techPresident - Huffington Post - Comments

the game is still bottom-up

MadamaAmbi — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 14:05:51 -0500

Interview4Obama http://madamaambi.blogspot.com
subversonance http://subversonance.blogspot.com
Patriarchal Disorder http://patriarchaldisorder.com
Feminist Advisory Board for Obama (join us on Facebook)

I'm glad Allison Fine is critiquing Change.gov, and I think she makes some good points. I know that some activists are frustrated that the Obama team hasn't shown the ground game leadership that was the power behind the campaign. I think it's way too early to criticize Team Obama, but not way too early to be floating and discussing ideas.

But here's my meta take on one of the most vocalized complaints I've been hearing: post-election Team Obama (they're not even in the White House yet, he hasn't even been inaugurated yet) has not built the 2-way bridge to everywhere and everyone is stranded on the shores of post-election chaos and confusion.

I don't see this and I think it's a myth being created for good press and/or to push one's own agenda. Activists & organizations exist by the hundreds, maybe the thousands, and they aren't waiting around for instructions from Change.gov. They're doing what activists do. I'm one of them. I'm very busy right now getting back to my regular feminist agenda after having put it on hold for 9 months while I was All Obama All the time. As a result of having joined the Obama community, I am more skilled, more connected, and more activist.

In my opinion, it will take some time before the Obama administration figures out how to build bridges with its grassroots base, but, folks, this is and will continue to be a bottom-up movement, and so should it always be. We, the people, must agitate for what we need, and we, the people, will continue to build our visibility, our agendas, and our collective voice. And we will then invite the O-administration to visit our table...or our tables.

Do I hope that the O-administration will get the bridge thing right? I certainly do, but I'm not holding my breath. We're in an economic crisis. We're involved in two wars. Terrorists sent the world a new message yesterday in India. The unemployment rolls are swelling...in my view, Obama and team will be on ER duty for quite a while. In the meantime, my fellow feminists and I continue to expand the base, to network wildly, to get our agenda seen as a universally applicable set of needs as opposed to being marginalized as "women's issues."

The feminist movement never ended even though the mainstream press reported otherwise. We are not post-feminism. We are not post-patriarchy. There are staunch and stalwart feminists still at work, there are younger feminists emerging as leaders, and there are even younger feminists who are energizing the movement.

We're here, we've been here all along, and we're not waiting for the phone to ring.

So true...

Sarah Granger — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 02:56:27 -0400

I haven't succumbed to the Perez pull, but I know many - especially women - who have. And I think you're right. What he and other bloggers like him have to say does get read, so it must make an impact somehow. (I have a good friend who reads it daily and is not very political... I'll have to see what she says about this.)

I think there are pros and cons about the non-political political blogs. Having written about politics for the Silicon Valley Moms Blog, a group that's savvy but not entrenched in politics, and then shifting the political writing over to MOMocrats, those of us who wrote for both have noticed the discussion becomes more nuanced at MOMocrats. And then there are a group of MOMocrats that write for Huffington Post, which is even more specifically geared toward the fine grain details of political activity, so I see it as a spectrum with value in each type of blog.

My Political Blog

patrix — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:47:40 -0400

My Political Blog, specialized in Online Campaigning can be found here: http://www.kampagnen-fabrik.de
Though it is posted in German, it might be interesting for you?
Patrick

Why Obama Continues to lie?

MikeMikey — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 16:26:44 -0400

Recently, Anderson Cooper did an interview with Obama. Obama say that he was not present at any of Rev. Wright's remark. If you look at some of Rev. Wright sermon...you will see Obama clapping his hands and cheering. And you know what? At that sermon, he not only sermon about Jesus...but he preach about politics as well. I also totally disbelieve with him when he say that he didn't know Rev. Wright gave a speech like that. How can you go to a church for 20yrs and so close to your pastor and not know about this. Who do you think I am....some kind of fool? Also, with Obama's wife remark....you can really tell how they are thinking in their head. Don't tell me that it's their opinion and those not reflect on you (Obama). You have a choice on choosing your church you go to. If Obama know this so long ago...why is he continues to associate with his Rev.? Birds of feather flocks together!

P.S.--> Obama have a lawsuit against him. If he's a lawyer....why doesn't he fight back? He must have something to hide about. What I'm talking about is the scandal between him and Larry Sinclair. Larry is a gay man who admitted that he had sexual contact with Obama couple times.

Do we need more dirty stuff about Obama in order for Americans to wake up?

oh and it is getting worse

Freedomfighter — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 14:46:20 -0400

It would help Obama if it was just one speech by the Rev, but there are plenty more. When you add Obama has given thousands to the same church, claims he is only now hearing of the Rev's comments and knowing the Church took no action regarding the Rev....you begin to wonder how Obama could help the country.

BOOTS ON THE GROUND

RPmaniac — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 19:40:09 -0400

Meetup.com members as of 9/16/2007
updated from 9/10/07

Republicans

Paul.............. 45,145.....+2579
Hunter................230.......+38
Thompson..........179........+9
McCain..............107........+0
Giuliani................56........+1
Huckabee............34.........+3
Romney..............29...........-1
Tancredo..............4..........+0
Brownback............0.........+0

Democrats

Obama..........5893.........+84
Edwards........4139.........+16
Kucinich........4097.........+58
Clinton.......... 2042........+20
Gravel...............52.........+8
Richardson........31..........-2
Biden..................0........+0
Dodd...................0........+0

Obama opens up online phone bank

Peter Erickson — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 23:21:07 -0400

Obama is opening up a distributed phone bank online. You sign into the website and receive a list of phone numbers to call to spread the word on a policy position --- in this case, the Iraq war.

Kind of nifty. Here's the site.

Registration required

ecritures — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 04:03:25 -0400

@Michael Turk: Registration is one thing, but having to have an American address to be able to register is a totally different point. And a negative one in my view. Since I don't live in the US and therefore cannot register as a 'Friend of Fred' I won't be able to 1) receive a newsletter and 2) view the blog comments. Maybe that part of the registration should be skipped all together?

Danielle Jansen
---
http://www.ecritures.nl

Registration required

Michael Turk — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 13:07:38 -0400

One interesting wrinkle--you can't view comments on the site's blog without first becoming a "Friend of Fred."

I wrestled with that, but required registration primarily to cut back on spam. There are some fairly good spam tools out there, but I still see a lot of it - especially on older posts. I figured it's a small inconvenience to ensure that you and future readers aren't sifting through ads and clutter to follow the discussion.

Good point n/t

David All — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 21:44:51 -0400

________________________________________
David All
The David All Group
http://davidallgroup.com
________________________________________

Fair and balanced?! How about relevant?

jake3_14 — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 21:01:43 -0400

Rather than worrying about whether candidates prefabricated answers to prefabricated questions will be fair and balanced, we should worry about whether the questions or answers mean anything at all. The only candidate Q&A I've seen lately of any substance was McCain's grilling on "The Daily Show." And there, only the questions were relevant. McCain's answers might as well have come from a Magic 8 ball.

Let's watch what candidates do, rather than listen to the boring pablum they spew when they talk to an audience. Knowing that Obama's political platform is written by the same Wall St. consortium that wrote Clinton's tells us far more than the vague platitudes about "the politics of hope" Obama mouths. Following the money trail (see http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/moneyweb.asp?cycle=2008) will tell you more about a candidate's loyalties than professions of solidarity with union workers. And there are a number of sites that examine candidate's voting records.

Frankly, I stop listening to what a candidate says the moment the candidate announces s/he's running for something, and I start looking at what s/he's done, who's paying for his/her campaign, and who's writing his/her policy material.