No On 1/Protect Maine Equality Thanks the Netroots

by: Adam Bink

Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 09:59

First of all, I have to say thank you myself. As a result of our Moneybomb for Maine this week for yesterday's Oct. 15th deadline, you raised over $1.125 million, including $32,000 yesterday. I know I've asked you guys for money over and over, and you came through, raising over $7,500 at the OpenLeft/Better Dems page. I am amazed and thankful.

What's more, here at the campaign office, when I said I'm from OpenLeft, every single person I've met said a huge thank you. They all knew about OpenLeft and the help we've given across the progressive netroots, including MoveOn.org. So, I decided to get a little of it on tape. And a little fun Friday GLEE cover music to accompany. It's their way of saying thanks. You deserve it. Thank you!

Missing the Point

by: Adam Bink

Mon Oct 12, 2009 at 14:00

That sentiment does not reflect White House thinking at all, we've held easily a dozen calls with the progressive online community because we believe the online communities can often keep the focus on how policy will affect the American people rather than just the political back-and-forth.

Let me add to it Greg Sargent's commentary in his post quoting Dan:

But it seems clear by White House actions - the hiring of Internet outreach staff, the frequent blogger conference calls, the elevation of Huffington Post at press conferences - that the White House sees the blogosphere as playing a valuable role of sorts.

Dan and Greg miss the point entirely. There is a difference between "playing a role" via things like conference calls, and respect. Pointing out that you work with a community is different from having respect for them. It reminds me of the kid who used to sit next to me in French class, and I would help him conjugate his verbs, and it was the only time in the entire day he was exceedingly nice to me. The rest of the time he made fun of me in front of everyone.

The White House uses the blogosphere and other progressive online institutions to disseminate positive information, form positive relationships, and spin opinion. That doesn't bother me. So does the No On 1 campaign in Maine and any other campaign with a good internet outreach operation. The difference is that the No On 1 staffers I know and work with respect and appreciate our work, and say so. The White House- and Obama campaign during 2007-08- uses online progressive institutions, then pisses on them frequently in public. There's a difference between being used, and being used and respected. The White House has yet to figure this difficult notion out.

The Obama Administration's Movement-Triangulation

by: Adam Bink

Mon Oct 12, 2009 at 13:00

As Chris wrote last night, the White House called me and all of you an "internet left fringe", and declared that I need to understand that running the country is difficult. This is nothing new from this Administration, since another (or perhaps the same) WH adviser dismissed those who push for a public option as "the left of the left", and Obama himself has said he doesn't read blogs, that he found DailyKos boring, skipped the Senate vote to censure MoveOn, and on and on.

Folks in Obamaland have been hyperparanoid for some time that a vast majority of the electorate not only understands the progressive internet media and organizing space, but that it's a Very Important Issue to voters, and they will take great offense if Obama said he read a blog every once in awhile and, hey, even found DailyKos to be interesting, and even voted with 25, or about half, of his Democratic colleagues against censure. Surely, that would have made front-page headlines, inspired huge attack ads from McCain, and caused us to lose the election, Obama advisers must have thought. In reality, not so much. "How will it play in Peoria?!", Rahm anxiously thought. "What's a blog?", Peoria resident might have responded.

Simultaneously, White House Communications Director Anita Dunn has engaged in something of a week-long war this past week against FOX News, on the record. Earlier she said FOX is "opinion journalism masquerading as news" to TIME Magazine, then followed up on CNN yesterday, saying FOX is "either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party", then did an interview with the New York Times published today, saying "We're going to treat them the way we would treat an opponent... As they are undertaking a war against Barack Obama and the White House, we don't need to pretend that this is the way that legitimate news organizations behave."

Perhaps this is either another game of 32-dimensional chess from the White House- this time with the media and the electorate instead of with Republicans in Congress- but it's like triangulation is again in vogue. And this time it's 21st century style- movement-based instead of issue-based. As John Harwood said when reporting the White House comment:

we've seen and certainly Bill Clinton learned that they Democratic President can get punished by the mainstream of the electorate for being too aggressive on social issues so for now I think the administration feels that if they take care of the big issues - health care, energy, the economy - he's going to be just fine with this group.

That is actually much in dispute, since as Mike Lux wrote here, depression of base Democratic turnout- not anger from centrist voters over social issues- was the key to the losses that year. But Harwood's views are clearly echoed by this White House, which is determined to make sure it is not seen as either captive of the movement left or the movement right. Never mind that, um, the movement left helped get Obama's ass into the White House. Never mind that when a zillion of these Obama voters who report how they haven't voted since Ted Kennedy in 1980 (some even earlier) vanish if we don't get a lot of the hope-iness and change-yness that Obama promised, movement lefties like many of us at OpenLeft will be the only ones here battling to make sure we don't get crushed in Congress and at the ballot box. Never mind that the Obamaland folks' comments about blogs and the "left of the left" are actually aimed at elites, since "mainstream" voters don't care about or understand blogs or progressive movement institutions. And I have yet to find data or analysis of any kind demonstrating that other stupid things to smack the left that Obamaland has done- for example, his random editorial board interview praise of Reagan- was a significant contributing factor to his election, or even noticed by "mainstream" voters.

I'm glad that the White House is engaging some kind of war with FOX News, and I know that I, many of my blogging colleagues, and many of you here in our internet left fringe have thick skins. But there are limits to the bullshit, both in rhetoric and in policy delivery. And why the White House chooses to do stupid little things like this without any perceptible reward from voters is beyond me.