Whew

Well, I've rarely worked so hard as during the last week helping prepare for the 3rd Anniversary Downing Street Memo events. And happily, it appears to have been worth it. All of the big town hall meetings—in Detroit, Oakland, Los Angeles, New York and elsewhere—had to turn people away. The smaller house parties seem to have gone well, too. If you're curious, you can read dozens of posts on the After Downing Street site.

On one hand, this was all politics 101: finding people interested in something and bringing them together. But on the other hand, it would have been significantly more difficult without the internet, cell phones and conference calls. Organizing would have cost much more and taken much longer. As Doug Henwood says, new communications technology isn't everything, but it's also not nothing. And as I like to say, I'm sure the Defense Department really regrets inventing the internet. It hasn't worked out like they planned.

Now I'm hoping to slack off some and make more frequent appearances here. However, there's much more After Downing Street to come—so if you're not involved already, I urge you to become so. Definitely write me if you'd like suggestions about where best to direct your energy.