I Wish There Were More Mayhill Fowlers

Not just because she did us bloggers proud by presenting the unexpected scoop of the campaign, but because she is that rare Barack Obama admirer who can admit he's not perfect.

Obama himself is very good about admitting when he's wrong or when he's made a mistake. Quickly and convincingly. In his second book, he actually reads as humble.

Yet some of his most ardent supporters possess a total inability to admit he is human with flaws and foibles. Defensive isn't even the word for them. Thin-skinned doesn't begin to describe them. They're abjectly terrified and enraged by every single thing a Clinton (or anyone) says about their darling.

To hear many of his supporters talk, it is as though we have all been banished from a political Eden, a paradise where Obama's winning was to be just a formality. He would just go to the post office and fill out a change-of-address form and move gloriously in to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. right away while the whole country (even Republicans!) swoons and applauds.

But then this wicked creature named Hillary came along with her normal, earthbound, in fact rather ham-fisted political campaign. Obama could've easily beaten McCain and the vicious right-wing smear machine had it not been for this horrible woman who has spoiled everything by daring to throw some elbows. And now the perfect fantasy is shattered.

It shattered that easily.

And now along comes Mayhill Fowler. "Bittergate" shows clearly how the most cultish Obama fans can't conceive of a supporter taking an objective look at something their candidate does and finding fault, or questioning anything about him.

When I first heard about Bittergate (could this be the best "-gate" name since the original?) on Saturday afternoon and then found out where it started, I was immediately very proud of my fellow HuffPoster. She has more than put Off The Bus on the map!

I've been enjoying her posts all along. They feature on-the-ground and "off-the-bus" (i.e., non-insider) reportage, mixed with her own thoughts and opinions. (OffTheBus cofounder Jay Rosen puts the concept of the citizen journalist in context in this thoroughly enlightening post about Bittergate.) Fowler is open and curious: Sometimes the net positive in one of her posts seems to shake out for Hillary, sometimes for Barack.

I really feel for Mayhill right now because: 1) She has toiled in relative obscurity, for free, here at HuffPost, then through her amazing post she has influenced the course of this campaign as directly as anything else has, period, and she gets almost zero credit by name, at least in the MSM -- it's all "as first reported on the Huffington Post..." and increasingly not even that; and 2) It can't be comfortable for her as someone who gave the maximum donation to Obama to now be seen as a traitoress to his "movement." And to do so of all places at the site some claim should be renamed the Obamington Post (actually I just made that up) because of its rather noticeable pro-Obama slant in coverage.

Conspiracy theories are flying fast online in the effort to smear the messenger. She's not a "citizen journalist," she's got an agenda! She's actually a paid Hillary shill in disguise! McCain paid her to go to this fundraiser and tape Barack! And, uh, to make Barack say something "inartful"! And my favorite: Hillary gave Fowler the money she donated to Obama! (Months ago? Knowing what Barack would say last week?)

This is the kind of paranoid garbage that is making this primary so ugly.

Obama said what he said regardless of the presence of Mayhill Fowler. Nothing's off the record when you're facing the public (which he was, even if it was in a private home).

I stand with Mayhill and encourage others to consider the example of integrity she has given us. She explained that as much as she likes and supports Obama, his comment gave her pause, and she thought others should know about it.

It's called antiseptic sunlight, kids. And Barack has shown that he can take it, by addressing the controversy head on over the last few days. See, I admire that.

Comments

[maggieb]

Mayhill Fowler is a heroine!!!

[AlejandroK]

Fowlers should be commended, perhaps a Pulitzer. Selecting a president is a serious thing had it not been by Folwers we would had not know the real Obama. He stained the very fabric of the American electorate that is needed to win the presidency. By expressing his elitist, highly insensitive views to a group of San Francisco millionaires he proved he doesn’t have the poignancy, the IQ nor the continental compass to be president. He is out of touch. He catered to these rich people’s “hauteur” and imperialistic musings without flinching or thinking of the consequences. He got caught pressing the self-destructive buttons any politico 101 knows:
101: Don’t insult your voters.
101: God believing people believe in God, good times or bad.
101: Bearing guns is a constitutional right and has nothing to do with class.
101: Not all small town folks are bigots. Obama’s own mother was a small town girl who was not a racist.
In sum, one hopes that the eventual nominee is the president for all people, at the very least “the smartest guy in the room.” This last “bitter” remark issue in addition to the way he handled the “God Damn America” Rev. Wright controversy clearly proves that Obama is not that “guy”. Let’s face it; Hillary is and has always been—35 years ago & from day one.

[LarryKingBarelyAlive]

Bill Clinton lied under oath. Hillary backed up all of these lies for years. The Clintons failed to get Healthcare passed during their 8 years. Hillary (R) Clinton spoke to the same San Francisco millionaires two days before Obama. Hillary (R) Clinton' s campaign is mainly funded by multi- millionaire businessmen - Ron Burkle, Steve Bing, Pharmaceutical companies etc.

Hillary ( R) Clinton is a pathological liar ( Bosnia, NAFTA, Northern Ireland). She will say or do anything. The Clintons have no shame. Hillary is the Richard Nixon of the Democratic Party.
She was always against guns - until now. The real Hillary is mean, calculating and obnoxious.

Obama's is financed by ordinary people giving small donations. Clinton gets millions from the Saudi Royal Family ( via the Clinton Foundation and Clinton Library) Frank Giustra ( Bill's Uranium deal). Hillary looks after herself and her wealthy cronies.

[Herrington]

The politico 101 era is over, it has to be. Obama is the highest rated contender because he has spoken out against politico 101. It is not 1965 anymore Dorothy. America has tried to believe in old school politicans since Reagan, and the result have been worse and worse still.

It might offend the people who elected Bush to tell them they made a mistake. But until they realize Bush was a mistake, that supply side economics was a mistake, that wedge issue voting is a mistake and that Iraq was a mistake, there is no point in even discussing a future for America.

Offend me, go ahead, call me names, a Obamabot, a cultist, whatever Mark Penn tells you will win for Hillary, but it will not change the facts of gridlock and an America in a steep dive towards evaporation.

The one thing that cannot be taken away, whether Obama prevails or not, is the expectation he has created in the public that we should demand responsiveness from our elected officials. That alone is worth the effort.

[kindofblue]

If only we saw one percent of Obama's integrity in Hillary.
First, there really was nothing condescending in Obama's statement-see Thomas Franks' remarks.
Second, he could have phrased it better, and he immediately admitted it. Contrast with "snipergate" That is a real problem-outright lie or total fabulation, and then never admitting it or taking responsibility.
We all know Obama is just human-really we do. The closer I get to his campaign, the more impressive the open-mindedness and relaxed quality of his staff and supporters becomes. The way we look at it, if he wins, he wins fair, if he loses, at least we took a step beyond mouth-breating gotcha politics.

Sorry if the Hillary supporters are offended, but take a breath and realize that your candidate has rarely if ever shown the same sense of responsibility when she gets busted.

[6thVenom]

And describing Obama supporters as cultish is really going to make the situation better....

yeah. okay.

[honeybee49]

Thank you.

[nomobull]

integrity?

[grendl]

Oh, everyone wants to be the next Woodward and or Bernstein don't they.

Yeah, she really blew the lid off this one, exposing Barack Obama for saying bitterness exists in rural Pennsylvania. Let me ask you a question, do you think bitterness exists in this country's ghettos?

Are those "hope' drive bys we hear so much about. Black on black love fests? Idiotic. It is sheer idiocy, and you try to paint yourself as fair minded about this non-issue.

His mistake is even saying he could've termed it better. That's his mistake. He toned down the language he should've used when instead of using terms like bitter he should've said " we're as mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore."

And if you want to talk about someone who can't admit she was wrong, how much triangulating has Hillary done about Iraq, shifting the blame to all but herself. Plenty of demos voted against that resolution, but little Miss Perfect continued her warhawk stance with the GOP, until it proved politically detrimental.

This was only an issue to moronic Pennsylvanians who are too fucking stupid to know when they're being fucked over by their governments economic policies, who hear only soundbytes when a pundit says " Hey Barack's talking down to you!!!!" To the Pennsylvanians who can think, they know it was the truth.

[Desiderata]

I'm one of those Pennsylvanians who can think, grendl. I too am frustrated by the local news coverage of this: get the oldest guy in town who would never vote for a black man (among friends he feels free to use a more notorious name) and get his point of view on Obama__the same guy that still thinks baseball was ruined when they let the n-blacks-rs in.

But I love this state. And for the sake of getting a better break for Pennsylvanians, my vote goes to Obama. He tells the truth while Hillary has never been introduced to it.

[Herrington]

grendl, love your stuff. It is a happy face Wal-Mart greeter world in Washington, during election time. Then its back to sticking it to the people as hard and fast as possible. What really disturbs me is the increasing lack of concern about what the public thinks in between elections.

[SCharb]

Schadenfreude. You must have loved the Yellow Journalism of the Gilded Age. Mixing fact with opinion is a horrible brand of journalism. You need to keep them separate, or all hell breaks loose.

The so-called "elitism" of Obama's remarks is not a fact, but it has been reported as such, and thus opinion has become fact. And admitting Obama's faults... I'm first to admit them... but seriously? This isn't innocently critiquing an imperfection. This was DAMNING Obama's entire character and message.

[shrake]

You write: "Mixing fact with opinion is a horrible brand of journalism. You need to keep them separate, or all hell breaks loose."
I know, I watch MSNBC.

[Herrington]

I've got to agree with SCharb on this one. Fact is one thing and opinion is another. For Fowler to assume offense is poor trade craft. To report offense, whether hers or some others is a standard and simple enough.

I have heard Fowler criticized for just this type of thing before.

[jmpurser]

Read Obama's actual remarks and then tell me exactly what was wrong with any of it please. Obama aint my guy but I can't see anything condescending or elitist about what he said.

[IndependentTogether]

... and when you see his remarks in their true context, it's quite clear there was no underlying negativity in what he said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oGF3cyHE7M
(2004 interview)

[prospace]

The true context was 2004?