Obama's Headquarters: Substance and Organization

Yesterday I went to some meetings in the Chicago Headquarters of the national Obama for President campaign. For nearly three decades I have visited the national headquarters of almost every Democratic candidate for president. And they have all been alike. Until yesterday.

The usual headquarters is clutter, organized chaos, self important people screaming, "Where is the fuck are the latest stats from the Gallup Poll?", people gathered in meetings that they are afraid to be left out of and managers closed-off from the rest of the campaign. You had a good chance in the last couple of campaigns to see someone like James Carville roaming through the headquarters dispensing wisdom and amusing the troops.

That is not what I found yesterday at the Obama Headquarters. Upon entering, you are greeted by the usual friendly and kind receptionist but as you pass beyond into "Obama Land" you enter a massive space with every inch taken up with worker bees and computers. The high tech component of this campaign can not be stressed enough -- volunteers staffing a room full of computers for their highly sophisticated call center. As far as I can tell, there are no large individual manager offices with quite efficient secretaries outside screening people from getting in. No gathering in the narrow aisles of the office attempting to see if some body got something better. People seem to get what they need on their very own. Everyone knows his or her assignments and they were just getting the job done.

I was awestruck. Deputy Campaign Manager Steve Hildebrand shares an office with at least four others -- although it was hard to be sure. When introduced to people you get a friendly greeting but underlining it all was an urgency to get back to work to elect their man to the presidency. Many are volunteers, many are living in jammed packed apartments hoping the landlord won't know how many are sharing and all of them are young and passionately committed to the cause. They believe in America and have adapted the tools of democracy to the high-tech brave new world.

Clearly a new age has arrived in American politics.

The sad part of this amazing dedicated and passionate group of individuals is that many in the press and others, mostly in the beltway, have taken this as a sign that the campaign is all rallies, organization and no substance. When I hear this my first reaction is shock. No substance? The man who has nuanced, detailed plans for change running against a man who doesn't know that Czechoslovakia hasn't been a country for over a decade? A candidate who reads books and meets with some of the best minds in the country against one that simplistically made Phil Gramm his top economic advisor in a time of economic crisis? A candidate that understands the technology revolution and its implications for rebuilding America running against one that has never operated a computer? Give me a break!

Being baffled didn't last long, since I have seen this before. When John Kennedy ran in 1960 all the Adlai Stevenson people could say was that the spoke beautifully but was a lazy senator and had no substance. Nixon people used to hang signs were ever Kennedy spoke saying "Action not Words." Kennedy was about a totally new era in American politics and the establishment didn't understand it, didn't feel apart of it and couldn't embrace it. Today, the beltway crowd knows the old politics of John McCain, they are comfortable with his bumbling around. They are hesitant to reach deep inside of themselves and understand something totally new.

Change is never easy. Those in power in either party have difficulties giving in to new ways and new times. Obama is an intelligent, substantive man surrounded by the best and the brightest who represent all that is best about America. We shouldn't expect the establishment in Washington or the media to embrace it. They simply will go for the comfort zone instead of reaching for a newer world.

www.davidmixner.com

Comments

[GrainOSand]

Still more confirmation of that already confirmed

[Jezreel]

Thank you Mr. Mixner. This article is sorely needed on a day like today when so many in the media are spewing out McCain camp talking points.

[JohnnyBoyyy]

MMMMM this gives me a warm and cozy feeling knowing our MAN Obama is such a driving force in his own campaign! We have a chance to change history AND WE MUST!

All we have to do is support him with our donations and spread the word. If you haven't been to tha Obama site go there now AND GET INVOLVED!

http://www.barackobama.com/index.php

[trevor01]

The Obama operation you describe is about as profoundly disturbing as one I would imagine in my worst nightmare. You mean there are not any self serving people in Obama's orbit? No diletantes, no obnoxious or pushy characters? Now that is change! But it isn't change I can believe in since it so clearly contradicts common sense.

[ebanks84]

Wonderful article. I am not surprised that BO is so organized and well informed. He is quite an intelligent man and that is why the opponent campaign is so behind in logic and credibility. Their only defense now is at critical mass....let's fight as dirty as we know how. If we throw enough crap, maybe some will stick.

R o v e/S c h m i d t are as poisonous as snake venom and are doing all they can to pour it on BO to throw him off point. However, BO knows their usual washington dirty games and know what to expect.

BO has the greatest advisers of any candidate ever. His campaign has been the best running campaign than any campaign ever. His knowledge of domestic and world events makes him the most intelligent candidate we've ever had in the history of our country. All his qualities are so hated by the opponents that they are making terrible mistakes trying to affect him in any way possible.

Now the opponents want Americans to believe BO is ARROGANT. Only a black candidate can be called arrogant. And that is because all other presidents who were articulate and well endowed with world events were PRESIDENTIAL. But because BO is a black man with all those elements, he must be ARROGANT. Black men are not supposed to be confident and show it. They are supposed to be humble and yield to the white masters of deceit.

[MyAudacity]

This is not the first time I've heard this, and it makes you wonder why the Media don't try to look behind the scenes as to who Barack Obama really is, rather than feed the masses the lies of John McCain. Could it be, they resist the truth, because it's so much easier and profitable to promote lies?

[demfriend]

Fear of change is what motivates people to go toward the one who like Hllary stuck somewhere last election round. But McCain is not stuck so recently but back somewhere in the 60's and 70's where the stumbles and the jokes got laughes because that was the humor back then. Now when I see what McCain is doing it makes me ill to think so many people who fear change and will hold on until someone pries their fingers off the ledge and they find they were only a foot from the floor and not three stories up like the no-change candidate had told them. McCain is pushing the buttons of the fears these people hold onto and I wish that somehow they could see the lies and manipulation and know they are not three stories up but can easliy let go and vote for someone who will actually improve their lot in life. But as we have all learned from the last election when fear generated enough votes to keep bush 2 in office fears are powerful things.

[Charmed]

Great Article....he's campaign here in NC was the same way during the primaries. This time around we merged Obama people with local democrats and some of them are from the old school. We are being patient with them at this point because they seem to only be concerned with "who's in charge"....most of the volunteers worked together in the primaries and we just do what needs to be done for the day.

[Countdown09]

I read a article that mentioned that Sen. O made it clear to everyone working on his campaign he doesn't like drama and told David A. not to higher ego driven drama people. One of his staffer's said if you come to work here you have to check your ego at the door. It's also said that he is very frugal. O has run a brilliant campaign, I except he will run his administration much like his campaign.

[BigGuy]

You have some typo's that spell check won't catch.
You mean hire, not higher
expect, not except

[shaitan]

Inspite of Barack being smart and well organized, he will not change much, e.g., bring peace to the middle east or Afghanistan or change much in Washington as long as he does not have the courage to break the hold of AIPAC and other powerful lobbies. Dennis Ross and other US pro-Israel Jews acting as Israel's lawyers , won't help save some land for Palestinians. Th two state solution is dying everyday as Israel expands its taking of lands and kicking out Arabs from Israel. So Barack will do nothing--see the following URL from Wearewideawake.org:

http://www.wearewideawake.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=976&Itemid=202

On domestic matters he will be constrained by his submission to the military-industrial complex. Heaven knows what plan anyone has to get the country's finances and economy back to solvency. While I hope he gets elected since McCain could be worse and I have supported Obama so far, I am very dissapointed in his performance since the day he voted for the FISA bill, spoke to AIPAC and in Israel, like all US presidents (except Eisenhower) and candidates, except Ron Paul and Ralph Nader, he bowed and scraped before the Isreali controllers of US M.E. policy. So he will continue all those same polcies and nothing will change except on the slight margins.

[SaltySaltillo]

I am so sick of posts like this one from shaitan. What is your point? What is your prescriptive message? Obama is a candidate of the Democratic party. Is it my fault, his fault, or anyone's fault but yours that you woke up one day and realized he isn't the Progressive Messiah, but is just a politician of the Democratic party, with a bit more political talent than most others? Get a grip! Obama is the only realistic chance anyone who is not a die-hard Neocon has of seeing the executive office run in a way that is any different from the way it has been run in the last 8 years... quite with the sandbagging and come back to reality!

[walkthewalk]

You are so right. The Washington and media establishment are fighting change with everything they've got. After all, if change comes, they risk being viewed as dinosaurs.

[Pdubya]

hint: the dinosaurs gave birth to the fledgeling raptor.

[DennyCrane]

I'd love to see what things look like inside McCain headquarters.

[legoh]

Wow! Is all I can say.

Thanks Mr. Mixner for this peek behind the scenes.

[RI]

Great stuff. We, the people, need more real information about what is really going on, rather than the constant silly distractions of the MSM.