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OFA: The Organizing of America
American Thinker
Cindy Simpson
3/7/2013
Excerpt:
Other than the obvious initials "OFA" and a now-familiar circular logo, what do Obama for America 2008, Organizing for America (2009), Obama for America 2012, and now Organizing for Action all share -- and why should we care?
The Democratic National Committee is likely paying very close attention. Back in 2009, a "highly placed Democrat" took note. According to Esquire's Lisa Taddeo, in her comprehensive article on David Plouffe and his creation of Organizing for America, that unnamed Democrat declared:
"It's not the Democratic party anymore. It's the Obama party."
"Architect" Karl Rove may have maintained the blueprint of the Bush campaign, but according to Taddeo: David Plouffe, Obama's 2008 campaign manager, has a list.
That contact list -- thirteen-million-Obama-supporters-long at the time -- made Plouffe the master of a "many million-mouthed dog." And, wrote Taddeo, Obama "has instructed him to make that list a new lever of government."
The "fulsome pulsing beast" 2009 version of OFA was to be unleashed by Plouffe, according to Taddeo, whenever Obama had a policy initiative he wanted to push, a message he needed to disseminate, or a gaffe he wanted to bat down.
As summed up in Esquire: "In the new DNC -- in Organizing for America -- you will work full-time for the DNC and Obama's goals, or you will not work for them at all."
But still, officially, the 2009 version of OFA was part of the DNC. At the time, Taddeo observed: "No president has ever entered office with this much information." Clinton campaign strategist Paul Begala noted that such a database could "potentially revolutionize progressive politics."
And indeed, OFA proved instrumental, for example, in getting healthcare reform passed, handing Obama over a million signatures in support of his plan. After the 2010 midterm "shellacking," though, the organization became less visible, and the AP's Ken Thomas observed that it "essentially became a campaign-in-waiting for Obama ahead of his re-election race."
Fast forward to 2013 and a refurbished OFA (with the previous "America" changed to "Action" and reorganization into 501(c)(4) status) with millions more names and another successful campaign under its collar. Doubtless, that beast (twenty-million-mouths large) has amassed more teeth and power.
After this election, however, the OFA "dog" no longer resides in the DNC kennel. While the 2008 campaign was "folded into" the DNC as Organizing for America, Organizing for Action is a separate entity that is, as the Wikipedia entry put it, "heavily affiliated with the Democratic Party." And as Politico noted, other Democrat-supporting groups and wealthy donors apparently folded into it (or are at least closely "affiliated"), such as mega-contributor George Soros, Media Matters, and the Center for American Progress. In addition, besides Plouffe, other familiar names in the OFA circle came from the inner circle of Obama's administration: David Axelrod, Stephanie Cutter, Jim Messina, Robert Gibbs, and Jon Carson.
In fact, it seems the DNC is no longer holding the leash, but is the one wearing the collar. Organizing for Action appears to be Organizing for Obama, and perhaps the DNC is now the ONC: the Obama National Committee.
OFA's launch was "the subject of chatter among Democratic activists and strategists," wrote the Los Angeles Times, "who predicted that it could upend the party's power structure... and challenge the party itself as a center of influence." The National Journal noted some Democrat "grumbling" about a potential "power struggle between the national party, which aims to elect Democrats above all else, and the new group, which aims to build the president's legacy[.]"
DNC members were apparently "caught off guard" by the OFA announcement, according to The Hill. Many feared its existence "could hurt the national party's fundraising and drain its resources" and weren't "pleased that Obama didn't fold his powerful grassroots operation back into the DNC."
However, the ability to broadly categorize OFA's actions as 501(c)(4) "promotion of social welfare" and to solicit and receive unlimited and undisclosed "soft money" donations should allay DNC concerns.
Even the mainstream media has taken note of the new OFA's power grab. The New York Times called it unprecedented and "an extension of the [Obama] administration." The Huffington Post wrote: "OFA's close ties to the West Wing and its control over the former campaign's resources has raised questions about where the nonprofit group ends and the White House starts."
(bold and color emphasis added in the above paragraphs)
............................................
View the complete article at:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/...f_america.html
American Thinker
Cindy Simpson
3/7/2013
Excerpt:
Other than the obvious initials "OFA" and a now-familiar circular logo, what do Obama for America 2008, Organizing for America (2009), Obama for America 2012, and now Organizing for Action all share -- and why should we care?
The Democratic National Committee is likely paying very close attention. Back in 2009, a "highly placed Democrat" took note. According to Esquire's Lisa Taddeo, in her comprehensive article on David Plouffe and his creation of Organizing for America, that unnamed Democrat declared:
"It's not the Democratic party anymore. It's the Obama party."
"Architect" Karl Rove may have maintained the blueprint of the Bush campaign, but according to Taddeo: David Plouffe, Obama's 2008 campaign manager, has a list.
That contact list -- thirteen-million-Obama-supporters-long at the time -- made Plouffe the master of a "many million-mouthed dog." And, wrote Taddeo, Obama "has instructed him to make that list a new lever of government."
The "fulsome pulsing beast" 2009 version of OFA was to be unleashed by Plouffe, according to Taddeo, whenever Obama had a policy initiative he wanted to push, a message he needed to disseminate, or a gaffe he wanted to bat down.
As summed up in Esquire: "In the new DNC -- in Organizing for America -- you will work full-time for the DNC and Obama's goals, or you will not work for them at all."
But still, officially, the 2009 version of OFA was part of the DNC. At the time, Taddeo observed: "No president has ever entered office with this much information." Clinton campaign strategist Paul Begala noted that such a database could "potentially revolutionize progressive politics."
And indeed, OFA proved instrumental, for example, in getting healthcare reform passed, handing Obama over a million signatures in support of his plan. After the 2010 midterm "shellacking," though, the organization became less visible, and the AP's Ken Thomas observed that it "essentially became a campaign-in-waiting for Obama ahead of his re-election race."
Fast forward to 2013 and a refurbished OFA (with the previous "America" changed to "Action" and reorganization into 501(c)(4) status) with millions more names and another successful campaign under its collar. Doubtless, that beast (twenty-million-mouths large) has amassed more teeth and power.
After this election, however, the OFA "dog" no longer resides in the DNC kennel. While the 2008 campaign was "folded into" the DNC as Organizing for America, Organizing for Action is a separate entity that is, as the Wikipedia entry put it, "heavily affiliated with the Democratic Party." And as Politico noted, other Democrat-supporting groups and wealthy donors apparently folded into it (or are at least closely "affiliated"), such as mega-contributor George Soros, Media Matters, and the Center for American Progress. In addition, besides Plouffe, other familiar names in the OFA circle came from the inner circle of Obama's administration: David Axelrod, Stephanie Cutter, Jim Messina, Robert Gibbs, and Jon Carson.
In fact, it seems the DNC is no longer holding the leash, but is the one wearing the collar. Organizing for Action appears to be Organizing for Obama, and perhaps the DNC is now the ONC: the Obama National Committee.
OFA's launch was "the subject of chatter among Democratic activists and strategists," wrote the Los Angeles Times, "who predicted that it could upend the party's power structure... and challenge the party itself as a center of influence." The National Journal noted some Democrat "grumbling" about a potential "power struggle between the national party, which aims to elect Democrats above all else, and the new group, which aims to build the president's legacy[.]"
DNC members were apparently "caught off guard" by the OFA announcement, according to The Hill. Many feared its existence "could hurt the national party's fundraising and drain its resources" and weren't "pleased that Obama didn't fold his powerful grassroots operation back into the DNC."
However, the ability to broadly categorize OFA's actions as 501(c)(4) "promotion of social welfare" and to solicit and receive unlimited and undisclosed "soft money" donations should allay DNC concerns.
Even the mainstream media has taken note of the new OFA's power grab. The New York Times called it unprecedented and "an extension of the [Obama] administration." The Huffington Post wrote: "OFA's close ties to the West Wing and its control over the former campaign's resources has raised questions about where the nonprofit group ends and the White House starts."
(bold and color emphasis added in the above paragraphs)
............................................
View the complete article at:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/...f_america.html
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