More than 1,000 progressive leaders and activists have been in Washington, DC at the Omni Shoreham Hotel for the yearly America's Future Now! Conference, organized by Campaign for America's Future (CAF).

During Monday's opening conference, SEIU Secretary-Treasurer and Change to Win Chair Anna Burger appeared in a late morning panel with Organizing for America director Mitch Stewart and Center for American Progress president John Podesta, to discuss the progressive movement in the Age of Obama. Anna remarked on the change this country has experienced in the year since CAF's 2008 annual conference:

"It was just a year ago we came here to take back America, and we did it... We have saved our capital and our country and have our leader in the White House."

Anna stressed that pragmatism and the left working with one another played a big role in progressives winning out. "We've learned to work together to get out of our silos," Burger said, also adding that pragmatism might mean that working together might not get "perfect" results, but that it would move the country in the desired direction. Watch Anna's full presentation at CAF here and here.

The main 'event' of CAF's 2009 conference has been the launching of an $82 million campaign for healthcare reform, a collective effort involving more than 1,000 organizations that are part of Health Care for America Now behind President Obama's health care plan. The groups supporting the massive push for health care reform along with SEIU and Health Care for America Now include Change to Win, the AFL-CIO, the Children's Defense Fund, MoveOn.org, Americans United for Change, Rock the Vote, National Women's Law Center, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and Democracy for America. A post by Jason Rosenbaum on HCAN's website does a great job detailing the root of the coalition's strength and why this effort will pay off:

The collective effort involves...over 30 million members committed to winning a guarantee of quality, affordable health care for all this year. It is the largest national progressive issue campaign in history, one that was lacking when President Clinton's health care proposals were defeated by the health care industry and conservative groups more than a decade ago. The money will be used for grassroots organizing (troops are already on the ground in 46 states) and a targeted advertising campaign.

Yesterday President Obama and the White House Council of Economic Advisers issued a report entitled "The Economic Case for Health Care Reform," explaining in the greatest depth to date why health reform is vital for the future of the American economy. Read the report here.

Watch days 1 and 2 of the America's Future Now! conference on CSPAN here.