The “Movement” to Bring “Change” Shall Continue

06Dec08

This ain’t ancient Greece. We don’t live in a real democracy.

Unfortunately, Barack Obama seems intent on making his supporters think otherwise.

The United States of America just completed a grueling election. A fine fulfillment of our kind-of-democratic ideals – at least for Democrats in the primaries, where voters actually decided against the wishes of the Party.

Yet, in the wake of victory, I still get campaign-like emails from Obama’s team.

Today, John D. Podesta, the head of Obama’s transition team, tells me about the team’s unprecedented transparency. Apparently, information about the transition’s meetings will be made public: Who these actors are, the topics discussed, and any documents exchanged.

Seems hollow. They won’t actually be telling us what is discussed.

A few days ago, Podesta told me about the results of a health care policy discussion. Even future Health Care Czar Tom Daschle read through the public’s comments – over Thanksgiving weekend!

Former Senate Majority Leader Daschle, a man who has written a book about our abysmal healthcare system, needs to hear from ordinary people about how to solve this crisis?

David Plouffe, Mr. Obama’s former campaign manager, also writes me. Most recently, he has told me about the new national security team and has encouraged me to attend a neighborhood meeting in the coming week.

The purpose of this meeting is to “plan the future of this movement,” where “your ideas and feedback will be collected and used to guide this movement in the months and years ahead.”

The campaign is morphing into the transition. In late January, I’m sure, someone important in the White House will start emailing me.

Keeping us – Obama’s most enthusiastic supporters – engaged in the political process is, no doubt, a good thing. We desperately need more civic engagement in America.

But, whereas the majority of voters chose Barack Obama as the vehicle for their hopes of a better government, Obama’s communication’s team now seems intent on using us as rhetoric.

I feel like a pawn.

Our input is not really necessary to improve health care policy. Nor will they actually be taking our temperature next week, at those neighborhood meetings, in order to see which issues President Obama should tackle first. (Didn’t we just have a long-ass campaign for both?)

But it will be helpful if Obama appears to be listening to us.

It makes a nice story. One Rachel Maddow (I do love her) was more than happy to relay last night.

Barack: We elected you. The time for talk about a “movement” is over. You will be the government on Jan. 20.

Be honest and humble. Good ideas and smart strategy, of course, would be nice, too.

However, telling your supporters that they’ll be guiding your presidency is disingenuous. And all this talk of transparency is condescending. Both are tools designed to score political points.

Be a real leader.

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Tags: Obama, transition team, John Podesta, David Plouffe, condescending, Rachel Maddow, transparency, pawn