There seems to be little disagreement on just how successful the Obama campaign was. It was, many would argue, the most outstanding marketing campaign in electoral history. Brand Obama raised over 600 million dollars from more than 3 million donors. And they haven't stopped. What does it mean for American politics?

Matt Taibbi, chief political reporter for Rolling Stone and the author of The Great Derangement, Bill Fletcher, Jr. Executive Editor of The Black Commentator and the author of Solidarity Divided, and Bennett Zier CEO of Air America Radio discuss why Obama won and whether it truly was a grassroots campaign.

Fletcher says that the campaign launched an impressive field operation but that it remained largely top down. And given the amount of money spent, well, it’s hard not to be cynical. Fletcher, an Obama supporter, says that the unprecedented amount of money raised eliminates the possibility of people who are connected to the grassroots and working class ever getting a shot. Unless they are able to hold him accountable. The question now is, who will Obama be beholden to? Will grassroots organizations have a seat at the table?

There seems to be little disagreement on just how successful the Obama campaign was. It was, many would argue, the most outstanding marketing campaign in electoral history. Brand Obama raised over 600 million dollars from more than 3 million donors. And they haven't stopped. What does it mean for American politics?

Matt Taibbi, chief political reporter for Rolling Stone and the author of The Great Derangement, Bill Fletcher, Jr. Executive Editor of The Black Commentator and the author of Solidarity Divided, and Bennett Zier CEO of Air America Radio discuss why Obama won and whether it truly was a grassroots campaign. Fletcher says that the campaign launched an impressive field operation but that it remained largely top down. And given the amount of money spent, well, it’s hard not to be cynical. Fletcher, an Obama supporter, says that the unprecedented amount of money raised eliminates the possibility of people who are connected to the grassroots and working class ever getting a shot. Unless they are able to hold him accountable. The question now is, who will Obama be beholden to? Will grassroots organizations have a seat at the table?

Then, Marianne Weems Artistic Director of The Builders Association and Harry Sinclair a performer, writer, and filmmaker known for his work with the mult-media performance group Front Lawn, on their production of Continuous City now playing at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. You can find tickets here.

Finally, part II of our interview with Kerry Kennedy. She discusses her father’s vision and the work of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. 

Thanks to the American News Project and Take Back My TV for video in tonight's show.  

“Bureau of Prisons Revises Policy on Shackling of Pregnant Inmates”

That's the headline that caught my attention yesterday. It’s hard to know whether to laugh or cry.

Here’s the good news. The Federal Bureau of Prisons has finally updated their policies to bar the shackling of pregnant women inmates in federal prisons in all but the most extreme circumstances.

The story was reported Monday by the ACLU at the Daily Kos.

The bad news is that for years the shackling of pregnant women during transport, labor and even delivery has apparently been routine in jails and prisons. Even after the international human rights group Amnesty International released a major report: NOT PART OF MY SENTENCE: VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN CUSTODY back in 1999.

In that report, women like Warnice Robinson, who was imprisoned for shoplifting, described being shackled to a bed for delivery, which made well, delivering, all but impossible. “My baby was coming but I couldn’t open my legs," reported Robinson. The doctor attending had no keys to the shackles and the officer with the keys was down the hall.

The new policy is a big victory for activists who have been working on this issue, reports the ACLU.  “A HUGE VICTORY,” is the phrase used on the blogs.

But jeez. In 47 states there’s no legislation to restrict the practice of shackling pregnant women? The Immigration and Customs Enforcement people, (whose detainees have been convicted of no crime) refuses to give up the practice. 

Come on.  Now that the president-elect has promised to shut down Guantanamo – can we add to his list somewhere the passing of a law permitting inmates in childbirth to spread their legs, shackle free?  While we're at it -- could the next president please remind the agencies of his governmet -- which is to say our government -- that even when people are female, or incarcerated, or pregnant -- or even forbid all of the above, they are still actually people, even in America -- with human rights -- which, "We the People's" government will enforce?  Is that too much to ask? 

by Lindsay Beyerstein, MediaWire blogger.   

Because if it bleeds, it leads... Sarah van Schagen rates the environmental impact of feminine hygiene products for Grist.In all seriousness, this has been a very exciting week in healthcare news. The Bush administration is racing to take away as many reproductive rights as it can before leaving office. The Democrats in Congress are taking the lead on healthcare reform by writing up their own proposal before president Obama takes the Oath of Office.

Last week, Sen. Max Baucus unveiled a detailed proposal to provide health insurance for all Americans. Brian Cook has a roundup of reactions.

Note that the Baucus plan is by nomeans a call for radical change. The blueprint proposes to fix the healthcare system with the same piecemeal strategies that  get trotted out every time Americans talk about healthcare reform. The stated goal is to enable more people to buy “affordable” private health insurance while expanding Medicare and Medicaid for the poor and the elderly.

Why such timidity? As Josh Marshall argues at TPM, Obama’s election is a mandate for fundamental structural change in the healthcare system.

The fact is, majority of Americans support single-payer health insurance, even if they’d have to pay higher taxes. Daina Saib reports in YES! that even Republicans are getting on board. Saib introduces us to an unlikely champion of single-payer, Dr. Rocky White, conservative Christian and former Republican who started advocating for single payer when the system made his own practice unmanageable.

As we talk about the dire state of the Big Three automakers, remember that the Canadian auto industry stays competitive because the government takes care of health care, unlike in the States where automakers and unions are struggling to pay for it.

Ezra Klein gives us a crash course two strategic approaches to healthcare reform. He explains that there are two basic schools of thought: delivery system reform and financing reform. Delivery reformers hope to make the system work better by bringing down costs and delivering better value for money. Financing reformers focus on how we’re going to pay for it all. The Baucus blueprint is financing reform. Repealing Medicare Plan D would be delivery reform.

These two approaches are complimentary. Ezra writes: “[T]he two agendas fit neatly in a comprehensive reform package. Coverage expansion isn't sustainable unless cost growth is slowed. Cost growth can't be slowed without delivery system reform.”  He notes that The Center for American Progress has a new, free, book on healthcare reform, available for download, here.

The Bush administration is weighing an eleventh hour rules change that could prevent women on Medicaid from receiving birth and deny rape victims emergency contraception and push the country one step closer to theocracy.

The proposed rule would prevent any entity that receives federal funds (e.g., hospitals, universities, etc.) to require employees to “assist in the performance of any part of a health service program or research activity” financed by the Department of Health and Human Services” or participate in abortions or

Read the rest of this entry »

On Wednesday a ceremony in Astoria Queens will mark the naming of the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge. Formerly the Triborough Bridge it connects Manhattan to Harlem, the South Bronx, and Queens. Kennedy himself moved to the North Bronx when he was just a few months old and grew up in New York. RFK’s daughter Kerry says that even as a politician her father believed that strength came from working together as a community. And when he campaigned in 1968 Robert Kennedy stood alongside Caesar Chavez, traveled to the Mississippi Delta, to Indian Reservations, and toured Appalachia as a sign of the kind of community he hoped to build. On GRITtv Kerry Kennedy discusses her father’s legacy and the ongoing work of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights.

"Morristown: In the Air and Sun," a film produced by Anne Lewis and Appalshop, tells the story of labor and immigration in Eastern Tennessee, what Lewis calls a working class response to globalization. To find out more about the film and to arrange a screening go to annelewis.org - it's available in both English and Spanish.  

Ellen Kuras on her long awaited film The Betrayal. Thavisouk Phrasavath, the film’s co-director and editor, met Kuras after he and his family fled the war-ravaged country of Laos. The Betrayal, recently shortlisted for an Academy Award, tells the story of Thavi, his family, and the impact of war on our collective memory and sense of history. The film opens this weekend at New York's IFC. 

Thanks for participating in today's live stream. You can see the full show here at 8 pm. And join us tomorrow at noon eastern for another live panel. 

Barack Obama raised a record amount of money in his campaign against John McCain. At the end of September he had amassed a total of $605 million from more than three million donors. And much of that money came from small donors who gave again and again or volunteered for the campaign. He built a small army of regular people who spread across the country and generated enthusiasm rarely seen in contemporary American politics.

It was groundbreaking and impressive, but how did Obama win – was it marketing or a movement? Personality, policy or a perfect storm?

Today on GRITtv MATT TAIBBI, BENNETT ZIER, and BILL FLETCHER, Jr. on how Obama won.

Greg Denier, Communications Director for Change to Win, says that the American dream is a progressive vision and that on November 4, working people voted for a fundamental shift in the relationship of government and society. For the last two years Change to Win has been conducting a survey on the meaning of the American dream. And it includes an active role for government. Today nearly one third of workers must go into debt to meet basic costs--to pay the bills, their mortgage, and health insurance. So now that the election is over Change to Win and the labor movement will be working to turn the hope and optimism that elected Barack Obama into real changes in the lives of working people.  

What is the cost of bailing out the auto industry? Well, it may be more complicated than a simple yes or no vote. The real challenge may be coming up with an energy plan that stimulates the economy without destroying the environment. Congress is supposed to decide this week whether to extend a new $25 billion loan to the Big Three or apportion some of the $700 bailout money to save GM, Ford, and Chrysler. Some say these auto companies are dinosaurs bound for extinction - but if they fold, according to the Center for Automotive Research, as many as 2.5 million jobs could be lost.

On GRITtv Peter Lazes, Director of Programs for Economic Transition at the Cornell University School of Industrial & Labor Relations, Arun Gupta, writer and editor of The Indypendent, writer and filmmaker Mitchell Bard, Jonathan Cohn, Senior Editor at The New Republic, and Betsy Rosenberg, the creator and host of EcoTalk Radio weigh the costs of bailing out the auto industry.