Anyone watching the invisible-but-linkable netroots primary has probably noticed that John Edwards leads the pack among Democratic bloggers. Let’s assume this is because Edwards is more savvy and more… shall we say, willing to let the dedicated progressive bloggers have a say in his campaign.
But are they missing the chance to support a candidate who actually believes in the same organizing principles they do?
The Archpundit blog points us to a 1995 article in the weekly Chicago Reader that delves into pre-stardom Obama’s thinking. Emphasis mine:
What makes Obama different from other progressive politicians is that he doesn’t just want to create and support progressive programs; he wants to mobilize the people to create their own. He wants to stand politics on its head, empowering citizens by bringing together the churches and businesses and banks, scornful grandmothers and angry young.
His own words:
In America … we have this strong bias toward individual action. You know, we idolize the John Wayne hero who comes in to correct things with both guns blazing. But individual actions, individual dreams, are not sufficient. We must unite in collective action, build collective institutions and organizations.
And what people said about him then — Johnnie Owens of the Developing Communities Project:
A lot of organizers you meet these days are these self-anointed leaders with this strange, way-out approach and unrealistic, eccentric way of pursuing things from the very beginning. Not Barack. He’s not about calling attention to himself. He’s concerned with the work.
And Madeline Talbott, “lead organizer of the feisty ACORN community organization”:
He is committed to organizing, to building a democracy. Above all else, he is a good listener, and we accept and respect him as a kindred spirit, a fellow organizer.
Now, isn’t that what progressives are trying to do right now, build their own communities?
Related question: Is this ground-up/community-based/”wisdom of crowds” approach the best way to elect people or to govern? As Timothy points out in the comment section to Bill’s Colbert v. Wikipedia post, highly technical matters on Wikipedia are often flawed (one reason why Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger is working on a rival that includes expert review).
I’ve said before that I’m more of a top down guy and I very much believe in the need for experts. But I’m also not stupid enough to think that I know everything. Same for Obama — in fact, some of his best lines aren’t even his own.
Edwards is definitely positioned very well to win in Iowa and New Hampshire, but it remains to be seen if he’ll have enough bank to win. Obama will come out ahead in the end.
Edwards will have an impressive 1st quarter. The bar for the whole year is $100 million. I’d be very surprised if he didn’t start off with something over $15.
The $100M figure is way over blown. Maybe two people out of the entire field of D Rs has a chance to reach that much (Clinton & Giuliani). Every one else is looking at $40M-$50M for competitive viability. Also, it’s hard to see how Edwards hits $15M in Q1 considering (1) that he never came close to that amount during any specific quarter during the ‘04 cycle, and (2) he hasn’t done relatively all that much fundraising prospecting in the mean time, and (3) his other competition. I think he’ll hit $10M because he’s rejecting matching funds, and will raise for both the primary and general, but won’t hit $15M.