Obama: The Netroots (and Harlem) aren't so independent...

Here's a link to The New Republic's "Net Loss/Why liberal bloggers don't love Obama" by Bradford Plumer..... worth a read:

What the left/liberal bloggers are saying is they can't REALLY trust Obama to get us out of Iraq (Hillary is given a pass on this issue), and they're not sure where he stands on government surveillence (Wouldn't that be #2 on the Dem party platform after getting out of Iraq?? But I digress.....) Apparently Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas grumbled that "the usual D.C. consulting crowd" was advising Obama to run a "safe race."

Brad Plumer goes on to say that "Of course, irking the major bloggers won't sink Obama's campaign. And he still has ample support both from midsized blogs and many blog readers - he consistently does well in Daily Kos and MoveOn straw polls."

Though I agree that the Big Blogs aren't the end of the story and as in all establishment venues, it's the Daily Kos and MDD, Open Left, etc. that have the standing, there does appear to be the same establishment/grassroots split in the blogosphere as we have everywhere else.

I'm an independent and as such in New York, I have no vote in the primaries that are taking place. I don't know that I would endorse Barack Obama unless he asked me to (Which he has not. And I didn't receive The Memo....) and unless he had some pretty compelling arguments.

One argument might be that he recognizes independents by name (Obama has yet to acknowledge endorsements of significant independent leaders in California like independentvoice.org's Jim Mangia, or South Carolina's Independence Party's Wayne Griffin. In Missouri, independents like Barbara Woodruff put Obama over the top and raised the possibility that he might win the election based on independent voters. )

And he should talk concretely about our issues (Like open primaries, initiative and referendum, and other political reforms) when he claims our support.

That said, I don't like the politics of Daily Kos and Markos Moulitsas. Kos wants to be a vote broker for a supposed liberal voting bloc. Kos is living proof that the Amercian left is a calcified comodity of the Democratic Party that can be consumed like this morning's latte. (NOTE to Markos: The Liberal Movement has expired, please check your credentials at the door.)

The 2008 difference is that there's a real independent movement underway... A movement that Barack Obama and David Axelrod and other Dem strategists should pay very close attention to.

The Netroots are not alone. Compare the black Dem establishment. As Lenora Fulani put it yesterday: {A]ll of New York's black members of Congress backed Hillary and helped produce her highest percentage of the black vote anywhere in the country - 37 percent. In Harlem, the seat of the black establishment, represented by Congressman Charles Rangel, Hillary beat Obama by 7½ points. Rev. Al Sharpton remained neutral, managing to avoid getting caught in the crossfire between the insurgent and establishment camps.

We are in a fight in this country between the establishment (the elites) and the grassroots (everybody else). There's nothing in the blogosphere or in technology, in Harlem, or in Obama's campaign, that is inherently independent or forward-looking. That's up to us the people. The ability of the Obama campaign to connect with the independent movement will depend on the Obama campaign's ability to connect with independent voters, not their ability to read political polls.

I'm not surprised that Kos doesn't care about this fight and settles for "Dems Uber Alles". And don't you be surprised either when Kos and Charlie Rangel start saying we have to elect Hillary in order to beat Bush -- even if Bush is not running. Hey, you gotta have something to be against to win an election, right? Right. Except it's 2008. And we ain't yesterday's fools. -NH

P.S. -- Sen. Obama, if you want us, come get us. Don't be distant!

Conversations on Big Dem Blogs

Here's a post by Kenneth Anderson on The Brad Blog called Circus Maximus: New Media 'Progressives' Holding Hands With the Corporate Establishment, in a Search for the 'Most Electable'...

Though Dennis Kucinich espouses ideals resonant with most liberal voters, he is as marginalized by progressives as much as the mainstream media as "unelectable," though no one ever seems to understand or explain exactly what that means. Is it his ears?
By all appearances, blogs such as dKos, MyDD, etc, have now simply become another arm of the Democratic party and their backing of the major, big-money candidates simply because they are deemed "electable" entirely betrays the original purpose of their fora.

Personally I think Kenneth's assessment that Daily Kos's Markos is too afraid of the establisment to challenge the Dem Party is a bit generous. I think Markos just doesn't care. It's no skin off his nose whether Obama or Hillary wins the Dem nomination because he's gonna support the Dems no matter who, because, well he's ALL FOR the establishment...

And so on and so on for Jerome Armstrong's piece on MyDD Obama's Fate, and many others responding to a Politico expose that Obama is a liberal... (gasp!)

Meanwhile it seems that the American people themselves have decided to shake up the election. Obama is leading Hillary, Huckabee steps into a void..... We'll see where it all lands....

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• About Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel being excluded from Dem afternoon delight debate yesterday, a few major papers made note of it by saying that they didn't fit the criteria, some blogs made note of it and added the comment "not sure why Allen Keyes was included in the Repub debate since he didn't meet that criteria either...." Here is some of the "coverage", and mind you the only real protest concerning democracy issues was a letter to the Des Moines Register: Leaving candidates out of debate compromises democracy (LETTER Des Moines Register)
• Kucinich press release on exclusion (OpEdNews) It seems that the Cleveland Plain Dealer doesn't like Kucinich....
• Keyes in, Kucinich out of Iowa debates (Boston Globe)
• Thursday’s political round-up-excerpt on exclusion of Kucinich (The Carpetbagger Report)
• 2 Democrats excluded from debate but Keyes allowed to take part (WCCO - MN)
• The networks and the debates (mediabistro.com)
• Kucinich fans wanted him in debate (Des Moines Register)

• There are 34 candidates on the New Hampshire ballot-- some spoke at the Manchester Community Access Media broadcast the forum, which will be aired on C-SPAN. (New Hampshire Union Leader)
• Matt Bai has a new blog on the NY Times' The Caucus called The Primary Argument
• There's a noticeable shift among black voters in South Carolina from Clinton to Obama (Wall Street Journal) and while the Washington Times calculates the Oprah Factor, it's a little known fact that Wayne Griffin and other independents in S.C. are organizing voters to challenge politics as usual

• Interesting roundup of blogs on National Journal The Hotline ...Markos Moulitsas, with the political instincts of a 15 year old hounddog, says: "I voted 'Obama' this time, not necessarily because I support him, but because the alternatives are no good. ..... "