When I posted the first installment of Josh and Markos’s interview many didn’t
like it. Above is part two and after the conversation above gets going they talk about something few know about or even care about, but to those of us who spend our lives working in the primary fight it was a big story. Nobody has really written a good overview of it that was right that I’ve seen. The
hack pack crew doesn’t even know it happened, which means they don’t understand the Democratic party. I agree with Markos’s slant on what makes
good blog outreach in any campaign: access. Seems obvious right? The person has to have access to
the upper echelons of the campaign team, including the candidate. He or she also has to have respect of the main campaign advisors. Bickering and ego collisions spell disaster. Enter the Obama outreach efforts clashing.
I agree with Josh, but particularly Markos’s description of the
Obama campaign’s treatment of Josh Orton, who used to run their online outreach.
I had a long conversation with Josh about it after it happened, though I wouldn’t
have posted on it if the interview above hadn’t presented an opportunity for
a discussion. I’m actually stunned that a top tier campaign can be so clueless
about the importance of what the web means to progressives today, but also the
Democratic message as a whole. The Obama team’s treatment of blogs reminds me
of the same cluelessness Democrats have about the power of radio, only there’s
no excuse for someone like Obama not to get how important the web is to 2008, because the web is the equivalent to our wingnut radio, only we actually present facts and issues. But it does reveal the holes in Obama’s progressive posturing, that regardless
of how good Josh was at his job, because there was some sort of power problem
and hierarchical kowtowing, they lost a very good man who knew what he was doing
and was well respected. With Josh’s exodus, Obama’s outreach has shrunk dramatically. It explains some of his troubles
today, because if Obama had more allies he might still be in trouble, but he wouldn’t be in such big mess.
Progressives
are pounding away right now. Obama’s recent disastrous decision
to cozy up to anti gay crusader Donnie
McClurkin in his swing for South Carolina voters just highlights his tone deafness and traditionalism, which is not exactly how the campaign is presenting their candidate. It continues to get worse. Human Rights Campaign came out with a condemnation of the Obama
campaign, with Obama’s people now openly working to get support for his decision, while continuing
to stand next to McClurkin. Michael Rolston of the Huffington Post has the
campaign’s letter. John Aravosis is hitting Obama relentlessly:
Keep digging, Senator.
Obama is now trying to get gays and black religious leaders to sign a leader
that’s basically supporting Obama’s position that he should have homophobes
and bigots on stage with him. A few problems. … ..… But this line is the most important: At the same time, while Obama has
said that he “strongly disagrees” with Pastor McClurkin’s comments,
he will not exclude from his campaign the many Americans including many in
the African American community who believe the same as Pastor McClurkin.Great, so we’re to believe Obama would not exclude anti-Semites or racists
from his campaign either? Well, would he? Someone needs to ask him that question
– Senator, are you saying that you would welcome anti-Semites and racists
into your campaign, even though you strongly disagree with them, because you
believe in some kind of big tent of bigotry? … ..
But never fear, Barack Obama has a big time defender. David
Broder:
The speech that he delivered at DePaul University here was as serious a discussion
of the lessons of Iraq and the future of American foreign policy as anyone
could wish. And, as I was repeatedly reminded by the Obama people, it got
next to no national press coverage. It was briefly summarized on Page A8 of
The Post, Page 11 of the Boston Globe and Page 20 of the New York Times.Why? Because the Clinton campaign, with exquisite timing, that same morning
released its latest-quarter fundraising totals, which put her ahead of Obama
for the first time in the money race. The Page 1 stories in the next day’s
Times and Post were simple: Clinton, leading all the polls, now leads in campaign
finances as well. … ..… .. Future debates, especially those coming in Iowa and New Hampshire,
may provide more openings. It is also the case that the voters in those states
are far less firmly attached to their current candidate preferences than polling
numbers would suggest. There is, in fact, time for Obama to rally. It’s just
hard for his people to believe it right now.
It wouldn’t be such a problem if any of his supporters could answer one question:
Why does Barack Obama want to be president? Unfortunately, his behavior and
decisions have chipped away from his “change the status quo” in Washington
so that there’s not much left of the mythic politician. The Adlai
Stevenson title, circa 2007, fits and is starting to stick. Having few allies
in the blogosphere makes his job even harder, but Obama made that decision a long
time ago.
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