One event from yesterday that I did not cover last night, due to fatigue. Much more to follow today.

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    Take Back the American Dream: Yesterday's (10/4) Press Conference

Let me begin with a thought instead of a report: our revolution is a push to get done the agenda Obama promised during his campaign. After three years, we've had it and are uniting all over the country into a/The revolution. We've even been joined by at least one Frenchman, who said the same thing is going on in his country.

Something else I'd like to add: the most powerful two rhetorical elements during the last three days were, as I said before, statistics, but also antitheses, which really hit hard and evoke applause, just as certain meters did in ancient Roman rhetoric. "Nothing new under the sun," is an old Stoic saying.

And now, despite the date above, I'll go back to a news conference yesterday I didn't report on because I was too tired.

The event was moderated by Robert Borosage, co-director of the Campaign for America's Future. Others present were Arlene Holt Baker, executive vice president of the AFL-CIO; Justin Ruben, head of Moveon.org; Deepak Bhargava, executive director of the Center for Community Change; Inga Skippings, SEIU's communications director; and show-stopper Van Jones, co-founder and president of Rebuild the Dream.

In her opening statement, Arlene Holt Baker criticized the president for prioritizing the national debt but expressed support of the American Jobs Act. Then she said something remarkable: that she and her fellow union members would be comfortable sitting out the 2012 election if neither candidate (I'm assuming the usual bipartisan structure with token other candidates) represents workers.

"We will drive an economy that works for all," she said, anticipating the October Days of Action, the 10th through the 16th, though other activist events will follow upon this afternoon's "Jobs, Not Cuts" rally, launched by Code Pink at the K Street Busboys and Poets this evening.

Justin Ruben of Moveon.org, next to speak, looked back at the brave defiance of the teachers' union in Wisconsin that inspired follow-up in other states including Ohio and Montana.

Twice as many of us are launching our movement as introduced the Tea Party to the political scene, he said. Occupations are spreading across the county. Wall Street and its allied mega-banks must stop undermining the economy.

Ruben anticipated November 17, the day that the Supercommittee announces its decision, as also a day of action and indignation if the decision weighs more toward the debt than toward jobs. Will taxes on the rich be raised?

Van Jones reiterated his image of the American Autumn that corresponds with the Arab Spring [let it not be the American Fall, I couldn't help thinking]. He looked forward to a reallignment of U.S. politics and an end to the 30-year government of the one percent over the other 99 percent.

Deepak Bhargava looked back to the 1.3 million in Ohio in opposition to the antilabor state senate bill (SB) 5 and the hundred of thousands of Ohioans who showed up to opposed the latest voter i.d. (read: suppression) law now being considered in the legislature.

Then there is the Montana victory, the biggest movement in that state in 25 years. The next battle is over our entitlement trust funds and alternative sources of revenue for true needs of the government.

Inga Skippings of SEIU spoke of the large volunteer base in her union of 2.1 million members that contributes so much energy and so many ideas, sharing our goals of jobs for all, protection of our entitlement programs, and taxing the rich and, moreover, making legislators more accountable for tasks that are not so much desired as indispensable to future well-being.

Bob Borosage spoke of this vision of the possible and the need to inspire and empower the people.

Van Jones took the podium exhorting writers to hang on to our notes, which are a first draft of history.

He spoke of the Tea Party's "wrecking ball" that, unopposed, is demolishing the middle and working classes. The people are standing up to say, "Enough is enough."

The banks would be out of business without us, he said. A sleeping giant is awakening. We're a better country than this, with college graduates $100,000 in debt.

The well-organized Tea Party knocked the whole country off track.

Borosage spoke of the six hundred thousand group leaders already signed up to support the Dream, with the goal of an ultimate million on this list. Involvement of every congressional district is involved, with another goal: 2,012 progressive candidates to run for office in 2012.

"We'll shake up politics."

He recalled the thrilling start of the Wall Street occupation, which started with 267 brave souls on September 17. We have zero faith, he said, having gone from hope to heartbreak in the preceding three years.

There was talk of clean-energy jobs as our number 2 priority and the unfortunate bankruptcy filing by Solyndra, which defaulted on its $2.4 million government loan, part of a program launched by Bush 43 that was actually praised as one of that president's positive contributions to our side of things.

That meant that the government loan program to green energy enterprise has been 99 percent successful.

According to the Brookings Institute, there are now 2.4 million green jobs operative in this country, and the green economy is growing twice as quickly as any other nationwide.

Questions were few, one comically dismissing our entire project as totally off the mark and quixotic, more like a rally than a serious planning event to answer tough questions. She also noted that the Koch brothers were using our tactics toward their destructive ends.

Van Jones stood up to her with strength and conviction, saying that this movement will go on and on; those who know about the middle class will fight for it and rescue America's finest invention, the middle class. "We're building an independent movement," added Borosage. The woman sat down laughing loudly, who knows why?

After the proceedings I went up to ask Bob Borosage whether there's been any progressive push to bring our two Nobel prize winning Keynsian economists into the Obama administration.

Only at the pundit level [you rang?], he answered, turning the subject to a recent Obama appointee of labor expert Alan Krueger as Obama's top economic adviser, whom he praised in a luke-warm fashion.

                                              (more to follow on 10/5)

Authors Website: http://www.wordsunltd.com

Authors Bio:

Marta Steele is an author/editor/blogger who has been writing for Opednews.com since 2006. She is also author of the 2012 book "Grassroots, Geeks, Pros, and Pols: The Election Integrity Movement's Nonstop Battle to Win Back the People's Vote, 2000-2008" (Columbus, Free Press) and a member of the Election Integrity movement since 2001. Her original website, WordsUnLtd.com, first entered the blogosphere in 2003. She recently became a senior editor for Opednews.com. She has in the past taught college and worked as a full-time as well as freelance reporter. She has been a peace and election integrity activist since 1999. Her undergraduate and graduate educational background are in Spanish, classical philology, and historical and comparative linguistics. Her biography is most recently listed in "Who's Who in America" 2019 and in 2018 she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Who's Who.