Sam Graham-Felsen says he was President Obama's 2008 "Chief Blogger"in an opinion piece just published in the Washington Post. He complains that while Obama is being accused of alienating the left, what he has really lost is "the list."
Graham-Felsen says over $500 million came to Obama from his thousands of small dollar donations, but that these people have been forgotten.
They were inspired by Obama's promise to upend Washington by governing from the bottom up. "The change we need doesn't come from Washington," Obama told them. "It comes to Washington."
Yet at seemingly every turn, Obama has chosen to play an inside game. Instead of actively engaging supporters in major legislative battles, Obama has told them to sit tight as he makes compromises behind closed doors.
Graham-Felsen says that Organizing for America (OFA) has been silent on the tax cuts because the time was never "ripe."
But many people feel the time is ripe now - that tax cuts for millionaires in the midst of cuts in basic services and a spiraling deficit are unacceptable - and they don't understand why Obama won't let them fight.
According to the article, during the health reform fight, Obama supporters were told to "voice generalized support for reform."
Obama has made it clear that, for the most part, his administration isn't seriously interested in deploying this massive grass-roots list - which was once heralded as a force that could reshape politics as we know it - to fight for sweeping legislative change. It's a shame.
The writer seriously worries about the side-lining of the grassroots support, saying too much is at stake to try to gain an independent here and there while alienating the "base" and his strongest supporters. Apparently the President and his White House staff met with a group of OFA volunteers yesterday to receive an update on the grassroots efforts since the November mid-terms. But Graham-Felsen saw this as more of a "gesture" than an interest in reviving the grassroots.
While Obama's political team intensely focuses on independents, the grass-roots list seems like an afterthought. Every time Obama chooses to compromise behind closed doors, and keeps OFA quiet, he might win over a few independents. But he's also conveying a message that the grass roots doesn't really matter, that the bottom-up ethos of his candidacy doesn't apply to his presidency....
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Obama needs twice as much grass-roots support in the next election - and he's not going to get it by sidelining his supporters. If he continues to play politics as usual, Obama risks alienating not just the left but anyone who believed in the promise of bringing change to Washington.