Ben Smith has an article on Common Purpose, one of the many groups Rahm Emanuel has set up to coordinate messaging among liberal interest groups.
There are a variety of vehicles through which this is done — the 8:45 am call, Unity 09, Campaign to Rebuild and Renew America — and they’ve been extremely successful. When the banks told the White House they wouldn’t cooperate with the PPIP plan unless they got their bonuses, and the administration made the decision to "ratchet down their rhetoric," the call went out to the liberal interest groups to stay silent too…and silent they remain.
Unions are getting their contracts slashed, bank execs are pulling in billions, and how many of the usual suspects are running campaigns about the $1 billion in AIG bonuses to be paid out in June and September? Go ahead, count ‘em. I’ll be here, I can wait. . . .
Back already? Now add ‘em up. Here’s a pencil. Carry the one, add the three. . . that would be. . . zero.
As Ben writes, one of the goals of Common Purpose is to punish dissenters in front of their peers:
Part of the group’s role is to enforce a kind of message discipline, and one topic of discussion there, sources said, was a campaign launched last month by some of the more liberal members of the coalition — the Campaign for America’s Future, USAction, and liberal blogger Jane Hamsher — under the rubric "Dog the Blue Dogs."
The White House, however, was in the midst of discussions with members of the congressional Blue Dog caucus, and objected to the slogan, which was promptly changed, and the page describing the drive is gone from CAF’s website.
Robert Borosage, the president of the Institute for America’s Future, which launched the campaign, said he wasn’t present at the meeting where the campaign was discussed but that he’d been made aware of the objections.
A couple of things. One, I wasn’t actually part of the campaign — US Action decided to join a campaign they were doing against four Blue Dogs with a CAF campaign against five "Bayh" caucus Senators. I was asked by Robert Borosage to join in on a conference call and be supportive. Which I was happy to do, I like both Borosage and Roger Hickey.
Second, the original press release on Monday, March 23, did say they were targeting Blue Dogs. That was the day I got involved, and I mentioned that since the Bayh caucus weren’t really Blue Dogs it was probably better to rebrand. So they did. When the campaign launched and the press conference was held on the Tuesday the 24th, it was actually targeting "Obstructionists," not Blue Dogs. By the time the White House whacked them on Tuesday afternoon, the name had already changed. So that ain’t why it happened.
Third — and most important — I had no role in scaling the campaign back, because it wasn’t mine, and I wouldn’t have done it anyway. I wasn’t at the Common Purpose meeting because the earth would cleave open and swallow Washington DC whole before I’d be invited to get White House talking points from some lobbyist, which is as it should be. Our big strength is being an independent voice.
Despite the message that was sent at the Common Purpose meeting that afternoon to play nice with the corporatists, this is what I was doing at 10 pm:
Then the next day, there was this. (And very much to his credit, Roger Hickey did likewise.)
There’s a big problem right now with the traditional liberal interest groups sitting on the sidelines around major issues because they don’t want to buck the White House for fear of getting cut out of the dialogue, or having their funding slashed. Someone picks up a phone, calls a big donor, and the next thing you know…the money is gone. It’s already happened. Because that’s the way Rahm plays.
Just in case you were worried, that’s not a problem for us.
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Good on you, Jane!
Not worried.
Seconded.
That’s exactly why blogs need to remain supportive of positive steps by pols, but independent so they can call bullshit when needed, and apply pressure where needed.
And Rahm? You’re really kind of a problem rather than a solution.
Is there a plan in place for local IN blogs to have their readers DOG the phones to their senators, asking them to stop this crap?
If I recall, we gots some awesome powerful people in IN, like *ilson, finfinito and more.
PS: HI STEVE :D
What’s going on to pressure the Defeatocrats on their constituents’ phone lines?
Great to hear, Jane. Not that I was worried.
One of the problems with the liberal groups being silent is that it won’t help them get their agendas passed. It will only help Obama get his agendas passed. The more they keep silent, the less we’ll get.
Perhaps you’re not surprised to hear that from me, either.
Typical co-opt, divide and conquer bullshit. Oldest game in the books. “Message discipline”? That’s bureaucratic Newspeak if I’ve ever heard it.
Discipline this.
“The more they keep silent, the less we’ll get.”
Quieting the rabble is the gist of this…um…initiative.
A major reason Bush and his government got their vanity wars and implemented all their illegal programs was because everyone who had any ability to question them instead silently fell in line and did the Bush government’s bidding.
Obama’s administration has one idea of how to get things done, and how to work with the blue dogs and their ilk. But that doesn’t mean Obama’s always right. And frankly, watching appeasement as a Democratic strategy is just getting too old to sit back and let it go on. Maybe the republicans like operating under a “father knows best” system, but screw that. Business as usual isn’t the way forward.
Does Rahm think being in lock-step was good for Republicans? So why would it be good for Democrats? And the liberal interest groups are fools for letting themselves be bullied by Rahmbo.
“Just in case you were worried, that’s not a problem for us.”; glad to hear it but didn’t think it was your ‘modus operandi’ anyway.
And ,yes, THAT IS the way Rahm plays it; and Obama is fully supportive of Rahm.
I’m fine with Obama playing nice with ConservaDems. But I think there is a role to be played by those who don’t want to be nice to them, and not that I mind being the bad kid in the back of the class, but it means they’re getting a free past for the most part from people who should be hitting them.
I understand groups that have issues before the Senate don’t want alienate a member because they need their vote for an issue — unions on EFCA, HCAN on healthcare, etc. — but that leaves an awful lot of people who aren’t talking just because they’ve got cocktail weenies stuck between their teeth.
we are not rove
I cannot believe our party is starting to behave like him as if we are the same as those marionettes from the other side
we are not
and obama better start acting like a progressive, he has lost more progressives and he will lose more
he needs to get back on topic, that being progressive programs that rebuild the middle class, that is NOT protecting big money, BIG MONEY IS THE DOWNFALL OF THIS COUNTRY, he needs to get the middle class growing again with gainful employment
you know, like before reagan began bringing this country to it’s knees
Rahm and Obama should remember that the Left is not a switch they can turn on and off at whim; a lot of people have taken the grass-roots lesson (which, in part, Obama taught) to heart.
And, FWIW, every time Obama and his minions sell out to a Cheney position (e.g., the latest abortion in the warrantless wiretapping world), they cut the feet out from under their own support.
There are a lot of people out there who supported Obama who, seeing what the corporatocrats have brought forth after getting that support, will simply and quietly sit on their hands when Obama comes calling for help. Right now, I’m one of them. He’ll need my help, and it won’t be there. Because he sold me out.
The Obama team knows how to win the political game, and I can see that happening here where I live too. What happens to the principled, well-researched policies and programs (e.g. single payer healthcare) when they have to be shaped by the political machines in D.C.?? Instead of appeasing these folks (Blue Dogs, New Dems), we should be exposing their conservative, “Republican party values”, every day of the week. Otherwise, how will we ever accomplish any of the needed reforms??
“…but that leaves an awful lot of people who aren’t talking just because they’ve got cocktail weenies stuck between their teeth…”
Brutal. But funny!
I see the push for single payer as a major casualty of the situation. Not that I think there’s a way in hell to get single payer through right now, any more than we could get troops pulled out of Afghanistan, but that doesn’t mean the argument shouldn’t be made.
I’m all in favor of a “public plan,” but the simultaneous progressive “push” for one seems a wee bit coordinated.
I haven’t found any good IN blogs that could coordinate giving some shit to Evan Bayh. I am not a fan at all, a great writer and liberal bombthrower named Harrison Ullman who used to work for the Indy alternative paper used to call them Republicrats, and Evan Bayh was at the top of the list. The only reason he is where he is is because he is a card carrying member of the lucky sperm club.
I have been trying to discover what HCAN’s plan is so I can deconstruct it to compare it to single payer and have had to go to its blog to get more definition. They are deliberately obscure. Thanks for helping to keep things clear. It is really a liar’s club, isn’t it?
The visual images that statement brings to mind are just too funny…if not t-shirt worthy.
also, from what i’ve been reading, the “public plan” is already being watered down. from pnhp:
i’m sure i can’t imagine the pressure that is being put on members of the progressive caucus. still it’s awfully frustrating to have so few politicians will to stand up for us.
They’re a level below everyone else. Obama won’t even meet with them.
i emailed len nichols after his appearance on democracy now! to ask him about his comments on the MA reform model. didn’t get a response but am going to keep trying. i’ve been planing on writing an oxdown diary on the results of the MA reform, and would like to include what the HCAN folks think should have been done differently.
emptywheel is upstairs at the front page!
Granholm to JP Morgan Chase and Friends: You Got Your Help, Now Give Chrysler Theirs
HCAN seems like more of a political process and a prearranged compromise on health care reform than a coherent plan. Seems like they repeat the mantra of affordable, accessible healthcare for everyone, then leave the work of hashing out the details of any public plan and any subsidized private plans to the politicians. They never face the resistance of those who think that they stand to lose their current benefits by ever proposing anything different, except to reassure those very same people that they will not lose their benefits or policies which they currently have.
swell. (as in not).
i don’t think i’m that naive about the chances of single payer passing anytime soon. still, it seems like a perfect moment to organize for it. education now, can help build public pressure for later…. especially if economic pressures increase. we’re going to need it. i don’t think people know how the MA reform has hurt the people most in need here.
and personally, i’d like try to put a pricetag on the banksters bailout. price = single payer.
i think you are exactly right. but that’s not how it was sold to progressives who hadn’t been active in single payer battles (and so probably didn’t have the background to question it)
Since cost control is everything in any universal coverage plan, single payer has to be brought up and publicized. Ersazt plans, which do not control costs will only promote the status quo. When people hear “control costs” they should not be afraid that that means ‘reduced care’. We need to explain these issues, since most people have never realized that the actual price of services and drugs can be much cheaper if they are regulated. At any rate , we will never address costs unless single payer plans are discussed.
I’ve also found few Indiana bloggers… Maybe it is time to start a Eugene Debs memorial blog? I’ll see if I can get some liberal hoosiers interested in starting such an effort.
and this is why single payer has to be on the table – even that’s not the way the reform ends up going. we’re going to get a better plan if we can see where the wasted money is going.
It’s also more likely that we’ll at least get a good alternative to private insurance if we press for single payer. I’m worried that, even if there is an alternative plan offered by the government, it will just be private insurance administered by the government, or the constraints will be so ridiculous that the plan is worthless to most people.
Of course. As we’ve noted, this is what Rahm excels at.
Phoenix Woman is upstairs at the Silo… Getting closer.
Franken-Coleman Update, 04/08/09: The Peeps Have Spoken
Obama and Rahm are about top/down rule, not empowerment.
They can rationalize forever, but they are destrying the credibility of these organizations. That may be good, because if they fear so much for big funding approval, then they were fatally compromised already.
I wonder if this explains the blandness of the Daily Kos front page. Rahm provides the marching orders and they follow?
Thank God there are a few like you, Marcy and the people on Open Left.
There will come a time when Obama and Rahm desperately need the Left. The center/right dialogue that masquarades as politics simply will not be enough in this depression.
I recall Nader speaking of two corporate parties in 2000. While his response may not have been right, his insight appears to have been.
So the corporatist agenda is spread by the major progressive groups by order from Rahm.
Change and hope are quite ironic, aren’t they.
Exactly right, Steve.
It is so good to read comments like yours. I was at Daily Kos far too long and began to lose faith that there were progressives left who were not coopted completely by Obama hero-worship.
Yes, we support Obama when he is supporting progressive policies and oppose when he is not.
And we do not give our consciences to anyone, especially not Rahm.
Well done, Jane.
This is the Summers of our Discontent. link
And the president must be called out for such travesties.
emptywheel at the top of the front again!
America Strikes Back at Pirates … with Unions!!
I am a Chicago kid and have liked Rahm for many years and thought he would have used his talent and skills against the GOP. Hey, Rahm and Barrack – two words for you that I am sure you can understand – F*&^ Y*~ !!!!!
I hadn’t noticed that the WH even talks to liberal interest groups. They seem to prefer the ‘centrists’ that we refer to as DINOs.
The Obama administration really needs to take back the power of small that served them so well on the campaign trail. Assuming your supporters will always be such is an unrefined strategy. Blogs are the new press core and there needs to be detailed thought given to their importance.
Liberals have already been cut out of the dialogue.
This is no different than the Nazi-propaganda tactics that we accused Rove and Republicans of doing, of dividing groups and making them happy just to be left alive for a short time longer.
We have nobody to blame but ourselves for allowing Obama and Democrats to do this to us. When will we learn that voting for the lesser of two evils still gets us evil?
Ooh that is good — headline deserves a post of its own.
I may steal that.
Count me in as a wired liberal Hoosier. That is, I’ve been out of state for a few years, but I’m coming back now that I’ve bought a house there.
I honestly don’t have a feel for Indiana politics, but I’d be willing to help coordinate local blogging efforts. I’d like to see some pressure put on Bayh.