On Wednesday night, I was thrilled to represent People For the American Way members and activists at a small White House reception. When meeting the President and First Lady, as well as Vice President Biden and his wife Jill, it really sunk in that, finally, progressives are no longer locked out as we were during the Bush administration. People For’s seat at the table is the Obama administration’s recognition of you and all your efforts, your passion and your activism, and our collective strength.
We will still need to organize and fight to achieve our goals, but so much more is possible now and it’s good to know that we have a receptive audience. Our vigilance is needed to help make sure the administration does the right thing, but it’s also needed because with this shift that I’ve just described, the Far Right has amplified its efforts to divide Americans and obstruct a progressive agenda.
Yesterday, People For the American Way released a Right Wing Watch In Focus report exposing the Radical Right’s real intentions in their efforts to obstruct confirmation of President Obama’s Department of Justice nominees:
"The rhetoric used in the attacks, documented extensively on RightWingWatch.org, suggests that the campaign may be less about actually stopping any of these nominees and more about getting right-wing activists, pundits, and lawmakers warmed up for similar attacks on eventual Obama nominees to the federal judiciary, and in particular to the U.S. Supreme Court."
This is more than just "playing politics." The DOJ is a vital branch of the government and these positions are critical to fill. Americans need to be able to put the past eight years of politicization and cronyism at the Department behind us and once again rely on the DOJ as a protector of our rights and values.
As I write this, the Justice Department is at the center of some serious legal matters pertaining to fundamental checks and balances. The Bush administration pushed most people’s understanding of executive power to the limit and went significantly beyond. Some members of Congress did not take it lying down, asserting their constitutional authority and acting on their duty to check the president’s power and cut through the extreme secrecy. But the process will be a long and intense one and we need a full team in place at Justice to help do the job.
The Senate must not delay in confirming all of the president’s nominees, and first up, due to be voted on in committee next week, is Deputy Attorney General nominee David Ogden.
Ogden is incredibly well qualified, but the Right has attacked him because of his representation of American Library Association, the American Booksellers Association, and, yes, Playboy and Penthouse in First Amendment cases. They also went after him for arguing vigorously on behalf of a woman’s right to choose and advocating that the U.S. follow the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child — something that only the most fringe elements on the Right oppose.
But most of all, the Far Right is flexing its muscle in advance of judicial confirmation battles to come.
The Family Research Council has generated thousands of calls to the Senate in opposition to Ogden as a show of strength. It is absolutely necessary that senators not only hear from their side. Every senator needs to see that progressive activists are willing to stand up for constitutional values and weigh in on these fights. And they need to see it well in advance of Obama’s first judicial nominations.
Whether you live in a red state or a blue state, your senators need to hear from you. Even the most right-wing senators need to know that people in their states are spreading a counter message and are ready to hold them accountable.
Help Ogden achieve speedy confirmation for the sake of the DOJ AND to show senators that it’s not only the Right that’s strong.