Nation-Building

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An editorial in the Washington Post argues, counter-intuitively, that Barack Obama's fundraising success over the internet is not a death-knell for the public financing system, but rather all the more reason to reform it: According to an analysis by the nonpartisan Campaign Finance Institute of the fundraising totals through August 2008, the percentage of people whose total donations to Mr. Obama aggregated to $200 or less was 26 percent. That almost matches President Bush's 25 percent in the 2004 election. But Mr. Obama relied less on donors who gave $1,000 or more (47 percent) than Mr. Bush (60 percent). [...] Mr. Obama must lead a serious conversation about the role of the public financing system and how Internet fundraising should affect its structure. In an op-ed last month in The Post, Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer championed a new campaign finance system centered around the Internet. He proposed matching funds for small donations up to $200 per donor, incre...

This is a ridiculous argument : Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean is not a serious contender to be secretary of health and human services in the new Obama administration, sources said. Dean’s name has appeared on short lists for the Cabinet post circulating throughout Washington, based largely on his party chairmanship and career as a doctor. Dean also passed health care reforms while governor of Vermont. And his allies said the Obama transition team has had some informal discussions with him about the job. But the chief attributes President-elect Barack Obama is seeking in his HHS secretary will be an ability to work with members of Congress and shepherd reform legislation through the House and Senate. That job description has turned out to be a particularly ill-suited one for Dean, given his partisan background and lack of congressional experience, sources inside and outside the transition offices say. Dean never served in Congress and spent his Washington career try...

While this news has already made its way around the liberal blogsphere, it's worth making a note of it here for posterity's sake, given this blog's origins and history. Howard Dean's tenure at the DNC is drawing to a close , and the future of the 50-state strategy seems to be in doubt . Chris Bowers has been following the story at OpenLeft and summarizes: People inside the DNC are telling me that the program is not dead. This doesn't surprise me, because it is a popular program and I imagine that many of the remaining staffers at the DNC are committed to the program. At the same time, all of the organizers--who were chosen by local state parties--have been fired . That effectively kills the program, no matter the messaging and commitment of the remaining staffers. The best bet is that the remaining staff at the DNC will try to push for a continuation of the program once the new administration is in place. In the meantime, many of the large donors who always want...

Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft disputes Ari Berman's article in The Nation, and says that Obama is no Howard Dean . And he invokes the Speech. I could take issue with BTD's assertion that Obama has not embraced the same Democratic values that Dean made the centerpiece of his campaign. But that's somewhat tangential to the real point of contention, which is what Dean's legacy truly is. BTD seems to think Dean's legacy was his presidential run in 2004, but the real legacy is the 50-state strategy that Dean has put into place since becoming DNC chair, and that's the true manner in which Obama is The Perfect Storm v2.0. As the saying goes, don't mourn, organize. BTD still seems to be mourning 2004. But this is 2008, and the best way to enact a democratic agenda and promote Democratic values is to win . And that's what the 50-state strategy is all about. Is Obama enough of a Fighting Democrat? Well, thats a debate worth having (and BTD provides no analysis be...