Turning the Campaign Upside Down

No one I've talked to is going to change their vote because of Obama's failure on FISA, but plenty of people are plenty ticked off, because reversal of the Bush Administration's Constitutional violations are critical to creating change through this election. Obama's chosen to shed a lot of grassroots support in exchange for a classic top-down, centrist campaign.

Bob Ostertag discusses the current Obama vs. the netroots flap, and pretty much nails it right on the head.

I will vote for Obama of course. I will continue to urge everyone I know to vote for him. But my money and time, paltry though they may be, will likely get redirected to candidates who are willing to stand up for issues I care about. And because of the Internet, I know that there are a lot of other Obama supporters in the same boat; a lot of people considering cutting off their string of small donations to the campaign.

All of this is coming at a time in which Obama's schedule is filled with big-money fundraisers where people can buy face time with the man for $30k. Put all these things together, and one cannot help but wonder if there is a turning point, that from here on out the campaign is will be less of a grassroots affair. This is not the death knell of the campaign. Far from it. I think Obama can do very well against McCain with a traditional, top down, big money campaign. I think he will be sworn in as our next president in January. But it will be a different campaign than what it has`been until now. As one commenter to my blog so aptly said, "Senator Obama, you can tap my phone or my wallet, but not both."

I'm less optimistic than Bob is about his prospects going forward. Look how well that's done for his opponents so far if you want to see how well it'll work for him.