This is an interesting explanation of what’s gone on with the stimulus debate:
The outcome is not surprising. Obama had roughly 90 people working at his headquarters on Internet outreach and new technology projects, observes Joe Trippi, a Democratic operative who broke new ground on modern campaigning during Howard Dean’s 2004 Democratic primary bid.
Even with closet-size spaces, the White House can accommodate only about 200 or so people for jobs ranging from national security to health care reform to Internet guru.
The Obama team “built this incredible campaign and now they have these ridiculously primitive tools. The communication tools they mastered don’t exist in the White House. It’s like they are in a cave,” said Trippi.
“Then there are the masters of the Stone Age, and they are doing a good job,” he added.
Certainly, the Republican attack tools here have been crude and old-fashioned — go on talk shows and lie, get the wingnut radio to rant about pork, etc. And, I think to some extent, the media has gone a long with it all because they’re comfortable with this, having come of age in a post-Nixonian political environment dominated by bogus culture wars and mind-numbingly stupid right-wing agitprop. I can imagine Richard Cohen writing column title “Luddites 1, hopey internet gurus 0” or something like that.
But the whole idea that firing up the old wingnut distortion machine still constitutes a useful political strategy is dubious at best. It seems to me that most media assumptions made about politics stem from what I call the Chris Matthews cranky uncle theory of politics, whereby elections are decided by people like Chris Matthews’ angry uncle, who likes Republicans for “cultural reasons” and because he hates “government waste”, but who also may vote Democrat because he thinks they might dole out more money to him when he becomes unemployed and maybe because he used to be in a union.
But McCain won the cranky white bastard demographic handily last time and still got shellacked. Obama won two-thirds of the under 30 vote and two-thirds of the Latino vote. If that keeps happening — and there’s no reason to think it won’t — Republicans will keep losing elections badly. There just aren’t enough cranky white bastards anymore.
Is there anything about the Republican strategy on the stimulus that will help them expand beyond the cranky white bastard demo? I’m not sure. And, no, Twittering their crazy neo-Hooverist rantings isn’t going to change anything.
Speaking of cranky white bastards, Broder is doing a Q&A at noon.
matt
Not sure how that explains why there aren’t any Democrats on my teevee making the pro-stimulus argument.
As for your second point, I think you’re right on. The Angry White Guy vote wasn’t big enough to deliver this election, and I don’t think anyone (including Republicans) are arguing that it’s a growing constituency, so who knows what Republicans are thinking.
jon
The Republicans just don’t do long-term strategy. It really is no longer part of their plans. They might look deep into the next fiscal quarter, but that’s about it.
Look at them: the Wurlitzer Joe Talk Organ is a consultant, Rush Limbaugh is providing painkillers and talking points, Sarah Palin is still the Next Big Thing, and their party is led by a man who hallucinates Oreo cookies. That we expect policy proposals from those people only suggests that our expectations are that they are a serious political party. And we’re very mistaken.
matt
Also, this. Obama, as he’s shown over the last two years, knows what he’s doing. I think his ability to mock the GOP, without coming off as a jerk, is probably his most underrated political talent.
Conservatively Liberal
I have no problem understanding that when it comes to stone age approaches to problems, the GOP has a lock on them. If there are really any cavemen left in the world then you can bet they feel right at home in the GOP.
The ‘Party’ is over, it wasn’t ‘Grand’ but it sure got ‘Old’ fast. Now we have the new and improved Rushublicans to save the day. Nobody, but nobody, can carry water like a Rushublican!
Same cavemen, different cave.
mistermix
I think the crappiness of the White House IT infrastructure versus the Obama campaign’s previous IT is an important factor, but the most critical impact is communications between the team, not communications from the team to Obama supporters. WH and government IT is about 5-10 years behind what any of us can put together for ourselves with Google, Twitter/Facebook/Linkedin/etc, a modern laptop and a smartphone.
That all said, the under-30 demographic still reads a newspaper online, and also can go to YouTube and watch Obama’s weekly address. They’re not watching Morning Joe, that’s for sure.
JL
Krugman is suppose to be on Morning Joe. Because I am hoping Krugman will call Joe an ass, I’m sitting here torturing myself listening to Joe, Pat and Mika. When Mika read Krauthammer, I had to have a breakfast of tums.
Nicole
JL- Has Krugman been on yet? I turned on Morning Joe after reading your email ( around 7:30 EST) but I’m not sure how much more I can take. If I’ve already missed him I’d rather stop punching myself in the face.
J Royce
And, I think to some extent, the media has gone a long with it all because they’re comfortable with this, having come of age in a post-Nixonian political environment dominated by bogus culture wars and mind-numbingly stupid right-wing agitprop.
It is simply amazing the degree to which Corporate Media’s puppet strings are invisible to people. The most pretzel-like gymnastics are made to excuse what is quite evident, and proven in our world. The Corporate media is the SOURCE for the "bogus culture wars and mind-numbingly stupid right-wing agitprop."
The facts of the matter are that the Conservative Right represents wealth and uses the corporate construct to concentrate power and organize among the most wealthy and their ambitious lackeys. The Right is about hierarchy and kings and you being a peasant, they have the shtick well down and use modern tools to effect their agenda. Mass media is their new sheepskin, as was demonstrated quite effectively in the 1920’s. Propaganda flat out works.
But still we indulge in endless excuses to make ourselves feel like we live in the old world of commonwealth and a free press. Maybe a kid that grows up talking to puppets would never see the strings either.
The media ain’t clueless, or lazy, or stupid. It’s fascist, or corporatist if you prefer. Sorry that sucks, and it does, but not seeing the truth is how they win.
Talking about this is useless, it seems. I recognize the teflon coating of teh stupid, no offense to those coated in it. It’s the same dynamic I’ve felt trying to get people I care about to quit sucking down sodas and candy all day and eat a vegetable once in a while: ain’t gonna happen. They can’t see it, or won’t. Now almost all of them have diabetes, I am not kidding, and they STILL will not get with the program–always with the little chocolate and cookie stashes and loads of "sugar-free" crap but never a coming to terms with the reality.
Mr. Cole’s attempt (the media has gone along with it all because they’re comfortable with this, having come of age in a post-Nixonian political environment) is an impressive triple back flip gainer. Points for difficulty but not as elegant as the Media-is-Clueless simple forward pike, but much better than the Media-is-Liberal(tm) swan dive. It’s still ignoring the reality, though.
Turn away.
wilfred
.
Critical thinking, please. People can’t work home? Or how about the campaign offices being re-leased to run this incredibly sophisticated things they had during the campaign?
Or maybe they can remodel and re-equip the White House offices, an admittedly immense project that might take as long as building the Temple of Karnak.
E-mail and Blackberries, not fucking Cray computers.
JL
@Nicole: I’m beginning to think that the whole Krugman appearance was a set-up, in order to boost ratings. I’ll keep watching and give you a heads up if he comes on. The crew of morning Joe are very sick people.
kommrade reproductive vigor
Tsk John. Are you suggesting people of all hues won’t flock to the GOP now that Michael "Democrat for a Day" Steele is head of the RNC?
Laura W
@JL: He was on CNN earlier. About to come on MSNBC
@J Royce and KRV: This is DougJ’s post.
JL
@Laura W: You mean I have been sitting here since seven watching this crap, while he was on another channel. EEEEEEK
He’s on may he call Joe Superfilious,.
Montysano
@J Royce:
All in all, a great comment. As our host said the other day:
Never mind that he said "goat", he gets it, as does J Royce. I just wish I had a clue what to do about it. Is there anything that can be done? Can the media beast be starved and killed? I fell into a wine-guzzling despair last night after Tweety let Lindsey Graham yammer on about tax cuts and fiscal responsibility, with nary a Dem to respond.
I guess I’ll start working on that mountain land and the generator. I’m married, so the goat can wait.
Laura W
@JL:
"Mythical image" is damn close!
mistermix
@wilfred:
If by "work at home" you mean "use their personal email" the answer is no. They have to run everything through the antiquated WH email system because of record retention laws.
Also, using campaign email to dodge retention requirements is something Rove et. al. did, and it would not play well (and might even be illegal) for Obama’s crew to do it.
As for blackberries, if the staffer is going to touch anything secure, blackberry is out. It has to be a secure windows mobile PDA that costs 5X what a blackberry does. (All blackberry traffic is encrypted, but it’s routed through Canada, believe it or not.)
Montysano
Speaking of goats, I made the unfortunate decision to click over to Myiq’s charming Casa del Cabra last night. He has a post about vagina dentata (yeah, I had to look it up too), complete with two videos. Very creepy.
JL
@Laura W: I like the smack down of Pat. Poor Pat wasn’t allowed to interrupt. Mika was not to thrilled when he told her that she was taking a cheap shot. After the commercial, Joe will explain that he knows best and why Krugman is wrong.
Nicole
Well, that was a satisfying segment (Krugman on Morning Dregs). Though, did anyone else catch Scarborough’s slip when he said that Krugman, in his op-ed piece yesterday, said Democrats were out to destroy the country, when Krugman had questioned whether Republicans aimed to drive us off a cliff? Ah, Joey; you just can’t help yourself.
Ash Can
Sic him!
ChrisB
Thank you. They should be called the party of Herbert Hoover every time they spout their obstructionist bullshit. Tag them with it.
Oh, and I saw the comments here about Krugman being on Morning Joe, a show I have thankfully avoided since realizing that nothing he says matters and that it’s not healthy for me to wake up to an asshole and a birdbrain every morning, and tuned in just in time to see Scarborough and Pat Buchanan sitting down with Chris Matthews to praise a column by David Brooks. I’d rather watch the employment numbers come in worse than expected.
JL
Time to turn off MSNBC, Joe and Chris are pretending that they know what they are talking about.
Nicole
@JL: I loved all those moments you mentioned, too. I also especially loved the end, when Mika et al were asking Krugman to come to the studio sometime and he very politely said something to the effect of "We’ll see," while his expression very clearly said, "I’d rather stick needles in my eyes."
kommrade reproductive vigor
You could start by cutting your cable or satellite and making sure the provider knows why (this means a letter to HQ, the service rep could give a fuck). Encourage your nearest and dearest to do the same. For extra shits n’ giggles inform other networks that thanks to CNN or whatever, you’re not watching them (and the commercials they broadcast) either.
El Cid
But the major news media only cares about what the cranky right wing bastard demographic thinks.
They’re the only other legitimate constituency, beside the super-ultra rich and the warhawk constituency.
Everyone other than these 3 constituencies are considered "charity" and "diversity" optional human interest coverage by the major news producers.
Conservatively Liberal
Shhhh! I like to watch people dive without looking first. ;)
@Montysano:
Probably explains his preference for goats and fear of females, especially female dentists.
Laura W
@Conservatively Liberal: Bylines is hard. ;-)
JL
@Nicole: Krugman is so bright, I do hope that Obama heeds his advice. IMO, he’s kinda sexy too. Laura can have Lawrence O’Donnell!
Nicole
@JL: I have a bit of a Krugman crush, too. I likes me the smart guys.
Laura W
@JL:
Who?
JL
@Laura W: Whoops! What was the guys name. (dark hair, writes at Huffington)
Ash Can
OT here, but especially in light of all the recent sturm und drang, you all might enjoy this little treat: Twelve of Fred Phelps’ criminals protest high school, THREE HUNDRED students tell them where to go. Yes, it links to a GOS article. But there’s no shrieking there, no hair-pulling or hair-flaming, just a plain old feel-good story. And bear in mind that these young people are a snapshot of the future.
Laura W
@JL: It was a joke about L O’D (ie, who?).
Besides, I don’t want to soil Doug’s good post further with my school girl crushes.
ChrisB
CNBC is the station of Larry Kudlow and is often as much of a bubble of right wing extremism (economic, not social) as Fox News. But if you want to hear an intelligent discussion of the economic crisis you should go to cnbc.com later today and catch the interview of Mohammed el-Erian that was on CNBC’s Squawk Box at about 8:40 a.m. EST when it’s posted on the website.
El-Erian is one of the directors of PIMCO, the huge bond fund. I thought he was right on with his analysis.
kommrade reproductive vigor
Thanks. Funny, I can tell John from Tim F. (and Michael D.) at a glance, but Doug & John read similarly to me. Any way:
Better?
TheHatOnMyCat
Broder farts, and we line up to sniff it?
Good catch, Doug.
garyb50
I’m pretty sure Chris Mathews ate Lindsey Graham’s scrotum last night on Hardball.
Will
We expect a full report, DougJ
Will
Krugman can suck it. He devotes every week to paying the Obamas back for defeating his candidate Hillary. And when Obama invited that handful of left-of-center columnists together to chat, Krugman was the only one to stand him up.
And he wonders why no in the White House listens to his advice now?
Tsulagi
Sessions is sure. No longer just cranky white bastards, they’re now the American Taliban Strike Force. They’re a ninja force like that. Can’t wait to see their patch design.
windshouter
The original quote understates the size of the President’s staff by at least an order of magnitude by imagining that only the west wing of the White House counts. Of course, there’s a large building next door to the White House that also holds staff and democratic leaning individuals in Congress, most of whom have staff and access to email. As noted earlier in comments, there’s the remnants of the campaign and the DNC which can provide a messaging infrastructure.
While this may not be as advanced an infrastructure as say the campaign had, the failures in messaging in the stimulus is not because the administration used telegrams to get it’s message out, but because a decision way made not to engage in much messaging on the issue at all. This could be a brillant strategy (did you really get 34 Republicans to agree Hoover did TOO MUCH to fight the depression?) or a mistake, but it is/was a deliberate tactic.
Zuzu's Petals
I see Lou Dobbs (surprise) is totally willing to breathe new life into the whole $4 billion-to-ACORN lie.
Rome Again
@Conservatively Liberal:
I’m stealing that. ;)
DonkeyKong
Speaking of cranky white bastards, Broder is doing a Q&A at noon.
Oh yeah! Right turn Clyde!
scarshapedstar
It sounds kinda like expanding and modernizing the White House ought to be item #1 in the Stimulus to Nowhere.
@garyb50:
Honestly, given Chris’s tendency to speak dreamily of other dudes’ "manly characteristics", I’m not sure what you mean when you say he eats bag.
garyb50
Well, it was more than just licking so that’s all I could think of.
sfHeath
As Fester said, the Republican political hope is that President Obama and the Democrats own the Assistance and the Recovery Act AND THAT THE ACT FAILS. They can then make voters forget that the recession was caused by them in the first place and get re-elected in 2010.
The fate of the nation hangs in the balance and they want to sabotage the rescue effort. Never in eight years did anyone on the left wish for defeat in Iraq, but the entire Republican party now openly wants Obama to fail. Disgusting.
Rome Again
I have to disagree with this theory of yours Doug.
TZ is a cranky white bastard if there ever was one (more than you’ll ever know, actually) and he is a #1 fan of Obama.
;)
scarshapedstar
@garyb50:
Just checking. I couldn’t quite envision Tweety castrating that twit on-air, although castration may technically be redundant.