Obama supporters please help: My mom posted her first diary on Kos

I hope this does not sound lame, but my mom posted her very first diary on Kos, and she is really nervous about it. She had some good advice for Obama but because she is new some people think she is a concern troll instead of a genuine supporter. I can vouch that she went out knocking on doors for Obama in Philly despite the fact that she was still recovering from a broken foot. She's a very committed Obama supporter and she woke up at 5:30 this morning worrying about Clinton's efforts to delegitimize him, so she wrote a post about it for Kos. I was hoping some of my friends here could read her diary and rec it if you agree with her:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/26/74427/7107/847/522926

It worked for me...strange. The name of the diary is Senator Obama: Don't Make the Same Mistake as Clinton. Her username is NJ Boomer.

Although she says she already spends too much time on Kos. And DU can be addictive!

all in one fell swope. He's trying to win the GE for the Democrats and for this country, at the same time trying to respect the few remaining states left and respecting Clinton's campaign. McCain is getting a free ride from this Democratic debacle. Puerto Rico, in my opinion, is a lost cause.. and doesn't count in the GE for anything... so, I wouldn't spend too much time there other than what he did. He's got South Dakota and Montana to go. I'm sure he'll pass through, but he also needs to head off the Republican attack too.

As to the Florida and Michigan thing, I think he's staying out of it because anything he says will be the wrong thing. If he says they don't count, there goes the election and money from the states for this fall. If he says count them towards Clinton, then he looks like he's giving into her and doesn't look like the stronger leader.. Its much better for him to use surrogates and say, the DNC will decide.. they meet this week. I think most of the SD that are left are waiting for the meeting as well. He has been put in a bad position by one of our own. Most other candidates would have suspened back in Feb. Clinton has her own agenda, rules and ego. I personally think she's convinced herself that she is the only way and the only hope for this country. I hope my ego and my abject outlook to reality never becomes as far strewn as this woman's.

And I wrote a post agreeing with her.

She's getting some supportive feedback.

You must be so proud of each other!

hug her and encourage her. she is gold. I will go read it and leave a message.

cannot be underestimated.

People talk to, listen to, and react to one another. Even if a candidate doesn't win a state, it makes a BIG impression on people that inspite of the fact that there wasn't that much in it for the candidate to come there, s/he cam there anyway, because s/he feels THEY ARE IMPORTANT. Most pols can't understand how much that means to people, even those who are going to vote for the other candidate. It can change the WHOLE valence of a state.

I think your mother is absolutely right. I will comment once my registration is approved.

Tell her to try Huffpo.

There are very few places for Clinton supporters to post.

wondering how that works . . . .

Dailykos went on a bender and locked out any poster who made a comment in support of Clinton. They've lost a huge number of members. Silly kids, they'll learn.

Generally it has to do with mod policies that allow one candidate's supporters free rein while blocking comments by those of the opposing candidate.

I wonder if there is some way for the community to vet them together.

"Obama forums" = places where rational people post

"Clinton forums" = where the unhinged gather.



But that's just my observation.

I don't get what your criticism is.

around to other blogs where she still "has a chance".

would it have killed you simply to have said a nice thing to the daughter or left the thread without comment?

For pointing out Obama's flaws or having the audacity to back a different candidate.

Just a few suspicious comments...most people have been very nice and welcoming to her.

"malevolence"posted by hillary enablers?

The hallmark of the way Obama promises to govern is to listen to the people. So NJBoomer is behaving exactly as she should.

Let's not assume that because Obama's campaign has been brilliant so far, there aren't any serious challenges left to overcome. If Obama weren't interested in eliciting feedback about what he's doing right or wrong, he wouldn't have established such strong social networks for his supporters to participate in the conversation.

We must also take care not to emulate Republicans who just fall in line because their "supreme leader" says so. The Democratic party is supposed to welcome diverse voices, not just those who already concur with the party line.

And I totally agree with you, btw. It drives me crazy how some people get upset every time someone posts constructive criticism...that that somehow is "concern trolling". As you said, the Obama campaign probably welcomes the feedback. I think my mom sent it as an e-mail to the campaign as well.

Most of the responders have been nice to my mom, but a few have accused her of being a troll, probably because she is new. I have a low user id because I signed up 4 years ago, even though I only started posting diaries recently. So when I vouched for her people seemed to respond.

It's a good diary. Bet you're proud of her.

;-)

She can be pretty shy, and she was really nervous about posting this. I'm glad most of the feedback she has gotten has been positive...people were suspicious at first but I think they realized she's not a concern troll. I vouched for her that she was canvassing for Obama with a broken foot in Philly, and I think that shut some people up.

made a response there.

If you ever have something you want me to rec let me know.

I would love to hear/read your mother's experience in canvassing.

Im a baby boomer too and Obama inspired me such that I went canvassing
on sides of town I had never seen. I enjoyed every minute.

But I didn't have a broken foot, like your Mom did.

(My feet felt broken after a few hours, I'm not in the shape some of
these younger folks are in!)

She met a 90-year-old African American woman in South Philly with a broken hip who wasn't going to be able to vote, but my mom drove her to the polling place so she was able to vote for Obama. She also talked to someone who had just voted for Clinton, but she thinks she convinced him that he should have voted for Obama. Not sure why she spent the time, but she was aggravated by his rationale, and maybe he has family members who hadn't voted yet.

I've written about a few of my canvassing experiences too on Kos and on my blog, http://www.purplestatepundit.com/blog">Purple State Pundit. I'm not a boomer though.

Thanks for recommending my mom's diary, and for canvassing. What's your username on Kos?

My mom spent days there working the front desk and the phone bank. They probably met. We probably met.

But they sent us to a different staging location in South Philly.

That's where we did the GOTV opps for S.Philly west of Broad street.

Just heared from Joe. He's back in town.

I couldn't remember the name of the street, but Winton sounds right.

I've never posted on dailykos, so feel free to show your mom this entry, as I think that it is honest criticism that might be in the minds of other people. I'll just analyze her most recent journal entry.

Your mom wrote, "Even though Clinton's popular vote argument seems ridiculous to me and many others, it seems to be gaining traction and a degree of legitimacy in the mainstream press."

Poor logic. Is the mainstream press voting at the Convention? Of course not. The fact remains that even after the WV victory, Senatory Byrd came out for Obama. If Hillary can't win over Byrd, how strong is her argument to the superdelegates? Your mom is allowing herself to be lulled into a sense of fear by the media. The Obama camp is talking to the undeclared superdelegates (who may just be undeclared instead of undecided, like your mom assumes). I GUARANTEE that if 80% of the undecided supers had told Obama that he needed to make some headway in WV and KY, he would have been there in a heartbeat campaigning nonstop. The fact that he didn't campaign there suggests to me that his conversation with the undecided supers didn't revolve around WV and KY. Why was the Edwards endorsement in Michigan? Obviously for the supers. Some of them obviously mentioned Michigan and therefore he went to MI to do some campaigning there. Why was his pledged delegate majority speech in Iowa? For the supers. Telling them that Iowa will be in play and he plans to win IA this election.

Your mom wrote, "the blowout losses were an embarrassment that gave the Clinton campaign justification for staying in the race"

Sure Obama could have campaigned there night and day for the measly 1 week before those primaries. Perhaps cut the WV loss from 41 points down to 30 points at best. Do you really think that Hillary would have acted differently if it was just a big blowout instead of a slightly bigger blowout? Do you think Hillary would have gotten out of the race had she only won WV by 25 or 30 points? She didn't get out after 12 straight losses you know. She hasn't gotten out now that she's lost the pledged delegate majority. If he had campaigned there nonstop, she would have claimed an even bigger victory, saying that the voters had seen him up close and personal and rejected him. That's what she said after her 'landslide' 9 point victory in PA. Also, he would have increased the voter turnout if he had campaigned there more, which may have proved counterproductive. Finally, he doesn't follow Hillary's philosophy of spending money like a drunken sailor. Why invest the money right now there when he could invest it elsewhere, in states that will be favored by the undecided supers looking to support Obama.

Overall, your mom seems to follow the philosophy that Obama needs to ignore the general election and only focus on the primary election. My response is simple: undeclared is not the same as undecided. It's clear to me that Obama is confident that he has the support of enough superdelegates to begin his general election strategy. He will get some more add-on delegates to put him closer to the nomination. These are technically considered undeclared, but he won so many states that he will be getting a lot of them. Also, there are many supers who have already made their decision but are just letting the 50-state strategy play itself out. Your mom needs to realize that Obama does talk with these supers. He knows who they are and how many support him but will come out later after the primary season is over. The desperation by the Clinton campaign suggests that she has lost this race, but that she is trying to negotiate for something, anything, to help her after the race is officially over.

Tell your mom to keep up the good fight. Obama volunteers are always important in getting out the vote and spreading his message of hope, unity, and change. Hopefully your mom will not let a couple of suspicious comments on her journal page discourage her. :patriot:

Constructive criticism is an cornerstone of people powered politics. The decision not to go all out in KY and TN was a catch 22. The Obama campaign needed to focus on the GE concidering the math, but I agree that the outcome of that decision did arm the Clinton campaign with a false argument to shout from the rooftops. This lesson must be kept and concidered. Learn and grow, or stagnate and perish.

Don't loose you edge, and keep up the hard work. We are our candidate's best weapons.

Rec'd and tipped for a fellow "Philly for Obama" teammate!

Edit: Not TN. I meant WV, but the fall out did hurt in TN.