From Mike's post:
Glue politics is that below the surface relational aspect of politics that gets very little attention compared to speeches, debates, or ads, but is actually quite important- to a modest extent in getting elected, to a huge extent in governing. Relationships and a sense of mutuality between people in politics are the source of many of the political establishment's problems, but they are also important in actually getting things done.(...)
While I do some blogging, and raise money for different causes and candidates, and have produced my share of ads and mail and phone calls, I am at core a glue politics guy- keeping in touch with lots of different kinds of folks, helping people I think are doing good things, introducing folks from disparate communities, being a catalyst for interesting ideas that friends come to me with. So I have a pretty strong feeling about all of this, and it's an area where I feel like the Obama team doesn't do very well, for the most part. I think they have been so good at many of the big things, frequently able to organize around establishment players through their technological and inspirational ability, but that they discount glue politics at its core.
The Convention was a classic example. The big things the Convention needed to do message-wise got done, which means the Convention was a big success overall. I am thrilled about that. But a couple of levels below the surface, my sense was that a lot of key people- national and local electeds, organizational leaders, bloggers, even some money people- were feeling blown off. A personal example: I always spend a huge amount of time trying to get credentials for key progressive leaders who aren't normally taken care of by the party bureaucracy, and that role has always been respected by Presidential campaigns in conventions past, but it wasn't by the Obama folks this year. I honestly thought maybe it was just me this time- that my best friends on the inside had other fish to fry, that the outside progressive world I walk in just wasn't a big priority for them in general. But in talking to others the last couple of days of the convention, I got the sense that a lot of other really important folks were feeling the same as me.
Obama's problems with "glue politics" once again appeared yesterday. At the inauguration, thousands of activists and staffers with tickets were unable to get inside the event, and they are not very happy about it. Check out the comments on the Purple Tunnel Of Doom Facebook group for a few couple hundred examples. The problem continued last night, when several thousand more staffers and activists, all with tickets, were unable to attend inaugural balls. This is an epic fail of glue politics, and it could have not inconsequential repercussions.
Even as one of the purple ticket holders who was unable to attend to I don't want to dwell on what happened yesterday. Further, I doubt that this is an aspect of politics that many blogosphere denizens will view as valid, as it hints of patronage politics. However, the simple fact is that if this keeps occurring, it will cause the Obama administration problems in passing legislation, and during his re-election campaign. Simply put, they have to fix their problems in this area. Right now, the excitement over the trifecta is keeping a spirit of forgiveness afloat, but that won't last forever.
When people work their ass for you and your cause, they need to be made to feel welcome. As such, problems like this can be very damaging. |
