Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) (WDCpix)
The Party Leader
As Obama Edges Closer to the Nomination, Challenges as Top Democrat Await
By Holly Yeager
05/15/2008
| 7 Comments
Something strange is happening to Barack Obama.
The first-term Illinois senator -- who built his presidential campaign around the promise of a new kind of politics and launched a movement that drew in young voters, independents and Republicans -- is taking control of the Democratic Party.
The shift from insurgency to establishment is only natural, as Obama tightens his grip on the Democratic nomination. But, given his post-partisan pedigree, it poses many challenges.
Obama will be forced to reckon with the party’s old guard -– fund-raisers, elected officials and organizers, including many who rallied around Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and, before that, her husband. He must also adjust his 21st-century coalition to the notion that he has become the standard-bearer for an institution sometimes too wedded to tradition. At the same time, he will face an array of liberal bloggers and activists who have grown comfortable in their criticism of the existing Democratic leadership and are still unsure of Obama’s commitment to their progressive agenda. Oh, and then there are the Republicans.
Unless Clinton ekes out an upset win -- an outcome that seems even less likely following John Edwards’ endorsement Wednesday of Obama and the string of other support that has followed – Obama’s crowning moment will come in late August at the party’s convention in Denver.
"Obama will be controlling the Democratic convention," said Simon Rosenberg, a veteran of Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign who is president of NDN, a progressive think tank, "and the entire convention will be about nominating him and his ascension to the top of the party.”
Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, will be there, too, with a prominent role. So will Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House, and Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader. But even now, while these officials hold important jobs within the party, Obama is already consolidating his power -- and early strains are evident.
“We’re now going to see Sen. Obama’s insurgent campaign melding and becoming the party establishment,” Rosenberg said. “There is going to be a new Democratic Party. There is going to be an upheaval and a new order is going to emerge.”
Matt Stoller, a liberal blogger and activist, this month tallied the Obama campaign’s accomplishments in everything from voter registration and fund-raising to grass-roots organizing and use of the Internet to spread his message. Along the way, he said, “Obama has created a number of significant infrastructure pieces through his campaign, displacing traditional groups the way he promised he would by signaling the end of the old politics of division and partisanship.”
Obama’s campaign has also taken steps to discourage wealthy contributors from funding the independent groups that many expected to play a large role in the election. As The Politico’s Ben Smith reported Tuesday, Penny Pritzker, Obama's national finance chair, told his supporters not to send checks to groups like Progressive Media USA, run by David Brock, the conservative-turned-liberal journalist, and Fund for America, led by John Podesta, Bill Clinton’s former chief of staff. (That may explain Brock's apparent decision to fold the project.)
Donors and Democratic activists have been quietly debating Obama's motives: Is he simply interested in keeping his Democratic efforts within his campaign, which is so well funded he doesn't need outside help? Or is he, as some believe, cutting off funds to groups whose leaders -- Brock and Podesta -- some Obama aides view as too tightly linked to Clinton?
In either case, Pritzker's words are the latest in Obama's remarkably swift and complete consolidation of Democratic Party power. It's an unprecedented seizure of control that has built him, over the course of a year, the most powerful field organization and the largest financial network in American politics, leaving many existing structures -- traditional party organizations in many states, the Clintons' long-nurtured national network -- in the dust.
While Stoller sits far from that kind of traditional organization, his view is very much the same. “You know all that old-style Washington politics preventing real change? As hard as it might be to handle, in a lot of ways he means that those of us who believe in partisan hard edged combat are part of an outmoded system.”
The unsettling of those seasoned political hands may help Obama convince the many new and young voters who rallied to his cause that he is serious about change. But as they see him in new roles, negotiating with old critics and taking charge of old institutions, their support will also be tested.
Robert Eisinger, chairman of the political science department at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, said he has seen remarkable numbers of young people registering to vote for the first time as Oregon’s May 20 primary approaches. Obama drew them into the process, Eisinger said, and, “Now, he is their horse.”
As he settles in to his role as party leader, Eisinger expects Obama to reach out to groups he hasn’t dealt with before, including Democratic-leaning think tanks and interest groups. “A President Obama – and even a President McCain – knows that nothing is going to get done in the House and Senate without cultivating good ties with all wings of your own party and significant wings of the opposition party,” Eisinger said, adding that while President George W. Bush said as a candidate that he understood that principle, he hasn’t acted on it.
Eisinger said there is no guarantee the new voters that Obama has attracted will remain lifelong Democrats. “There was no shortage of Hubert Humphrey Democrats who voted for Ronald Reagan,” he said. “I don think that is something that Sen. Obama, or a future President Obama, has to worry about, if 25 years from now some of those citizens who were behind him become alienated.”
In the short-term, Eisinger doesn’t expect Obama’s supporters – both the newly engaged activists and the more passive voters – to be shaken as their candidate takes up his role as the top Democrat. “If you’re a party volunteer and you’re completely enthused about your ticket, you don’t care,” he said, while the less engaged aren’t likely to notice much of what goes on at the Democratic convention and other big party moments.
But others are less certain of the relationship that will develop between Obama and the diverse coalition that helped catapult him to this position.
Micah Sifry, a campaign finance reform activist and co-founder of Personal Democracy Forum, wrote last week, “Will the Obama movement be a real movement that pushes its leader to keep his promises? Or will it be more of a personalized movement of followers attracted to a charismatic star? Will the network talk laterally and organize pressure upward? We don't know the full answer yet.”
Even as he cements his grip on the party apparatus and mines untapped -- indeed, unimagined -- sources of money, few expect Obama to become the kind of old-time party boss with the power to, say, make a phone call and get a determined, but doomed, candidate to withdraw from a hotly contested party primary. It’s the result of the changing nature of politics, the power of the Internet and the push for transparency.
“The party bosses are gone,” said Eisinger. “It’s not that the leaders don’t exist. But rather, the political culture that allows a party elder to tap a senior senator on the shoulder and say, ‘It’s time to bow out,’ is gone.”
But Obama will still be plenty powerful. As Stoller cautioned, “it's time to think through the consequences of a party where there is a new chief with massive amounts of power….He has control of the party apparatus, the grass-roots, the money and the messaging environment. He is also, and this is fundamental, someone that millions of people believe in as a moral force. When you disagree with Obama, you are saying to these people, 'Your favorite band sucks.'”
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© 2007 The Washington Independent
Comments:
Posted 05/16/2008 05:47am with
If you’re tired of waiting around for those super delegates to make a decision already, go to LobbyDelegates.com and push them to support Clinton
If you haven’t done so yet, please write a message to each of your state’s superdelegates at http://www.lobbydelegates.com
Sending a note to current Clinton supporters lets them know it’s appreciated, sending a note to current Obama supporters can hopefully sway them to change their vote to Clinton, and sending a note to the uncommitted folks will hopefully sway them to vote for Clinton. It’s that easy…
Posted 05/16/2008 08:06am with
this kind of article reminds me of ‘concern trolls’ that go to blogs and worry about everything but the most important issues and/or facts. a “527” cannot be directly part of a candidate’s campaign. they are also very risky politically.
Barack will need great resources to counter the republicans, the media and some DLC as the election process continues. Barack needs for his campaign-related resources to go through his campaign. it’s really that simple. This looks a lot like Barack is smart and in control of his campaign. This article presents a matter-of-fact tactical issue as if there is something to fear.
the ‘unsettled hands’ are likely the people who told Gore and Kerry to quit. If Obama is keeping destructive forces from being affiliated with his campaign, so be it!
Posted 05/16/2008 08:07am with
Who needs old time party bosses to GOTV when you control the money and the challengers?
As Jesse Jackson Jr. said to Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, support Obama or “You might find some young primary challenger placing you in a difficult position”
Meet the new Obama; same as the old Tom DeLay.
Posted 05/16/2008 09:28am with
kathynicholas,
Clinton’s ship has sailed by every account, mathematical and abstract. It’s that simple.
As it regards the article, I think everyone is rightly concerned about the outcome of Obama’s new, history-making territory like this. Sure, some are scared that Obama will become the politician he decries, and others that he will morph into a demagogue.
Equally as many are frightened that he is indeed a man of his word, of common sense, of feeling for others, and a man of the world. The bigots, the ignorant, the greedy, and the destructive need to be afraid, because the people are speaking ever more loudly that they’re willing to take the chance on him.
Posted 05/16/2008 10:50am with
The headline on the Huffington site steering me here was misleading. It reads: “How Obama Is Taking Control Of The Democratic Party”
The above article doesn’t reveal how the Obama organization is actually accomplishing this, but instead speculates what the challenges are and how they might be overcome.
How the Obama organization actually does merge its operations with the Democratic party at all levels will be a fascinating read I look forward to. A small taste of this was provided one of the major news weeklies which profiled key members of the Obama brain trust).
Merging the candidates staff with the party apparatus at the national level (among “grownups”) is one thing. Far greater challenges may occur at the state and local level – where Obama ground troops (who established creds in the primaries/caucuses) must share authority and responsibility with the local organization (who knows where all the local bodies are buried).
This is tricky stuff – often involving a clash between 2 cultures who also may have different sets of political priorites. (Although generally anti-establishment, I concur with Mike Dukakis’ concern that Barack will need local folks that people trust knocking on doors on behalf of Obama in rural and blue collar places where people don’t know him very well(and tend not to trust him).
So far, the Obama people have demonstrated sound judgment, political wisdom and terrific organizational skills. Best they recognize the challenge earlier not later so that they can work with local organizations to agree on how they will help one another achieve common goals.
Posted 05/19/2008 11:24am with
We look at Obama and Clinton and we see the intense ideas and energies of history being made. Perhaps what we don’t want to see is the truth behind this conflict. Hillery Clinton was the heir apparent and acted as if the coronation was merely a matter of proforma. As if by magic an almost physical Linconesque appears to be blessed by Ted an Caroline as the new keeper of the keys to Camolot and by the way money is no problem. WOW!
The truth is that two incredably powerful factions are fighting for control of the Democratic Party and by defination control of the most powerful position in history, the presidency. The two candidates are merely window dressing, eye candy, for our hopes and dreams.
We have heard what the two candidates say they want for the nation. What, not who, are we really going to be electing?
Posted 06/15/2008 05:49pm with
Obama canbarely lead words out of his mouth in a non-convoluted way without a teleprompter.. and you expedct him to lead the USA?
Think again and follow the leader withthe plan for America!
Progressive Candidate John McCain comes through for America with his 3R economic plan. In the aura of Theodore Roosevelt, McCain’s plan just makes sense.
1. RETHINK: America must rethink the global views on what America is capable of in our current state of technology, engineering and the demands that face the world.
“RETHINK” in terms of re-action means to set forth this plan.
Most Americans know where the USA falls short in the ways of manufacturing and valuable jobs.
It’s time to meet the change of global demands with Made in USA quality and a new American workforce. Oddly enough, the framework is ready and waiting for this plan and active participation. The Progressive attitude of John McCain to get things done will resurrect America.
2. REFORM: America must rise to these demands and compete aggressively in a global economy. We must demand higher quality products and less restricted trade routes for Made in USA components.
“RE-FORM” is simple to comprehend as through John McCain’s Progressive attitudes, the USA will reform our manufacturing and hit it full steam ahead!
Made in USA has always meant highest quality products at moderate prices. The difference today is, we save loose change with Imported Chinese junk products, but few high paying jobs exist to do anything except buy the cheaper foreign-made products.
3. REINVENT: America and Americans must reinvent themselves to reach and maintain these standards and by sheer American ingenuity, control the world’s marketplace in the competitive manner, as we have always been proud to rule. Can you hear Theodore Roosevelt shouting this?
“RE-INVENT” is the exciting part of McCain’s 3R plan.
Americans in need of a future and without the desire, funding or free time to spend 2 to 8 years in college can go back to a re-invented manufacturing education. McCain’s formula allows these new students, young and old, to be paid a moderate paycheck while learning their new skills and leadership roles in hands on classrooms! Without costing taxpayers or the US government additional funds, we can literally change the face of America and the world.
Learning the skills required in order to become the American driving force behind new USA manufacturing boom, many Americans will also gain the skills to become the CEOs and leaders of their own USA Mfg arenas. Leading a group of people who love their new lifestyle is not difficult and Americans have been proving American ingenuity and leadership since Theodore Roosevelt’s Progressive Republican era.
Initial estimates of 1 in 5 students will go on to begin his or her own company and drive even more Americans into a viable lifestyle with real jobs, real benefits and a retirement to look forward to. Many students will combine forces and create successful joint ventures.
America has the means to follow through with John McCain’s 3R plan, ready and in place across the USA. The buildings we need sit vacant for the most part. America has millions of people screaming for new and improved jobs.
Senator McCain has provided the new guard for Social Security, the promise of retirement and the dreams that can be realized by Americans who would otherwise be lost or at the mercy of a dying workforce. This is the new workforce for American’s future.
By assuming leases on abandoned stores and factories across America with MC-3R schools and mini-manufacturing training centers, the USA made products can be sold and support the stores. Building owners write off the loss in taxes over a few years!
Although the thousands of new businesses manufacturing USA Made products is exciting enough, the real excitement comes from the massive amount of additional jobs that will be created to provide the new housing, new buildings, new parks, shopping, grocery stores, schools, government outlets and so much more.
The Key PROBLEM with the housing slump and the huge crude oil buy-out is not from greedy developers or greedy oil companies, but from the desire to locate and invest in the era’s best investments. Housing was #1 until the investment funds were pulled and crude oil took its place as a commodity. McCain will get us out of the mess that threatens the world’s economy.
These three R’s will be accomplished by the McCain express and through wealthy American entrepreneurs who were once able to invest in America’s manufacturing capabilities but have since fallen into investments that have caused catastrophic world economy failure.
McCain’s Progressive nature embodies Theodore Roosevelt more than any other US presidential candidate in history since.
We need John McCain to lead our nation.