Obama’s People Powered White House

I am one of those 13 million on Obama’s email list. I interact with other supporters on the web and while many online do voice complaints, ect. they are solidly behind Obama and are ready to both stand behind him aginst unruly legislators and hold the PE accountable once in office.
And yes, we do feel we have a voice and it’s heard.
Obama has supplied ways for us to voice our concerns, disapproval and applause as well.
But, the biggest thing is that congress and the senate do not know yet what is coming. They think it’s going to be like the same old ways they have done things and it’s not going to be.
They will now have to deal with hearing from us in unison and maybe for the first time realize that their job is about us, the people and about the good of the country and not the lobbyists.

It will be interesting to see how the participation levels and identities change.
.
I think in general, the people who will want to stay involved during the administration will be different than just those who participated in the campaign. I do know that the ‘do right by FISA” mailing list is still active and I suspect that the people who will continue to stay connected will be the ones with their own particular agenda to promote rather than those who just felt good being part of a new cool thing.
.
But this will also bode well, because it will mean that Obama will continue to be getting direct feedback that the Washington self-congratulation society might not necessarily be hooked up to.
.
Having said that, let me add:
.
Good article. Thanks.

As change.gov’s question submission system is demonstrating, creating avenues for publicizing grass roots views is very dangerous to the Village. Referring again to Rosen’s piece on spheres of permissible subjects, much of what is in his sphere of consensus is not widely held among actual citizens. People don’t care about Israel, don’t care about maintaining the Cuban embargo, are not invested in the Great American Hegemony Project, don’t get why marijuana is illegal even in states where medical use has been approved in a referendum. IM personal O, this bodes well–mechanisms that demonstrate what citizens want, versus what lobbyists want is ultimately to the good.
.
But I seriously doubt that Obama, who seems to be a card-carrying Villager, will respond to the clear preferences of the citizenry. It’s possible, of course, that these mechanisms are in place to, as FDR said, make him do what he would like to do. But, so far, I don’t see much transformative action on the horizon.
.
However, we have to wait, and see, what he actually does.

But I seriously doubt that Obama, who seems to be a card-carrying Villager, will respond to the clear preferences of the citizenry
.
Probably not in direct action, but you needn’t discount the seemingly magical power of lip service. If Obama says something to placate the DFH contingent (like his sudden reversal on Guantanomo), the folks who make their living covering his every word will have to go back to their offices and google what the heck he’s talking about. That way, nibble by bit, the actual concerns of actual Americans may slowly trickle into the Village consciousness.
.
Not to mention that the once-mighty Right Wing Wurlitzer is rapidly descending into self-parody and we see that real change is indeed happening as we speak.

yes, Dirks, I agree. But that means we have to keep using the newly built left wing noise machine.
.
The saving grace that I am hoping (but not banking) on is that Obama seems to be grounded in reality. It’s also hopeful, for me, that he has young kids, because it really looks like the future be very dicey for his grandchildren. Those kids are gonna continuously remind him of that, by their presence, and by the things they’ll say to him.

MS — Here’s a suggestion for you. How about following up with this group on a regular basis during Obama’s first term? A check-in after the first hundred days, and then periodically thereafter. This could easily be a one and done story, but I think readers and commenters would like to see if this movement has staying power. I would appreciate your response to this suggestion.

I second Andy’s suggestion. Although I think it would be better if you didn’t tell us which group you were following until after you were able to make several follow-ups, for obvious reasons.

Obama has supplied ways for us to voice our concerns, disapproval and applause as well.
.
The most promising aspect of Obama’s pre-presidential presidency is that he seems utterly unfazed by disagreement or criticism. And not in a bad way, but in a good way. he really doesn’t seem to believe that it’s his way or the highway–that reasonable people can disagree, and that he can be mistaken. it would be a tremendous improvement in public discourse if policy differences could be aired in public.
.
A big barrier to this is the traditional media. The need to gin up conflict, and create “flip-flop” events is a serious impediment to effective public discourse. In that Fallows book I’ve referred to, Breaking the News he discusses how crippling the daily and weekly news cycle was to the Clinton administration. The need to tamp down conflict stories consumed an enormous amount of time, and, essentially, had the White House running on the weekly news cycle’s agenda.

Andy, Thanks. I think it’s a good idea. If I don’t, remind me here. I am expecting a pretty busy next few months.

Nice piece Michael, thank you.
.
I’m glad to see people inspired and mobilized- always a positive. It remains to be seen how much effect this will have at the executive level but the fact that Obama’s staff is energized and believes that their work matters is encouraging.
.
To me, this is the Part II to his bitter/cling statement. If it is true that people become embittered and cynical toward a non-responsive government causing them to cling to and vote on single issues like guns and religion; then when you change that perception so that they believe they can force the government to respond to their needs, they’ll embrace the process and act in their overall best interest.

jayackroyd: But I seriously doubt that Obama, who seems to be a card-carrying Villager, will respond to the clear preferences of the citizenry.
.
I’d disagree that he’s card carrying. But he does have to placate the people who are.
.
People don’t care about Israel, don’t care about maintaining the Cuban embargo, are not invested in the Great American Hegemony Project, don’t get why marijuana is illegal even in states where medical use has been approved in a referendum.
.
I care about Israel. The US played a huge role to help to establish it, so we have a definite responsibility. And I disagree with you on pot. But anyway, I agree that what is mainstream and what is a “deviant” subject matter is glaringly arbitrary these days…

A big barrier to this is the traditional media. The need to gin up conflict, and create “flip-flop” events is a serious impediment to effective public discourse.
.
I think jayack nails this as the biggest piece of work the new administration will have. If they can somehow get the chattering classes under just a little control, it will be much better for the country.

Michael Scherer writes:
.
More recently, some 100,000 people participated in an interactive feature on the transition website Change.gov, which allows people to vote on questions they want Obama to answer.
.
Now, please compare that description with my discussion of that feature. I point out:
.
1. What’s wrong with the system they’re using.
.
2. That they were a bit “selective” with the questions they wanted to answer.
.
3. Examples of the types of questions BHO should have been asked but wasn’t.
.
.

P.S. Why are you reading Time?

I was so busy typing in periods I forgot to include the correct link.