The open platforms of lefty blogs and, for that matter, Barack Obama's organizing tools have their problems. People say crazy things that can be pulled out of context and used to embarrass the host, institution, or candidate. Exactly such a scuffle is currently going on over at Obama's site, where some random commenter went off on the "Jewish Lobby" and various rightwing bloggers caught wind of the post. Happy day in rightwing blogistan! But as Patrick Ruffini says, these platforms come with an upside:
Stories like this win tactical, one-day skirmishes but lose us the broader war. The damage to the Obama campaign will last 24-48 hours, and by then we'll have moved on to the next line of attack. But in the meantime, thousands more people will sign up to My.BarackObama.com. They'll form groups, RSVP to events, and yes, maybe write an off-color blogpost or two. They'll solidify their commitment to a community that's fanatically dedicated to electing Barack Obama president. And while the pundit-blogosphere may dismiss them, the people on MyBO are building the most fearsome volunteer organization in the history of Presidential politics. The old school consultants will take heart in the blog feeding frenzy, and feel vindicated in their decision to run a play-it-safe, Web 1.0 campaign. So they'll use the clips from this to veto open systems and user generated content on candidate websites. And a few months later, they'll wonder why their website is so lame and why they're getting clobbered by the Democrats online.
