various committees. So there is almost a direct link between the people on the street, so to speak, and the policy struggles in city, state, and federal governments.
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Ha!
Listen, I know it may sometimes seem that I type my posts from a buckyball skinned, man-rated dodecahedron in geostationary orbit, but I'm very familiar with grass roots politics. Not only that, I've participated with actual living people in ground level political tussling.
My question should have been: how receptive can we really expect the Obama White House to be to such groups?
Glen Ford and Adolph Reed -- reviewing Obama's policy positions -- would almost surely answer, 'not very.' (Indeed Ford, in his post election commentary at blackagendareport.com, asserts that since the sorts of groups you celebrate made zero demands on Obama, offering their enthusiastic support without insisting in any serious way on a quid pro quo, he is not at all beholden to them).
You're apparently much more confident (dare I say 'hopeful') because of your reading of the President Elect's biography. This seems like slippery ground to me.
Time will tell.
I'm getting more and more involved in energy policy activism (as in, we need to change it pretty damn quick). We'll see how this particular issue moves through the system under President Obama. For me, this kind of stress test, so to speak, is much more important than all the pro and con chat.
.d.