There are some folks who are going to buy the viral smears, and the negative soundbites, and the campaign can't afford to ignore them. As a member of the "Obama Rapid Response" group my responses, and those of the group, include both reporting and countering the alleged facts before they grow into problems, but we can also get beyond the allegations by proactively presenting the positives. Sure, the email(s) will still circulate and surface. Such tactics may even help opponents identify a few supporters of their own who resonate with the style and/or the substance. There is, nonetheless, a wealth of interesting, compelling, real information that's a whole lot more effective in expanding the understanding of voters, who are largely aware of the down-low tactics which visible politicians must endure.
Here's an entry at DIGG.COM, for instance, that points at an article from February 2007 demonstrating Senator Obama's non-partisan diplomacy in action dealing with John McCain, who had just issued a highly confrontational, critical assessment of the "Freshman Senator." Bringing documented cases of the candidate's exemplary actions to light helps build a context resilient enough to withstand the character assaults that outrageous tacticians, for better or worse, are bound and determined to launch.
One analogy is a comparison to firefighters. They obviously rely on more than water, trucks, and extinguishers. Campaign volunteers may be likened, I suppose, to smoke detectors at times. Periodically we report something to enforcement specialists... Then sometimes we are also cast in the role of those posters of Smokey the Bear, reminding others - Only you can prevent dirty politics.
I embrace the challenge to keep allegations from morphing into misperceptions, employing a variety of tools as my time allows, shifting hats as I go from Minnesota precinct captain to Rapid Responder to party host and so on. In the spirit of the campaign itself I prefer to avoid the temptation to "go reactive" to the barrage of negatives, generally prioritizing dissemination of the many wonderful facets of Obama's history that can inform and inspire the voters.
I believe in the hope that Barack's vision and integrity nourishes. I spread the word, seeking to be an "ambassador without portfolio" for his vision and principles, at times by articulating the details, but often simply striving to exemplify audacious hope by my actions while associating myself visibly with Obama's name, and this campaign.
His candidacy has always been, as Senator Obama has stated, an improbable dream to believe and pursue. So were the dreams of the pilgrims hoping to ride the Mayflower to freedom, the patriotic dreams of the insurgent colonists dumping tea into the Boston harbor to protest taxation without representation, the dreams of my great-great-grandfather who came to the United States of America from Ireland to be a cobbler at a time this country was embattled internally over the econmonic, moral, and political issues surrounding slavery, the audacious dreams of Rosa Parks, the hopeful dreams of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the dreams of many others.
Yes, we can.
Call me a dreamer. Call me a patriot.
Call me an Obamist.
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