Van Jones: “This is our ‘tea party’ moment – in a positive sense.”

by David Safier

Yesterday, I hesitantly wrote the Occupy Wall Street protests could be the beginning of a progressive/liberal/left version of the Tea Party without the corporate financing or the behind-the-scenes Republican political manipulation. Looks like I shouldn't have been so reluctant to make the comparison.

E.J. Dionne has a column today, Can the Left Stage a Tea Party? Dionne talks less about the Occupy Wall Streeters and more about Van Jones, who is leading the American Dream Movement, and a conference starting today, Taking Back the American Dream. These are both proudly to the left of Obama, able to state the progressive/liberal/left agenda without the encumbrance of political realities. At the end of the column, Dionne quotes Jones saying, "This is our 'tea party' moment – in a positive sense."

An article on Talking Points Memo writes about the Taking Back the American Dream conference reaching out to the Occupy Wall Street protest.

The opening session of the Take Back The American Dream Conference here in Washington — a progressive confab led by former Obama administration official and Glenn Beck enemy Number One Van Jones — sought to find common ground with the protest movement on Wall Street, which some are already looking towards as the start of a progressive tea party. [boldface added]

A progressive version of the Tea Party? The difference is, we're going to party like it will soon be 2012, not like we want it to be 1890.