Front Burner

by digby

I’m sure that all of you have heard by now about the fundraiser for Darcy Burner this week-end. As Jane explained:

While George Bush may be a political albatross for just about any Republican to bear these days, he sure can wring cash out of the corporatist arm of the party. He’s going to Washington State on Monday to play rainmaker for Dave Reichert, who is running against Blue America candidate Darcy Burner in WA-08. Darcy is holding an online town hall on Iraq this Monday. Reichert, on the other hand, is proving sort of town-hall adverse and has taken to ambushing constituents with robo-conference calls instead.

It’s a fun idea all on its own, of course, making pate out of the lamest of lame ducks. But it’s actually more than that.

Some blogger wondered recently (can’t remember where, sorry) why Burner has become such a Netroots “darling.” It’s an interesting question and worth trying to answer, I think. I had the pleasure of meeting her at both Take Back America and at Yearly Kos — in fact, at the last event I had a delightful conversation with her and Matt Stoller, Rick Perlstein and Kathy G. in my room, which was joined at the end by Mike Stark! (How’s that for some name dropping?)

Anyway, it was delightful because Darcy Burner is not only an extremely impressive person — very smart, dedicated, charming. She’s a real listener. You can tell that she’s paying attention with all cylinders firing, taking in what people are saying, whether it’s a bunch of windy smartass bloggers or an average person who’s telling her how they feel about an issue. She’s engaged, all there.

She’s also, quite obviously, incredibly sincere about her politics and motivated to put her considerable energies into doing something positive and meaningful with her life, for the good of the country. She’s not naive (nobody who’s worked in the softwear business for years could be.) She is, however, earnest — which I know is unfashionable among the kewl kidz and the cynics. (It always is.) But the fact is that it’s a truly wonderful trait in a progressive politician. It makes you believe that things could really change. Without that, you’ve got 10 point plans and a lot of technocratic mumbo jumbo.

I believe this is why she’s a favorite of the Netroots. She’s smart, she’s progressive, she listens and she really believes she can make a difference. I can’t speak for anyone but myself, but she is the kind of person I’d like to see leading this country. It’s that simple.

If you’re of the same mind and would like to contribute some coin to the effort, you can do so here.

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