Obama's fans in search of new mission... already

Oh when the diss, oh when the diss, oh when disappointment is rolling in:

Barack Obama's grass roots in search of new turf - Los Angeles Times

James Dillon, a onetime Republican activist who grew disgusted with politics, was so inspired by Barack Obama's candidacy that he joined the campaign's massive volunteer army, hosting house parties and recruiting supporters.

But beyond influencing the November election, Dillon thought he was joining a new political movement that would be mobilized for big goals -- to end poverty or fix the healthcare system, or maybe to end the U.S. reliance on foreign oil.

Amid Obama's transition to power, a spirited and often secretive debate has broken out among top campaign staff members over how to refashion the broad network of motivated volunteers into a force that can help Obama govern.

With 13 million e-mail addresses, hundreds of trained field organizers and tens of thousands of neighborhood coordinators and phone bank volunteers [also: paid telemarketers and door-bangers], the network has become one of the most valuable assets in politics, and Obama's team may choose to deploy it to elect other Democratic officials, or to lobby Congress for his toughest legislative goals, or even to apply pressure on local and state policymakers across the country.

But while aides sort out the details, the Obama team's early hints about how the network should be used -- as well as its tight-lipped planning process -- have struck some supporters as missteps.

Among the critics is Marshall Ganz, a legendary figure in the field of community organizing who from his post at Harvard University helped train Obama’s campaign organizers and volunteers.

Ganz has publicly questioned the campaign for not conducting a more open deliberation over how to sustain the network, which grew and thrived in part on open dialogue and online social networking. "Is this really what 'building on the movement to elect Barack Obama' is going to look like?" Ganz asked. "I can't believe this was put out by the same people who trained organizers in how to do house meetings in the campaign over the past two years."

Of the reference to the "first dog," Ganz concluded: "Give me a break."

Once you create something and use it to your gain, if it has a mind of its own -- millions of them, in fact -- when it comes time to further serve a purpose after it has served your purpose, what do you do with it? Obama is already hearing unrest from the masses, and he has six weeks to go before he is even in office, announcing members of his administration at a brisk rate.

Has he awakened some strange, codependent type of disappointment in people who seem to think he understood each of them? OK, I am being sarcastic with that one. However, when you draw people, many of whom seemed to not even know how Obama's votes and past campaigns went, into an army of worker bees, it would appear they expected to continue as some sort of storm-troopers for the Democratic president-elect.

It is a risky thing to attract people with three-word mottoes that inspire utopian ideas, hopes and wishes, especially for people who are highly imaginative but spoiled, since the blow-back may be not only loud but very, very embarrassing for everyone involved. This is just one hint -- and very, very early -- of the post-election let-down for Obama supporters, but I wonder what else may happen, now that Obama is elected.

With hope for something that is not akin to mass demonstrations and riots by undereducated, text messaging, iPod-wearing, Wii-malformed brats in baggy jeans and t-shirts, I offer this video.


Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are


A quote: "They have nothing to fill their pathetically empty lives."

Wish us luck!


- jR

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