Yesterday, I got another email from President Obama AKA barackobama.com AKA Organizing For America (OFA). You may have got this THEY BACKED DOWN email yourself:
T--
BLAH BLAH BLAH ... This movement proved again that the strongest special interests, who for so long have called the shots in Washington, can be beat... BLAH BLAH BLAH....
Can you donate $190 or more today to help Organizing for America continue to mobilize thousands -- to counter the special interests' attacks and get strong Wall Street reform to my desk? ... BLAH BLAH BLAH...
These reforms would put in place the strongest consumer financial protections in history. And, by helping safeguard our economy from recklessness on Wall Street, it would ensure that a crisis like the one that caused this recession never happens again ...BLAH BLAH BLAH...
Thank you,
President Barack Obama
The WSR bill is a whole lot better than nothing. But we all know its a shit load of deals, compromises, trade offs. This bill is not the occasion for self-congratulation.
And OFA calls to action have been just as lame. Call for "health reform" (whatever it is), call for "wall street reform" (whatever it is). Call for Arlen Spector.
OFA treats us like zombies. This is both insulting and disappointing. How depressing to have OFA hijacked by political marketers and party operatives. How different from 2008. While the Obama campaign asked me to do a lot of stuff that seemed pretty stupid, overall I wasn't talked down to. We knew we were winning the primary way before the media and the rest of America. We knew why we were calling Nevada (even if we did overun the target). And we all thought our movement would continue past the election.
Maybe this was a ridiculous idea. With the presidency secured, Obama decommissioned his army of campaigners and sought to cajole the rest of America. And why would Obama organize his supporters to pressure himself? Why would the administration unleash a hoard of enthusiasts to push itself for a public option? They'd rather get sucker punched by a handful of teabaggers. So OFA leverages its campaign vets to phone bank for doomed campaigns and pony up donations.
So, until the campaign ramps up for 2012, maybe its time for us to be free agents with ActBlue or firedoglake or MoveOn or other independent progressive orgs. Aren't we all community activists now?