The Online Candidate Confronts Critical Netroots

It was barely five years ago when the word "Netroots" first surfaced as a description of grassroots activists who push their political agendas on the Internet, especially through blogs. Now the word is becoming a bona fide entry in the new edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, and the Netroots themselves are preparing for their third annual convention, starting Thursday in Austin (TX). The convention, formerly YearlyKos and now Netroots Nation, or NN08, bills itself as "the most concentrated gathering of progressive bloggers to date." About 2,000 bloggers, activists, office-holders, vendors and others are expected to attend, with 200 members of the mainstream media tracking them. The convention comes just as some in the Netroots are questioning Senator Barack Obama's commitment to their values and whether their faith in him as a different kind of politician was misplaced. Most of the discontent stems from his vote to give legal immunity to the telecommunications companies that participated in the Bush administration's warrant-less wiretaps, after he had said he would filibuster it. Daily Kos is also planning to launch its own site focused on Congress this September. "We're looking to democratize congressional oversight," said Markos Moulitsas, Daily Kos's founder. The site, which hasn't been named, will draw on the resources of its editors and its thousands of readers, who write their own blogs that appear on Daily Kos, Moulitsas said.