MoveOn, a little late to the party?

Today, MoveOn announced their opposition to the troop escalation.

I've always been befuddled at MoveOn's precise role in the movement. Perhaps its because of my unpleasant experience in 2004, when I was working in Las Vegas for America Coming Together, the sharpest Get Out the Vote operation the state had ever seen (yes, we lost). MoveOn came in late, tried to steal our volunteers, and was so disorganized that most of their organizers quit or were fired in a flurry of tears.

They seem to raise a fair amount of money, which they spend on television ads. That's not exactly the most grassroots use of campaign donations, though I suppose they are sometimes necessary. Anyway, today they "announced" their opposition to the troop escalation in Afghanistan. What that entails is asking its members to call the White House. When you visit their website, all of their prominent Afghanistan links just lead you to a page giving instructions on calling the White House (not even what to say). On their policy page, the Afghanistan policy hasn't been updated since President Obama's March announcement. My main question is, where have they been? Were they not concerned about escalation since it began in the first months of the Obama administration?

I know criticizing other members of the progressive coalition is an exercise of limited utility, but MoveOn has often tried to present itself as a progressive leader. If indeed it seeks such a role, it must be at the forefront on issues this important, not lagging until literally the day of the troop announcement. Even if every one of their alleged 5 million members called the White House today, it would be too late to change President Obama's policy speech.

The anti-war movement is in dire need of strong leadership, something that MoveOn's trivial announcement reminded me this afternoon.