kid oakland

Barack Obama and the 50 State Strategy
by kid oakland
Tue Jan 22, 2008 at 06:42:46 PM PST

It was a blustery and, at times, rainy afternoon here in Berkeley California but that didn't stop Ron, an avuncular and dapper volunteer with an ironing board from working the corner of Ashby and College Avenue.

When I approached Ron he smiled and explained he'd been doing GOTV since he stood up and opposed Ronald Reagan in 1980. Today he was registering voters on the last day to register before the Feb. 5th CA primary. And, as you could tell from the big O attached to his ironing board, Ron was signing up volunteers for Barack Obama.

Ron had a ton of young people registering to vote today and, from what I saw when I put my name on the list, about 50-60 volunteers signed up for Obama. (He'd given out another 100 home made info sheets to others.)

Now, that doesn't tell you anything about who Californians will choose in the polls on February 5th, but that coincidence of young people, new voters, new volunteers and hard core volunteers like Ron tells you a hell of a lot about the campaign of Barack Obama...

* kid oakland's diary :: ::
*

I want to say something simple and clear.

There's one campaign that has been distorting and smearing the record of another's since the results of the Iowa caucuses. There's a reason for that.

When everybody pays attention to the lies and distractions, there's no way Hillary Clinton can't win. Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton know that, and that why they are distorting everything they can about the record, integrity and campaign of Senator Barack Obama.

The reverse, however, is not necessarily true. When people pay attention to the actual message and candidates...well, there's a strong likelihood, but no certainty, that folks will vote for Barack Obama.

That's why Ron's out on the corner of Ashby and College in the rain registering voters and signing up volunteers for Barack Obama.

::

Take the fake, engineered, and hyped brouhaha about the comments of Senator Obama regarding the legacy of Ronnie Reagan. Do you know what Barack Obama said BEFORE he mentioned Ronald Reagan in that interview? Do you know the real context of his remarks?

It's not surprising that you might not. Senator Clinton and President Clinton and a whole bunch of other people simply don't want you to hear them.

Barack Obama was talking about the 50 State Strategy:

I think that we're shifting the political paradigm here. And if I'm the nominee, I think I can bring a lot of folks along on my coattails. You know, there's a reason why in 2006, I made the most appearances for members of Congress. I was the most requested surrogate to come in and campaign for people in districts that were swing districts, Republican districts where they wouldn't have any other Democrat.

That was based on their read of the fact that, you know what, this is somebody who can reach out to independents and Republicans in a way that doesn't offend people...I don't want to present myself as some sort of singular figure. I think part of what's different are the times.

That sounds pretty true to me. Barack Obama did do that. (But hey what do I know, I only spent the entire year of 2006 following local Congressional races and reaching out to local bloggers in all 50 States.)

However, it was what Barack Obama said next about Reagan being a "paradigm shifting" candidate that bothered alot of bloggers. So much so that they said a lot of ludicrous and presposterous things about Senator Obama that would make you think, for example...that there was no truth to his claim that he "made the most appearances of members of Congress" in 2006 on the campaign trail, that would make you doubt that Barack Obama, not Hillary Clinton or John Edwards, was the "most requested surrogate to come in and campaign for people in districts that were swing districts, Republican districts where they wouldn't have any other Democrat."

Certainly, those bloggers have a self evident case against Barack.

I mean, if you were a fan of Ronald Reagan and thought Republicans had all the good ideas for the last 15 years, why would you spend 2006 traveling around the country, of all things, you know, trying to elect Democrats?

::

When it comes to the 50 State Strategy we know where Hillary Clinton stands. Heck, she's got Terry McAuliffe, a guy who is completely and totally opposed to Howard Dean, the 50 State Strategy and the netroots movement, as her campaign chair.

But that's not what I want to focus on. Bill and Hillary keep asking Barack Obama and his supporters to enunciate an answer to this question: but what have you done?

Now, they don't want you to actually answer that question. To mention the fact that Senator Barack Obama from day one in the Senate surrounded himself with powerful advisors like economist Karen Kornbluh, his chief policy advisor, or Samantha Power, Anthony Lake and Susan Rice, his foreign policy team. They don't want you to mention how Senator Obama reached across the aisle to work on immigration reform with Senator McCain, or his work with Dick Lugar on terrorist threat reduction, or his work with Tom Coburn to pass the Coburn-Obama transparency act (something every netroots person should know about), or his worldwide trips as a member of Foreign Relations Committee focusing on strategies to stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The Clintons...you know...to fit Barack Obama into their "do-nothing" meme...am I the only one that finds that insulting?...would have you ignore Senator Obama's work with Russ Feingold to pass the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act enacting lobbyist reform in Washington for the first time in a generation. (In fact, the Clintons make fun of this bill on the campaign trail.) They won't mention Senator Obama's work with John McCain on a bill that reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 2/3rds by 2050, or his work with Senator Chuck Schumer on election protection issues in the wake of 2006. Or his veteran-oriented amendment to the SCHIP bill that Bush vetoed last fall.

Now, the Clintons don't mention this, because, you know, Barack Obama basically is an empty suit. He does nothing.

And yes, of course, in the process they are also ignoring Senator Obama's service in the Illinois State Legislature, where, once again, to believe Senator Clinton, Barack Obama never voted for anything. Except, of course, he did. In fact, Senator Obama has held elected office since 1996, the longest of the three remaining major candidates. Hell, he's held elected office since the administration of Bill Clinton!

Per Senator Obama's wiki page:

As a state legislator, Obama gained bipartisan support for legislation reforming ethics and health care laws. He sponsored a law enhancing tax credits for low-income workers, negotiated welfare reform, and promoted increased subsidies for child care. Obama also led the passage of legislation mandating videotaping of homicide interrogations, and a law to monitor racial profiling by requiring police to record the race of drivers they stopped. During his 2004 general election campaign for U.S. Senate, he won the endorsement of the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police, whose president credited Obama for his active engagement with police organizations in enacting death penalty reforms.

Clearly, Obama's a slacker!

Finally, I do think I have to mention this as "doing something" despite this huge taboo about mentioning the reality of some of our history as a nation. Senator Barack Obama is currently the only African-American in the United States Senate. One person out of one hundred elected officials. That counts as doing something, too, in my book.

But that's not the core message I want to convey tonight. Because "Reagan-loving" Senator Obama...so clearly unfit to be our nominee...did something else that the Clintons really don't want you to know about. He did something so outlandish, so atrocious, that the Clintons and their brigades of enablers on the blogs find it anaethema to mention. So they don't.

In 2006, Senator Barack Obama did more than any other candidate running for President to elect Democrats and win back majorities the United States Senate and House of Representatives. In 2006, Senator Barack Obama embodied the 50 State Strategy.

Far from doing "nothing," In 2006, Barack Obama helped us win majorities in both houses of Congress.

::

Don't take my word for it.

Here's Barack Obama in Colorado in October 2006 campaigning for Ed Perlmutter in his campaign to win an open seat in Congress. (Ed won, btw.)

Here's Barack Obama in Cleveland, Ohio in November 2006 campaigning for Senator Sherrod Brown. (Who won, btw, noticing a trend here?)

Here's Barack Obama campaigning in Louisville, Kentucky for Democrat John Yarmuth in his campaign to defeat GOP incumbent Anne Northup in September 2006. (Yarmuth won.)

Here's Barack Obama in Richmond Virginia campaigning for Senator Jim Webb, November 2006:

Here's Paul Hodes, another member of the class of 2006 endorsing Barack Obama in New Hampshire and using that occasion to talk about Democratic Unity:

Here's Patrick Murphy, another class of 2006 member that Barack campaigned for talking about Barack this January in New Hampshire:

And finally, here's Senator Claire McCaskill, Senator Obama's newly minted national co-chair, talking about endorsing Barack Obama, who campaigned for her in Missori in 2006.

And here's a quote you should not miss from that interview:

Q: Senator, you said in your announcement when you decided to endorse Barack Obama that it was actually your daughter that pushed you in that direction, right?

Senator McCaskill: You know I was actually home the night of the Iowa caucus, and I was laying on the couch and I was crying during his entire speech and my 18 year old daughter looked at me and says, "Mom, how can you look yourself in the mirror, you really believe in this guy, and you're in a position that you should be helping, you know, get up and go do it!"

Sheesh, these folks are just real. And, you know, knowing something about the netroots from my work these last years...that's kind of like us. And, yes, Senator Barack Obama worked his ass off to help elect every last one of them and many more candidates in 2006.

I wonder why these videos aren't being played on all those blogs echoing the Clintons lies and distortions and talking about how Barack Obama loves Reagan and thinks that the Republicans had the best ideas for the last fifteen years? I mean, am I missing something about the 50 State Strategy? Did we just jettison that out of the netroots platform?

I'd like to know.

Okay, I know, people play political football with campaigns. It's just politics. Shit happens.

But if enough people who know better stay silent about Senator Obama's hard work on the ground in 2006 on the 50 State Strategy...there might not be a 50 State Strategy for very long.

That's something to think about.

::

Now, I'm a sucker for local candidates and campaigns. And, all that being told, I'm also a sucker for volunteers standing at ironing boards...like Ron today.

I first registered to vote here in California standing at just such an ironing board on Sproul Plaza at the University of California. Heck, I spend election day every year doing the exact same thing as Ron, campaigning in front of a card table at the West Oakland BART station.

But what I want to leave you with tonight is a powerful message. Young people, volunteers, new voters, grassroots activists...all of that is not enough. It's a powerful sign that a candidate's campaign is moving people to get off their ass and get something done. (To, as the Clinton's say, do something.)

But that's not enough to spell victory in any given election.

It's not enough, but it sure tells you a hell of a lot about the campaign of Senator Barack Obama.

If you support the 50 State Strategy, if you want to send a message that you understand what it meant to mobilize the vote in 2004 and 2006 and elect Democrats, if you want to work on the legacy of Howard Dean, then it behooves you, if you live in a Tsunami Tuesday state or one that comes afterwards, to think about reviving the spirit of 2004 and 2006 where you live.

I'll being doing exactly the same thing.

If you can't do that, I've heard word that Senator Obama could use your donations or your time if you've got some of either to spare.

I don't know what the California results will be primary night, February 5th. I'm no prognosticator.

I also know some pretty powerful powers-that-be are stacked against the guy I support. But when I saw that ironing board with the big O on it out in the rain today...I knew exactly what I was going to be doing come election day.

Tags: 2008 Elections, 50 State