Where have all the protesters gone? Gone to Denver Every One!

Downtown Denver, Aug. 24

As I walked down the 16th Street Mall toward Union Station on this hot Sunday afternoon, I found myself face to face with them. Thousands of protesters were headed to the Pepsi Center to register their complaints. Their signs, t-shirts, puppets and other communication methods gave some indication of their causes, which boiled down to two major categories: the war in Iraq and health care.

Messages included the usual and the creative: “Peace out man”; “Send texts, not troops”; “Drop beats, not bombs,” “Peace please”; “Fund the wounded, not the war”; “Stop murder for oil.” Some offered alternatives to war: “Healthcare, not warfare”; “Make out, not war”; “Books, not bombs”; “Grow pumpkins, not wars.”

Some minced no words: “Arrest Bush” or “Fuck the war.” Some were verbose: “Misleading Congress and the American people in an attempt to destroy Medicare,” and “We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love; We must meet physical force with soul force.”

One, no doubt inspired by the “Recreate ‘68” Website, was downright provocative: “No hope in capitalism; disrupt the DNC.” One man carried a giant puppet of a dark-haired woman. LaDuke, the White Earth resident who was Ralph Nader’s running mate in the 1996 and 2000 elections, was apparently the person symbolized, since her photo was glued onto the puppet’s chest, along with the word “Peace.”

My personal favorite was a black t-shirt with a simple, but elegant message: “Fix shit up.”

One young man carried a sign advertising the Website “worldcantwait.org.” When asked what it was the world can’t wait for, he looked at the sign as if in surprise and said he really didn’t know. Someone just gave him the sign.

Members of the well-respected and interesting women’s activist group “Code Pink” were easy to spot in their pink outfits, many on pink bicycles.

Hordes of law enforcement officials in full riot gear, on horses, motorcycles, bicycles or on foot, followed along. They were ready for terrorists. The demonstrators seemed ready for a party.

In fact, that’s what happened later on the front lawn of the Capitol building at the end of the 16th Street Mall.

By late afternoon, about a hundred demonstrators were left chopping garlic, cooking lentils, grilling veggies and slicing whole grain bread for all in attendance. Nearby panhandlers, however, sat on a retaining wall and declined the free meal.

One young woman wearing a Nader button and helping clean up the plastic dishes said she’s unhappy with the health care plans of both parties. “Nader’s is a single-payer plan,” she said. “That’s what we need.” A young man said he thought there should be more than two candidates in the upcoming debates. Several young people were upset that Obama never mentioned getting the contracted soldiers, such as those who work for Blackwater, out of Iraq.

A middle-aged man with a gray beard holding up an Obama sign for the benefit of those driving by, said he came from California with Nader and Obama campaign paraphernalia. He smiled. “It’s all about the slogans, isn’t it?” he said.

Perhaps these uncertain demonstrators, who exhibit more dissatisfaction than anger, unlike the truly angry people in Los Angeles in 2000 and Boston in 2004 are more representative of what the Democratic Party was like during the past eight years than now. During those two campaigns, the party offered detailed policy fixes while ignoring those who felt disenfranchised. This year, the party is offering a sort of vague, generalized “hope” based on anger at the past eight years, while these demonstrators worry about the devil that’s the details.

In a year when the balance may have lost focus on these details because the platforms of the two Democratic candidates were so similar, these outsiders may serve the purpose of keeping the eyes of Democrats on the prize. Charisma, and its flip side, character attacks, distract us from those details, but if Obama does get elected, those details will become important. That may be their message.

It was reported that the last remaining demonstrators slept on the Capitol grounds in the shape of a peace symbol last night. If that’s their final statement, they have served their purpose.

Louise Mengelkoch is a professor of journalism at Bemidji State University. She is serving as a faculty leader for The Washington Center, which has brought almost 400 college students to Denver for a two-week program centered on the Democratic National Convention. Her Convention blog is at www.demsindenver.blogspot.com.