For everyone who ripped me a new one for saying the "c" word...

[lwcon]

"Cultish," that is.

Please read Kathleen Geier's thoughtful piece from TPM Cafe. She's a Ph.D. student in public policy at the University of Chicago, and she voted for Obama:

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/02/05/barack_obama_is_not_jesus/

Is she a Rove plant?
A Hitlery stooge?
A Fox News dupe?
A racist?

Or is she seeing what a lot of us have been telling you about and would like to see rectified, so in the event that Obama wins the nomination, he'll become a more grounded candidate -- not surrounded by a bubble of infallibility -- and will feel more free to emphasize actual policy changes instead of relying so much on the mere idea of change and on unchallenging, untrue, and destructive conservative frames (such as that Social Security is in crisis, tax cuts are the cure for our economic woes, we need to expand the size of our military, we should rattle sabers at more Middle Eastern countries, Ronald Reagan was transformative, Democrats should actively mix religion with their politics, we can solve our problems by offering the GOP an olive branch of Unity, etc.).

A few people have asked me what I'd like Obama to do. This is what:

1. Stop affecting the role of a revival preacher. More JFK (since you’ve claimed the mantle), less Benny Hinn.

2. Tone down the empty platitudes. If you’re such a freaking great orator and transformative change-maker, challenge us, give us more policy and less chanting. Tell us what you’re going to transform and change, and what it is “we can” do. Let us hope for something more than that you’re lying to those independent and Republican voters you’re courting so avidly. If you want to talk the talk of a “movement,” how about telling us what you plan to move, where and how?

3. Stop validating rightwing memes. Galvanize the voters with something more honest and constructive than lies about our problems being two-way partisan bickering; seize on voters’ proven dissatisfaction with today’s GOP.

4. Talk sincerely to your adherents about the need for humility and realism.

___

The Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy, now at my new home: Correntewire.com

[TheWraith]

1. Well, if a public policy student at the University of Chicago says it, it must be true! NT

[lwcon]

7. That argument certainly couldn't stand up to the ultimate convincer

"If it's critical of the Obama campaign it must not be true."

___

The Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy, now at my new home: Correntewire.com

[npincus]

2. yawn.

[robbedvoter]

3. Joel Stein, the LA Times guy who wrote about it was also an Obama supporter

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-stein8feb08,0,3418234.column

On the thread they started attacking him - until someone Frenchie Cat tried to stop them: "he is a friend!" he got trampled anyway.

And another blogger quoted that day.
They got the threads erased off DU. Thoughts of their own people.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. I think this Kathleen Geier person should be ashamed.

What she's up to is voter disenfranchisement.

[lwcon]

10. An Obama voter's criticism of the campaign = voter disenfranchisement

One of the more creative constructions so far, I must admit.

Well played!

___


The Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy, now at my new home: Correntewire.com

[RiverStone]

5. One person's opinion - not mine

I usually don't find that someone else's OP's justify or change my view.

Obama is who he is - and that person will have taken 8 straight states after tomorrow night.

If someone wants to dismiss him or control the message by calling his followers part of a cult, that is their prerogative - but that person is wrong.

Winning sometimes can happen simply because the better team out perfoms the other.

[Adelante]

6. Another Clinton supporter for my Ignore list

Keep your elbows down in there.

[NoBorders]

8. She's just citing the same source that started all of this

She adds nothing new to the argument.

[Imperialism Inc.]

9. I have to say I've been amused by this new meme from a desparate

Clinton campaign. That it is somehow a bad thing that Obama inspires people. Mr. Obama should keep up the good work. Keep doing what energizes people and what will make sure that Clinton does not get the nomination.

[TheWraith]

11. Hey, remember: being inspired by our leaders is BAD!

We shouldn't be inspired or motivated. We shouldn't try to win outside blue states. And we shouldn't try to change the tone of politics. So sayth the Clinton Campaign.

[pdxmom]

12. I noticed Clinton mocking that inspiration and motivation at one of her

speeches in Virginia. It was sad to hear that.

[Imperialism Inc.]

15. The article linked in the original post is completely substance free.

She makes a lot of hay from just a few simple words. Twisting them around with all her strength to find something to complain about. Apparently the thing Obama and his supporters should be doing is devoting a lot of time to telling people how fallible he is and itemizing all the mistakes he has made. Yeah, that sounds like some great campaign tactics there! Talk about jumping at shadows. That piece was a joke. I mean I understand as well as anyone that just electing a president isn't enough. It takes grass roots work to make change in the long term. However, to suggest that one should campaign on, "Well I can't really do much once I'm there but vote for me anyway" is laughable. Clearly Clinton has been unable to convince anyone she will be an agent of change and so now wants to push the idea that change isn't possible. And some supposed Obama supporters are eating it right up? How sad.

[sandnsea]

13. "my first choice was for John Edwards"

that says it all about this writer. Edwards people need to clean out the campaign rhetoric from that campaign and look at the real proposals of Barack Obama. If she doesn't understand how Reagan transformed this country or that we have to quit conceding religion to the GOP, then she's a twit and I don't care how many letters are behind her name.

[lwcon]

14. Yes, Reagan transformed the nation because he warned us...

... that Democrats were the party of excessive taxes and bureaucratic waste. What could be wrong with embracing that framing?

http://www.correntewire.com/he_challenged_many_of_those_ideas

[DemBones DemBones]

16. Yes, but next she said "today I voted for Barack Obama"

"Though my first choice for president was John Edwards, today I voted for Barack Obama. He's not perfect, but he's a good progressive and unlike Hillary Clinton, he opposed the Iraq war from the beginning. As a constituent of his while he was a state senator, I remember very clearly that he was an outspoken opponent of the war at a time when most others in public life were running scared. And, unlike Hillary Clinton, he didn't stand and applaud when Bush said the surge was working."

"That said, I'm getting increasingly weirded out by some of Obama's supporters."


She ends the article by saying:

"There's a famous story about FDR meeting with a group of reformers trying to persuade him to support one of their goals. After they finished speaking, FDR said to them, "You've convinced me. I want to do it. Now make me do it."

"We need to remember that -- that the next president will do the right thing only if there are incentives (in the form of massive political pressure) for him or her to do so."

"So I say, we should all get a grip, stop all this unseemly mooning over Barack, see him and the political landscape he is a part of in a cooler, clearer, and more realistic light, and get to work."


Read the article, the link's in the OP. She's supporting Obama. She wants him to win in November. It's completely irrelevant that she would have voted for Edwards if he'd stayed in. A lot of people would have voted for Edwards and the four other candidates before it got narrowed down unusually soon to two choices. All of them are choosing either Clinton or Obama now.