MoveOn... and Keep Movin' Right Outta My Life

Oh, that it has come to this! I'm infuriated at a dot org. Wish to be unsubscribed from their mailing list.

At MoveOn.org's thoughtful suggestion, I have signed countless petitions, called the offices of my state and federal representatives and manned the phones at a "house party" to help get John Kerry elected. In my absurdly busy life, I actually looked forward to receiving their daily emails because I felt I could rely on this group to keep me abreast of the days' vital issues. Then, with one click-of-the-mouse I could add my vote to a quarter of a million others and be sure that my voice would be heard. In the last couple of years, MoveOn.org had become a force to be reckoned with.

Then, without warning, they transmogrified into an authoritarian task-master, cracking the whip over my head with their instructions about whom I should vote for in the Democratic primaries. Excuse me, Eli Pariser, just who do you think you are?

A few weeks ago MoveOn announced their intention to endorse a presidential candidate. I was asked to choose my favorite. Something about this request made me uncomfortable. I hadn't yet made up my mind between John Edwards, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. In fact, I'd recently received an insightful, fact-filled letter from Michael Moore pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate, their voting records on everything from health care to the war in Iraq, how much money had been contributed to their campaign coffers, and by whom.

Michael had something nice to say about each candidate, but in the end he respectfully submitted his personal preference for the record - Edwards. It helped me immensely to have the facts in front of me so I could narrow things down and make an informed choice.

As for MoveOn's ill-advised poll, I ignored it.

Shortly thereafter I received another email from them announcing that by an overwhelming majority - 70%-30% -- their membership had voted for Obama. They were throwing their hat in the ring and endorsing him.

Much to my dismay I soon began receiving daily emails not only directing me to vote for Barack, but ones saying that I should tell all my friends to vote for him. By then Edwards had dropped out of the race and I was frankly leaning towards Hillary. No, she hadn't always voted the way I wished she had had, but she was one smart woman, had championed universal health care way-back-when, and had proven she was strong and unflinching under fire.

I was increasingly turned off by the blatant "hands-off" bias of the press towards Obama, the slavering, almost cult-like adoration of a candidate who was unquestioningly charismatic, an inspiring speaker, who had been on the right side of the vote to go to war with Iraq, but was still a bit green behind the ears.

More and more emails from MoveOn arrived. Now they wanted me to watch a totally hip YouTube video of celebrities rapping to one of Barack's speeches. But I still hadn't made up my mind, and their nagging was starting to piss me off.

When I watched CNN's Democratic debate between Hillary and Barack, I found that my favorite moment in that delightfully civil "conversation" was Wolf Blitzer's last question (the only one from that consistently annoying newsman that didn't make me feel like slapping him). He told both Clinton and Obama that lots of people in the audience were watching the pair of them sitting together on the stage and realizing that here was the Democratic "Dream Team." Would they, if they received the nomination, consider taking the other for their running mate?

Their answers were appropriately vague -- no one at that point in such a heated contest was going to entertain the suggestion that they might lose. But each in his or her own way left the possibility open, perhaps Hillary a tad more clearly and graciously than Barack. She pointed out that they had been friends before the race began and would be friends after it was over, no matter which way the voting went.

Then they stood up and embraced for a good long moment, smiling and speaking in each other's ears as I imagined two friends would do. It was a golden moment for me, an American citizen who had been living in a state of constant depression and anxiety since George Bush and Dick Cheney stole the 2000 election and turned this country into a shameful shambles. It was a moment that proclaimed we had two fabulous candidates, either of whom would make a spectacular president. And if, when the Democratic convention chose one or the other of them, and the winner took the "loser" for a running mate, we would have the best of both worlds. A "Dream Team" that could hands-down drive the Republicans out of office for the foreseeable future.

I went to bed happy that night. Had sweet dreams and woke up feeling, for the first time in many years, hopeful that our political process was not a sinkhole of despair.

Then I opened my mailbox and found another friggin' email from MoveOn.org. "Go the extra mile and help get 'our candidate' elected!" it ordered me. Hello? What about the 30% of your members who had not voted to endorse Obama? What were we, chopped liver?

Right before Super Tuesday I got a call from my Aunt Sylvia. At eighty she was a staunch Democrat and the first (and for many years only) politically active member of our family. Long before her children, nieces and nephews could vote, she was out there, strong-of-opinion and fighting the good fight.

But this day she was upset and confused. MoveOn -- an organization she had come to trust -- was sending her emails, telling her how to vote in the primaries.

That was it. From then on, every time I got another "Vote for Obama" email from MoveOn I sent back a reply telling them to cease and desist from treating me and the other 30% of their dissenting membership with disrespect. That perhaps they had gotten too big for their .org britches. That they should forget intra-party partisanship and throw their substantial weight into making sure Hillary and Barack won the general election in November. And that maybe they should respond to my emails.

Get a grip on yourself, guys. Deflate your self-important heads. But until then, MoveOn, you can just unsubscribe me.

Comments

[esq193]

MoveOn.org is worthless. Any smart advocacy organization knows that you DO NOT ENDORSE IN THE PRIMARY. It is one of the dumbest things you can do politically, unless you are a SINGLE issue group and the primary contenders are clearly on opposing sides. Moveon lost me the moment they attacked General Patreus- not necessarily because what they said was wrong (I'm not going to get into that), but because it was the moment they became politically insignificant. They lost all independent voters and their ability to bring in people other than the far left. I'm not saying the far left is bad - some would say I am a part of it. The problem is it thwarts any type of power we could have had. I am willing to bet that they have had more unsubscribes in the past few weeks since endorsing Obama, than they have since their beginning. It is a sad state of affairs for a one time powerful group.

[fourex]

This is why endorsements and advocacy are important. MoveOn letter 2/13/08
"In what the Washington Post called a "stunning victory,"a progressive underdog Donna Edwards triumphed in her primary against right-wing Democrat Al Wynn. That's one more vote for ending the war, for affordable health care, for ending global warming. And thousands of MoveOn members pitched in time, money, and shoe leather to make it possible."

[fourex]

Below is a note from MoveOn. It demonstrates why Maxwell and Democrab are wrong about endorsements and advocacy. NeoCons know this, and hate MoveOn. Some of the other posters here are probably Neo-Cons in drag.

"We've been working together for years to make sure Democrats hold to progressive values and stand up to President Bush. It hasn't always been easy. But yesterday, something amazing happened.

In what the Washington Post called a "stunning victory," a progressive underdog Donna Edwards triumphed in her primary against right-wing Democrat Al Wynn. That's one more vote for ending the war, for affordable health care, for ending global warming. And thousands of MoveOn members pitched in time, money, and shoe leather to make it possible."

Ms Maxwell I hope you understand this distinction.

[JakeEasy]

I unsubscribed also. My problem was not only the jejune thinking that would believe that something like an endorsement poll would do anything good, but also the methodology. This is an organization that protests that papertrailless voting machines. But they want to make a vote that is conducted on the internet, without verification into something to be considered. For all we know, Eli could just make up the 70/30 number. It is worse than Diebold.

I prefer a little consistency, a well as thoughfulness, with my progressive movements. My support and actions will be through other groups now.

[standforpeace]

So let me get this straight. In the past you worked for a group with which you agreed on issues and for candidates that you supported. Than that political organization decided to make an endorsement in the political campaign in the effort to influence the political outcome. Instead of the leaders making the decision themselves, they set up a method for their membership to weigh in. Rather than taking that opportunity, you opted not to participate by "ignoring" their invitation. When the votes were counted, the majority of the membership supported Barack Obama; as a result MoveOn.org endorsed the candidate preferred by the majority of their members who participated in the vote. In addition to endorsing the candidate preferred by the majority of its members, MoveOn did what it has done from the beginning, it sent out repeated mailings to its membership communicating the position preferred by the majority of its members and urging the members to work to support that position/candidate.

So why are you so angry? Did someone come to your house and hold a gun to your head and demand your vote or your life? Or am I missing something here?

[CitizenE]

MoveOn is a political advocacy organization; they're just doing their thing. While I do think the progressive left has a better critique of Clinton than the right, the virulent, obviously misogynistic ad hominem attacks is really unbecoming of the progressive blogosphere and media; just as the unwillingness of Obama supporters to hold his feet to the fire on several domestic issues--ranging from health care to social security, not to mention his failure to lead the Americans on First Amendment religious freedom, rather than shout out Jesus Christ, when addressing those trying to smear him as a result of having a Muslim father, and the rather foolish naivete that he is somehow a new kind of politician are also off-putting.
I voted for Obama in the primaries on two accounts--one is I like him when he listens; in a crisis, I believe he is the more likely of the two to enter into action with an open, critical thinking approach, and two, he is in fact, however I admire Clinton's hard-working, devil in the details approach, far more likely to undo at least a little of the hate government on all accounts Reagan revolution, which has allowed the corporate giveaway and disasterous foreign policy adventurism to go unchecked for the past decades. Clinton, for all her real political foibles and virtues, inspires cynicism that I believe will hamstring any real movement back to a nation whose populace and youth believing that there is some possibility that our government can be more than just an indifferent, often alien, group of self interested elites taking money from their pockets for no good purpose under the sun.

[magen]

Hillary supporters are imploding just like Rush, Hannity, and Coulter are on the republiCON side just because their candidate of choice isn't getting the nomination.

Boo Hoo.

The for too long ignored American electorate are speaking, suckers.

[LeeFromVA]

MoveOn has a right to grow and change and be anything they like, and you have the right to subscribe or not. Please quit whining about trivial things. How hard is it to delete an email? Democrats always want things to be fair and balanced, and they absolutely can't stand to see someone criticize a Clinton. There are a lot of people out there that don't like Hillary, or haven't you heard? It shouldn't be a big surprise at this point.

[antaeus]

Lee, your dismissive attitude is sometimes breathtaking. It seems to me that whenever someone voices a concern that hadn't been on your own radar, it's brushed off as mere whining, insignificant, even condescending.

[lfane]

This is not whining about trivial things, at all, but a serious violation of trust between MoveOn staff and it's members.

I, too, was a loyal member of Move On and hosted house parties, bake sales and phone banking. I was also a die-hard volunteer on the Edwards campaign for over a year. The cruel irony is that this endorsement vote came the day after John Edwards, the only true progressive and the winner of the MoveOn Global warming poll, dropped out of the race. Why wasn't MoveOn there for him when he was getting stomped out by the corporate-owned media?

So in my mourning, I was forced to choose between the two-Republican lite candidates left. And I wasn't even given the choice of voting for No Endorsement, which would've been my vote.

I feel as though I was steamrolled by MoveOn and the Obamabots who seemed to be in charge now.

No thanks. I'm Moving On...

[amamomofsons]

A similar thing happened to me. I worked (hard) on many home gatherings and support groups lined up by Move On. I went to anti war gatherings and manned phones to help in the election of candidates in other states and was happy that my voice was being counted and heard whenever I signed up with the millions that formed their group. Then came the faithful day that I didn't agree with them on an issue and I have not received an email since. No polls no information no feedback...nothing.

[estreya]

MoveOn doesn't hold the patent on what i would consider to be "aggressive" voter encouragement. As one of the pundits on "This Week" a few Sunday's ago remarked, one woman received six mailers from the Hillary Clinton campaign just before Super Tuesday, while her husband, also a registered democrat, got none. That kind of "pestering" is just the nature of the beast. As far as i'm concerned, it's all background noise and really shouldn't hold much sway to an educated constituent.

[lgillooly]

I totally agree with this Blog. The best ticket in my mind is Clinton/Obama. We desperately need experience and Inspiration,but in these times Experience trumps.
I am very disappointed in Moveon.org

[Savanarola]

WRONG! The best ticket in hisory is Barack Obama/Dianne Feinstein!

[antaeus]

Really funny . . . the Reagan admirer and one of the most hawkish conservative Dems. Change?

[robeson]

A suggestion to the phony progressives here. Please remove yourself from the MoveOn mailing list ( it will be difficult for some who obviously were never on it). Join PNAC, other conservative organizations, or the religious right. They will tell you who to vote for without comment. Go take yee to a nunnery, go.

[antaeus]

hehe. get ye to a nunney? as in cloister your opinions and take a vow of silence? or, in Shakespeare's original sense, go to a whorehouse? you slut, you? either way, thanks! you've just proven the truth of Maxwell's earlier blog, "Hillary Boleyn"

[Democrab]

They haven't answered my scathing email to them either. So I'll just give them the same treatment as MSNBC. I'll ignore them.

I too believe they were way out of line endorsing anyone.

And to be honest if it had been Edwards or Clinton, they would have gotten the same disgust from me.

Their job, I thought, was to "move on" from a republican despot and congress to a democratic president and congressional majority. But I was wrong in thinking that way, as did many "Move on" supporters.

Your commentary, of course, will be attacked in here because anything even resembling a negative against Obama bears the brunt of attacks from his rabid and vicious fans. Good luck in getting your point across! I share your sentiments and reasoning.

[ajax2]

I really don't care that you don't like Obama. MoveOn has the right to endorse anyone they please, and you have the right to stop your support. Obama is my candidate, but if they endorsed Hillary I would delete her promotions until the primaries were over.

[Democrab]

To be perfectly clear on this matter one more time, I love Barack Obama.

I will vote for him in the general election and will support him all the way to the white house if he's our nominee.

He is a brilliant politician and democrat and if he wins I hope he becomes the greatest president in our history and placates all our anguish over the past eight years.

But that doesn't excuse the media barrage against the Clintons and the nastiness of Obama supporters. Their bitterness is reminiscent of Henry Hyde, Newt Gingrich, Fox News, Ken Starr, Hannity, Limbaugh and all the republican barracudas spilling the public blood of an opponent to make their point.

They are sore losers and sore winners and yet we're all democrats, what is the problem?

Move On has the right to endorse anyone they want, that's true, but in my opinion, that decision comes under the heading of "ethics."

[Dianora]

I too unsubscribed from MoveOn's mailing list last week after being pestered by them every day to vote for Obama. I believe an organization such as MoveOn should be dedicated to supporting the Democratic party and progressive candidates as a whole, not encouraging us to pit one against the other. MoveOn becomes more and more irrelevant with each passing day, thanks to their own tunnel vision.

[jerseybeth]

Thank you for your post. I too have felt pressure to join the Obama movement. I am a proud Clinton supporter. Obama's resume seems light to me, and I am not a sucker for silky rhetoric. I want a qualified candidate I can vote for with confidence. I want a president not an inspirational speaker who founded a movement. Lets vote Hillary for President and Obama for "Most Popular."