In an article on the presidential campaigns in The New York Times before the election, the Obama campaign organization was said to be “militaristic.” Orders came down and we followed them. Occasionally those orders did not fit the local conditions and caused some grousing, but overall the campaign was brilliant.
Unfortunately, much of the organization may be dismantled. The lists of phone bankers and canvassers and the voter data are dumped. The volunteers, who have what sociologists call “weak ties,” may drift off and lose contact with one another.
In a recent book entitled Taking Our Country Back, which details how the Dean and Kerry campaigns and Dean as national chair revolutionized the use of the internet and social media, the author wrote that the new media campaigns:
“...are not designed for the ends of psychological growth, the development of civic skills, discovery of the public interest, achieving democratic legitimacy, or community building--claims historically made for increased participation in civic life.”
“Despite predictions to the contrary, the book shows that the use of new media in campaigning has seemingly not brought about fundamental changes in...forms of political representation, quality of democratic conversation, or distribution of power in the American polity.”
That’s something we will have to work on at the local level.
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