Progressive Opinion

alternet.org — The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. did not wait on Lyndon Baines Johnson to inspire him. He didn't say, "Lyndon, should I march?" He didn't say, "Jack, should I march??" He went out and marched! He did not say, "I have a complaint." He said, "I have a dream!!" and he marched on that progressive vision.

truthdig.com — A media environment that tilts to the right is obscuring what President Obama stands for and closing off political options that should be part of the public discussion. This was brought home at this week’s America's Future Now! conference.

All the economic pain and uncertainty leading up to what may still become a catastrophe had before now had mostly been buried in the business section. But even now, media coverage is tepid, superficial and misleading. Here's what we need to do. read more »

Not since the era of the robber barons have so few held such a large piece of our economic pie. We are unlikely to achieve the policy changes that will benefit working people as long as our country tolerates extreme levels of wealth concentration. read more »

alternet.org — For a clue as to what kinds of people either Sen. John McCain or Sen. Barack Obama would carry into office, look at the top campaign advisers, fundraisers and staffers already around them, for they're likely to move right along with their man. If progressives look at Obama's team through the conventional political lens, they'll get worried. Before panicking, however, let's note that little about the Obama campaign is conventional.

haaretz.com — What an expatriate finds after returning to the United States: America now seems to be eroding under the pressure of its fears, and as that happens Americans appear to be valuing mediocrity over excellence, turning a blind eye to facing hard truths full on.

inthesetimes.com — These questions still haunt progressives about Sen. Barack Obama. Does an Obama presidency promise dramatic and progressive change, as his rhetoric sometimes suggests? Or will Obama simply shift from Bush’s neoconservatism back to the confused — if slightly less conservative — perspective of the Democratic Party establishment? The answer may depend on how progressives respond to the challenge of building the expectations and organizations that put demands on an Obama presidency. Here's an in-depth look at what progressives face.

openleft.com — The New Yorker's editor, David Remnick, has come under quite a bit of fire for the decision to run Barry Blitt's illustration of Barack and Michelle Obama. Underneath the polite discourse is our continuing difficulty in having a frank, but constructive dialogue about the third-rail topic of race.

Details of Sen. Barack Obama's speech on patriotism got buried in the wake of General Wesley Clark's politically lunkheaded comment that "riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down" doesn't qualify Sen. John McCain to be president. But over the Fourth of July weekend, it might be appropriate and enlightening to take a few minutes to read or watch the whole thing. read more »

The New York Times — Nearly two decades ago, Republicans won the West by linking Democrats to environmentalists, who supposedly cared more for the spotted owl and other favored species than they did for the jobs of loggers or miners. But now, as a boom in natural-gas drilling reshapes the region, Western Democrats have found success recasting environmentalism as a defense of threatened water supplies, fishing spots and hunting grounds.