If Obama isn’t the change we want, his supporters might be.

UPDATE: While the purpose of this article is to highlight what I see as a fundamentally different and important aspect of Obama’s campaign and his “base.”  I should note, though, that part of my enthusiasm was based on a misunderstanding of the actual FISA issue.  I could easily leave the article as it is without mentioning this, but I think it’s important to note that I now think what Obama did was exactly what I’ve been wanting our president to do for eight years now: compromise.  The bipartisan bill, in fact, does not give immunity to companies in the way I had once thought, and it does hold the executive more accountable for its actions.  I appreciate those of you who took the time to contact me and fill me in. 

 

It’s funny, even by proving that he is, after all, not the first American messiah, but a politician, he has shown the uniqueness of his campaign. So many Obama supporters are furious about his stance on the recent FISA bill and the immunity it provides to telecom companies that they’ve taken to organizing themselves on Obama’s website, my.BarackObama.com.

 

The group is here, and in only the last couple of days it’s attracted several thousand members. I signed up this morning, and I’ve gotten about two dozen emails (that go out to all members of the group) already. The debate, from what I’ve seen, is passionate but measured. People are not simply ranting about how horrible Obama is for supporting the new bill -- however tepidly -- rather they are discussing their responsibility, as his supporters, to make sure he keeps his promises. They are talking about what should be done, how to organize, etc. in hopes of getting Obama to change his position.

 

This is pretty significant, I think. For one thing, as one of the emails said

This discussion is taking place on servers [Barack Obama] owns, and through a system his web designers and programers enabled. I don't have the stomach to find out, but I bet there is no place on McCain's web site where McCain supporters could discuss the uselessness of $5K tax credit to someone with a cronic illness who just lost his job and his health insurance. So, the fact that this discussion takes place on Obama's dime is a sign of something new. We want and deserve more, but it's worth remembering.

Unlike the above writer, I’ve been to the McCain website, and I actually can’t find any forum like that which exists on the Obama site.

 

I think the fact that Obama has forums for his supporters is on thing, but the fact that they can unify and publicly display their discontent for one of his stances (opening him up to possible attacks on his base, or whatever it is that politicos find important) is groundbreaking. Most politicians wouldn’t risk such a public backlash from their most devoted supporters if they could stop it (i.e. deleting the group from the server), and it says a lot that Obama hasn’t done that.

 

It says even more, though, that such a large number of people are saying, they think Obama is a great candidate, and it’s their responsibility to make sure he continues to be. Thus far, every commenter I’ve seen who suggests that the FISA campaign will hurt Obama and that “we” need to do everything “we” can to win in November is met with several rebuttals to the effect that not pressuring Obama solely for political expediency would be a guarantee that the political environment we’ve gotten so used to will never change.

 

I’ve been pretty let down by Obama in the last couple of weeks, but seeing as many of his supporters feel that they have a responsibility to “keep ‘em honest” has given me some reassurance.