I don’t blog enough. It’s not because I don’t love you, nonexistent readers. It has been so long since I last blogged, that I felt compelled to post this non-post to signify that I am, indeed, still aware of this blog’s existence. And, of course, to apologize to you, nonexistent readers.

Love,

M.

In the grand scheme of things, I think Sifry’s point about early money is somewhat of a throwaway argument. But, nonetheless, I want to address the point he makes about fundraising. The biblical allusion to “casting the money changers out of the temple” does not apply to a political campaign. Period. A temple is a place of worship. A political campaign is not. Money has, and will always be, a necessary part of seeking public office in a representative democracy. Jesus didn’t overturn the money changers’ tables in the Jerusalem Democratic HQ.

That said, our goal in the campaign was to dramatically tilt the fundraising scales in the direction of the general public, and away from a small number of moneyed interests. We succeeded in doing that and we still have a long way to go. But, by drawing on the lessons from the campaign—rather than trashing the campaign for not going all the way—we can keep the wind of change at our backs.

I think Ralph Benko’s references to Saul Alinsky, while inspiring for their historical significance, are misused.

http://techpresident.com/blog-entry/saul-alinsky-barack-obama-and-ofa-ralph-benko.

[Truth be told, it was Benko’s writing, not Sifry’s that convinced me to engage in this discussion. It may be simply a matter of personal taste, but I find a debate about the president’s national field team a lot more compelling when it involves references to scholarly work, as opposed to quoted disgruntled former volunteers and the personal anecdotes of the author’s friends.]

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I believe Micah Sifry is a smart and a good person. I am convinced that he has America’s best interests at heart. I also believe he has been wrong-headed in his critique of President Obama’s Organizing for America. I’m sure that Micah and I completely agree, in principle, on how the grassroots can and should influence policy-making in the Obama Era. However, I believe he has conflated the “Movement to Elect Barack Obama” (MEBO) with a larger and much different “Movement to Change America” (MCA). This conflation has caused him to draw conclusions that confuse our supporters and, ultimately, do damage to a movement that Micah and I both hope will succeed in the long run.

For this reason I have, somewhat belatedly, decided to join the conversation. I hope that my modest contributions to the public conversation will advance the efforts that I began on the Obama Campaign in the beginning of 2007.

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The first seven years of my career were spent on the road, toiling in the fields, on behalf of various progressive electoral campaigns. One of the many “rules of the road” that was forced into our heads was this: “You are a representative of the campaign 24/7.”

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