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Using blogs as a rhetorical whipping boy to demonize bolder action than he wants to take is just as annoying and two-faced today as it was during the primary and the general, when the candidate with the Bestest New Media Operation in the History of Evah kept blogs and other non-MyBarackObama netroots vehicles at arm's length.
This strategy is not dissimilar to Team Obama's dislike (or rather, lack of understanding) of Howard Dean, imho.
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Krugman's reference is shaky and I wouldn't put it past him to stir the pot because he can be pissy that way. I'd like to hear other reports on how Obama dissed the "blogs." Preferably, a full quote for context or maybe some video.
And if he really meant to diss the "blogs", so what? That would constitute a full scale counter diss using some convoluted, crumb trail that would proport to show a history of disdain for the "blogs" and, by proxy, Howard Dean?
Please, I'm all eyes.
www.KusterforCongress.com - www.paulhodesforsenate.com www.nikitsongas.com - www.devalpatrick.com
In the '08 cycle, Obama's team, imho, surveyed the already existing netroots culture, and the MSM's relationship to it, and decided to build their own universe instead, using the positive aspects of online organizing to create an activism and fundraising machine unmatched by anyone ever, but keeping places like DailyKos, TPM, etc... rhetorically and actually separate (not to be confused with online outreach support for the primary season, which all campaigns had in some form or another).
This allowed them to use the power of the netroots without owning any of the "crazy" meme the MSM loves.
It's a very smart strategy, and it worked. He's POTUS, while Dean couldn't even get nominated. But it's not how D(ean)FA operated.
And there is an analogous history here, I believe in the way in which Dean ran the DNC versus Rahm the DCCC during the '06 cycle.
Am I making myself clearer? birch, finch, beech
I hope Obama doesn't make a tactical error by habitually using rhetoric, designed to appease the centrists and center right, that paints the "blogs" as a monolithic platform for the far left.
That would be a grave error. www.KusterforCongress.com - www.paulhodesforsenate.com www.nikitsongas.com - www.devalpatrick.com
Rahm at the DCCC during the '06 cycle was also deplorable. But, he was obviously focused on garnering support for him as Speaker down the road.
Where's your guy, elwood?
Note: GOoPers and trolls, take note. www.KusterforCongress.com - www.paulhodesforsenate.com www.nikitsongas.com - www.devalpatrick.com
If you didn't mean that, you should be careful using the tools of language.
Yes I was being snarky, it's called blogging. Dear o'dear.
Got it.
Faith is mindless in who's world? www.KusterforCongress.com - www.paulhodesforsenate.com www.nikitsongas.com - www.devalpatrick.com
2. Therefore Obama was dissing us.
I agree with these assumptions, but they are assumptions.
That said, I agree with Dean's general point about Obama's ambivalence toward Democratic netroots. He seemed to fear being pigeonholed.
Pretty much the entire Dem lineup in '08 banned their staffers from blogs. It is messy out there. www.KusterforCongress.com - www.paulhodesforsenate.com www.nikitsongas.com - www.devalpatrick.com
"Well, some people won't like this, but ... " It implies that they made tough decisions and aren't just using more money to put out the pile of burning money.
Actually it's broader than that, because John Kerry (in a move he surely came to rue) portrayed his war vote in 2002 as a tough vote. Really, a guy walking into The Roadhouse on Route 1 and saying "Tom Brady sucks" would have been braver than Kerry was with that vote, and Kerry knew it.
