It was clear that Barack Obama had a money-raising machine since he threw his hat in the ring last fall. Then I read recently about his nearly 8-1 advantage in campaign staff over John McCain. Then last week, Rupert Murdoch may, or may not, have predicted an Obama landslide victory in the fall. At minimum, he called Barack “a rock star” and whatever you think of Rupert, he rarely backs losers.
In light of all this I wanted to look more deeply into Obama’s organizational but the current (June 16) issue of Time beat me to it and laid it all out in “How He Did It,” a fascinating, in-depth recounting of how he and his closest supporters built the most effective, grassroots, national political organization -- maybe ever.
They used a creative, decentralized, technology-driven, fiscally conservative, organization to overwhelm Senator Clinton’s old-fashioned, top-down, Washington-centric, throw-cash-at-it, and ultimately disorganized and non-strategic operation. It was like Google versus the US Postal Service. It’s an excellent article.
My fear is that the general campaign is going to be Google versus Bob’s Hardware Store. That’s the way it is starting out. Obama has more than twice as much cash on hand as McCain, and a far better organization to go with the ultimate advantage of having no association what-so-ever with George W. Bush.
I’m starting to wonder if maybe old Rupert may be on to something.
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6 comments:
If you want an effective president to guide us through these changing times, perhaps organizational skills are as good a litmus test as any other. No bluster, just the facts ma'am.
As long as noboy utters the magic words, "it's ours to lose", Obama has a good chance. I've involved in more than a dozen campaigns and in every one where those words are said, they lose.
Hankster -- i thought you'd like that softball lob. i too would like to have a government that can make the trains run on time, but i don't want one that wants to make it their job to run everything in my life - even if they are able to do it better than i do.
Well call me crazy, but I'll take competence, efficient organization and the hiring of highly-qualified
staffers over the modus operandi we've lived with these past 7+ years!
And if the GOP (and Independents) believe in John McCain -- they can pony up some real cash and level the playing field.
I have nothing to say. Yes a leader with organizational ability and charisma (not to mention elegant) will serve us better than what we've had these seven/15 years. What is the matter with that. I spent the weekend with two men (alas, gay) in RI and they kept taunting me with 'hope, hope - what's that, what's that going to get you , what's he going to do for us". What's the matter with all of the above AND hope. I, for one, choose to remain 'hopeful'. Seriously, how much worse can it get.
Good organization and a lot of money means Obama truly can compete in most if not all the states. He will siphon off scarce Republican resources that will be forced to shore up now leaning McCain states that can possibly flip to Obama. It'll be a very different electoral college map than we've seen in the past.
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