It was not poor planning, but rather mutual ignorance, that led to the simultaneous scheduling of the Commonwealth Club's lecture by Geoff Nunberg and the smartMeme reportback on the STORY project. Only because they offered such a chance to rub elbows with intelligent people did I break a sweat running through the streets in order to attend both. I'm glad I did. I don't think anyone else noticed that the two were talking about exactly the same things.

In chronological order, both in terms of the evening and human history, let's start with the Commonwealth Club. The presentation was named for Nunberg's new book Talking Right: How Conservatives Turned Liberalism into a Tax-Raising, Latte-Drinking, Sushi-Eating, Volvo-Driving, New York Times-Reading, Body-Piercing, Hollywood-Loving, Left-Wing Freak Show, itself a reference to those hilarious anti-Dean ads. The combination of the title, the $18 admission, the copius wine and hors d'oeuvres, and the lobby photo gallery with a small plaque saying "sponsored by ExxonMobil" made me suspect I was going to have to do something to get myself thrown out.

My suspicions were largely unfounded as Nunberg, a Berkeley Professor, clearly acknowledged the entire spectrum of Liberalism. Further, he well-illuminated the fact that it's not for lack of political unity that the Left feels so disjointed but another conflict entirely. In fact, most of America agrees with Liberal issues. "Ask a welder," Nunberg offers, "if he's for healthcare, social security, reining in corporate greed, and protecting the environment and he'll say yes. Ask him if he's a liberal and he'll tell you he can't afford the granite countertops and the hybrid car." The Right, he claims, has made deliberate effort over the last 40 years to divorce the Left from its politics and re-attach it to a decadent, elitist, sanctimonious, spineless lifestyle. Thus all political discourse is over conservative Middle America vs. liberal Coastal Fringe.

Add the Culture War to the long list of wars the Right has manufactured to distract us from the real debate. Fortunately, ending wars is one of the things the Left does pretty well. One of the more recent efforts is the STORY program, who were giving a reportback on their last Collaborative to End the War in Iraq.

It was markedly different than the Commonwealth Club. Where that had been downtown with escalators and people in suits, this was in the Mission with a rickety staircase and you had to be buzzed in. Also, the presenters here were easily 30 years younger here than at my previous engagement. The presentation was therefore understandably less confident (some may replace "confident" with "smug") though equally as knowledgable. While a professor speaks in nuggets of wisdom, these youth leaders asked salient questions, "How can there be leadership in a community that doesn't identify as activists? How can we make room for the pain and anger of our veterans in the public discourse? What is the peace symbol of our generation?" Answers were carefully revealed, especially as the discussion opened up to the audience. Strategies for crafting stories, and passing on the stories of previous generations, emerged along with great advice like "activism must present itself as strategy, not therapy" and "we must recruit more graphic designers". I may have giggled in delight at this proclamation.

The similarities were plentiful as well. Both groups recognized the power of language as a tool to bring about change. Nunberg noted that as language became more driven by advertising, the Right seized the opportunity to direct it. Products that were soft or white (like chardonnay and brie) were deliberately associated with "Liberals" in order to brand them as weak and exclusive. STORY shared a victory where 750 people turned up for a "silent procession" and "town hall meeting" that would have found a "march" and "protest" too confrontational. Ultimately, the Left needs to shift culture to the point where standing up to one's government is not confrontational but expressly democratic (and it would be nice if "freedom" could mean something again, too) but battles are being won. Baby steps, baby steps.

This message of incrementalism was perhaps the most common thread. The Right did not suddenly control the airwaves or the words we use or the White House. It has been lost over the last 40 years. Likewise, we won't win them back with a clever t-shirt or perfect bumpersticker, it may take 40 more. I was left with a vision of these twenty-something youth leaders in their 60s giving a similar presentation to the Commonwealth Club of 2046. They would be wise, well-spoken, and victorious. Or, I suppose, they could have lost and San Francisco would be underwater.