The Blogosphere's Role in the 2008 Presidential Race

by Mike Lux [courtesy of Open Left - Front Page]

I've been thinking about how this primary campaign has gone, and one thing I feel good about is that I have come out of it feeling a lot more confident in the Obama campaign team than I ever did with the Gore or Kerry campaigns. Although there were certainly a number of good individual operatives in those campaigns, I never saw anything that gave me confidence that the campaign teams as a whole had really jelled into an effective fighting force for the general election. This year has been different, as the Obama campaign took an underdog candidate that had never been involved in a national campaign, and beat the supremely experienced Clinton team and name brand. Along the way they stumbled a few times- the overconfidence that cost them New Hampshire, being out-organized in Nevada, getting defensive and a little whiny at times over the last couple of months- but each time, they have picked themselves up and  re-focused. They deserve a lot of credit.

Now the question is how they fare in what will be a tough general election fight. The McCain team is going to proclaim to all the world that they are taking the high road, while all the while quietly encouraging the worst kind of nasty vicious, racist ugliness, by all their friends outside of the campaign. It's in Obama's DNA to want to accept the civility that McCain is preaching publicly, but the campaign needs to be prepared to push back hard when the sleaze-meisters attack them.

This is where the blogosphere can play a very important role in this campaign. Here's what I mean:

- The blogosphere is a great early warning system, because the slimeball attacks are going to come first through the right-wing internet campaigns (such as the Muslim rumors), and then through the hate radio hosts. The progressive blogosphere will see these attacks quickly, and alert all of us- progressive activists and groups, political reporters, the Obama campaign itself- to these attacks, and can begin responding forcefully in return very quickly.

-The progressive blogosphere is great at digging up the background and histories of the sleazeballs doing the attacking, and can make sure that everyone knows why these sources lack credibility.

-The progressive blogosphere has always done a good job of holding the traditional media accountable when it gives sleazebag attacks credibility. That ability to go hard at the media that's playing along with the attackers is really important in working to keep their bias toward McCain going into overdrive.

- One final thought here: as I've noted before, the biggest thing I worry about with the Obama campaign is that their "I'm in this to change the pettiness of our politics" frame, while being very effective at times, can sometimes make them reluctant to fight back hard. I think the progressive blogosphere has an important role to play in sounding the five-alarms if Obama is being Swift Boated, and- like Kerry- is frozen in response.

The Obama campaign has been masterful in raising money, especially from the grassroots; in building a stunning grassroots army; in generating excitement and passion in millions of people never involved in politics before; and in framing the change and hope message. Where they have been less effective- responding to opposition attacks- the progressive blogosphere is well-situated to play a major role.