The Audacity Of Enraging The Netroots
Posted at 11:06pm on Jul. 9, 2008 The Great Obamian Netroots Betrayal--A Continuing Series
By Pejman Yousefzadeh
Glenn Greenwald continues his attacks on Barack Obama for Obama's support of FISA reforms. Needless to say, other people are upset as well. Of course, if Obama's stark and amazing reversal on FISA does not prove that he is just an ordinary politician--as opposed to being the vehicle of Hope and Change he portrayed himself as being--then I don't know what to think. But for now, at least, it seems clear that Obama's campaign has enraged its base. If centrists and center-right voters are reminded that contrary to the contentions of the Obama campaign, the presumptive Democratic nominee is nowhere near the center or the center-right in terms of votes and rhetoric, then we might see the Obama campaign isolated not only from its base, but from the very people it is seeking to reach out to in the general election campaign.
Posted at 10:05pm on Jul. 6, 2008 The Netroots Are Angry
By Pejman Yousefzadeh
So sayeth this story. Key passage:
Nowhere is criticism of the presumptive Democratic nominee more intense than on the Internet, the cyberspace world where the Obama campaign has received hundreds of millions of dollars from more than 1.7 million donors and whose bloggers have been among his biggest fans.
"There is a line between 'moving to the center' and stabbing your allies in the back out of fear of being criticized. And, of late, he's been doing a lot of unnecessary stabbing, betraying his claims of being a new kind of politician," said Markos Moulitsas, founder of Daily Kos, the top site of the liberal netroots community.
"Not that I ever bought it, but Obama is now clearly not looking much different than every other Democratic politician who has ever turned his or her back on the base in order to prove centrist bona fides," he said.
Once again, there is nothing "centrist" about Obama, a fact that is especially obvious when one takes the time to examine the statements he made during the primary and caucus season and when one takes a look at his voting record. Centrists should not be taken in by these supposed "moves to the center." But if the netroots is displeased by the fact that it is the latest group to have been thrown under the bus by the Obama campaign, well, I can't say that I blame them.
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Posted at 2:14am on Apr. 28, 2008 Stock In Popcorn Companies Must Be Skyrocketing
By Pejman Yousefzadeh
I am more than willing to give Barack Obama props for having gone on Fox News Sunday to discuss campaign issues with Chris Wallace. As most political observers know, the folks on the other side of the partisan divide don't particularly like it when any of their own go on Fox--they seem to think that it would be best to boycott the station and let it suffer in the ratings and in the revenue department. The fact that this plan has failed thus far does not deter them, but in any event, if you really want to get your message out on Fox, you ought to go on the show instead of boycotting the show and letting your political opponents completely dictate the tone and tenor of Fox's editorial content. (To the extent that Republicans stay away from interviews on NPR, I would focus the same criticism at them as well.)
But of course, Obama's actions cause a great deal of heartburn for his fellow Democrats. Greg Sargent is devastated and disconsolate. Jerome Armstrong is more temperate about matters, but cannot be pleased (perhaps Armstrong--a Hillary supporter--can be sanguine about Obama's appearance because he predicted its nature?). Matt Stoller graces the public discourse by informing us that "You can't trust the Obama campaign, they will lie to you to promote right-wing institutions." Fatuous nonsense, but hey, I am in favor of anything that keeps the nomination contest going and going and going and . . . you get the point.
The patron saint of the 2008 Democratic Presidential Nomination contest ought to be Orville Redenbacher. Honestly. We might even get a Cardinal to help advance St. Orville's case.
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