August 25, 2003
Not a Campaign, A Movement
[Update: In case it was unclear, the following is a transcript of me asking Ms. Franke-Ruta questions. The articulate answers are her words, not mine.]
I have a lot to say about the Seattle rally, which was truly amazing, but it literally feels like I've fit about a week into the last two days. So I'll leave the floor to an interview held right after this evening's event, with the very coherent Garance Franke-Ruta of The American Prospect:
Q: What are your impressions of the campaign so far?
A: My sense of where the campaign is right now, I was just talking to Joe Trippi the campaign manager, and he says he's totally blown away. He's never seen anything like this in his career in politics dating back [...] nearly 20 years.
My take on it as somebody who sort of understands left politics is that it's because he's not running a campaign, he's running a movement. These are protest size crowds, these are not politics size crowds, and that's the critical difference. And people who are thinking about this on the dynamics of political organizing, I think, are missing what's happening. Which is that this whole thing is happening on the dynamics of a protest movement. [A] protest movement that [...] has a much longer and slower trajectory.
And that's what it means to really run something grassroots. A lot of people astroturf it. They say they're running grassroots things, they create the illusion of grassroots. But I think there's a real groundswell in this country for change, and those are the people who are supporting Howard Dean.
And I mean that literally, supporting him. Without them, I don't think he would have gotten where he is without that anger that's there already. And he's [...] obviously very adept, and very good at responding to people and listening to them. Giving them a reply to what it is that they're saying. [...] He sounds like someone who hears them.
I think it's because he's been campaigning longer than anyone else. And he had a good 6 months head start on everyone, going around the country listening to people. There's a lot of candidates that spent the first half of the year fundraising, instead of listening to people. And I think their campaigns showed that.
Q: What are the issues you think Americans are most concerned about right now?
A: Well, obviously the situation in Iraq is terrifying to most people. Where we're there, [and] we can't leave. Clark has said it, no matter what you thought about getting in there, we're there now. And Dean has said [that] failure is not an option. I agree with that. If we fail there, [we're making trouble] for ourselves for 25 years.
We've got to fix that situation. I don't know that the current administration has the wherewithal, or the philosophy, or the dexterity and flexibility to respond to events there on the ground in a way to [...] not let that situation get so out of control. [So that] we're dealing with it in a really horrible way for decades, or at least for years.
That's one issue, but people [are also] concerned about the economy. About rising unemployment. Some people are concerned about healthcare, and I think people want healthcare, and they like hearing somebody talk about it. But you don't get these crowds for healthcare. ...
Note: Transcript from tape.
Posted by natasha at August 25, 2003 01:58 AM | TrackBackComments
Natasha,
Thanks for a great post, and thank you for volunteering to be the official Seattle Blogger for Dean during the Tour.
I have to agree, that this is becoming a movement that will have legs. I am trying to recruit friends and family members, and they are looking at me and asking... why this early? I explain and they get it, so far my sister has signed up for a Meet-up and she was blown away. Group Therapy for pissed off Democrats means taking proactive control of the situation.
What I am most excited about is that Dean and us are poised for a massive realignment in 2004 because we can drop 100,000 volunteers on a Senate race come August 2004 if need be for a weekend. That is incredibly amazing and scary in a good way.
Fester
Posted by: fester on August 25, 2003 08:45 AMFester sez:
What I am most excited about is that Dean and us are poised for a massive realignment in 2004 because we can drop 100,000 volunteers on a Senate race come August 2004 if need be for a weekend. That is incredibly amazing and scary in a good way.
I hope this is true, because I believe it's the key tactical issue for the Dean campaign in general. Can the immense "virtual" support network, based very strongly on the internet, be translated into traditional shoe-leather political action? No matter how wide the network, when all is said and done the nomination and the election can only be won using the old-fashioned "retail" methods.
Frankly, I don't think the vast majority of Dean supporters really understand that, and I'm not sure that Trippi et al. will be able to pull off enough of an educational program to get that job done. Whether it's getting people to volunteer to distribute literature, register voters, join the local party organization, become a PCO (Precinct Committee Officer ... that's the Washington state terminology), we'll need people who understand their own state's political processes well enough to secure convention delegates, and who understand the national campaign process (at the local level) to mobilize "real" support amongst the thousands and thousands of "virtual" supporters we've already generated.
Posted by: N in Seattle on August 25, 2003 11:21 AM"Group Therapy for pissed off Democrats means taking proactive control of the situation."
YES!!!! When my very darling SO picked me up last night (and I will tell you, I've never been so happy to have someone waiting to pick me up, yeesh, my poor feet), he said on the way back that Americans have finished the silent phase. It was his impression that many people who were unhappy with the way they were treated fell into sort of a silent regroup/evaluate mode, but that their anger has built and it isn't going away.
Someone asked me at the rally if I thought this was sustainable. And it occurred to me at the time that all that's necessary for it to be sustainable is for George Bush to keep being himself.
Posted by: natasha on August 25, 2003 12:46 PMI just surfed around and found your site, I really enjoyed the visit and hope to come back soon. Greetings,