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October 5, 2009

Out of the Democrats' Black Heart, a Force Grows

Justin Katz

Alright, the title of the post is a bit dramatic, but there's an interesting tidbit obscured under the walk-on-by headline of "Brown grad hired" in today's Political Scene:

The Democratic National Committee has announced the hiring of recent Brown graduate Emilie Aries to lead the Rhode Island chapter of an Obama campaign off-shoot organization called "Organizing for America." ...

[State] Party Chairman William Lynch sent a letter to several party leaders, including the Rhode Island's Congressional delegation, noting that "numerous Democratic state chairs throughout the country who were not, frankly, overly enthused by the plans to unleash OFA across the country."

"As the Rhode Island Democratic State Chair, I did not think then, nor do I think now, that it is generally advisable nor beneficial to have a separate and distinct Democratic political organization working in the state of Rhode Island as opposed to joining forces with our existing state party structure," Lynch wrote. "This, however, was not a decision that was left up to me by OFA and, in fact, I have had virtually no input into OFA's plans here in Rhode Island."

Whom are the Obamanauts trying to elbow aside? Interesting to see these subdivisions emerge.

As was a repeating theme at this weekend's Republican Northeast Conference, the Right is aware of the need to craft messages and build alliances that allow us to work together, even if one region's or faction's emphases are antithetical to another's, but the Right tends to be more patchwork (coalitional, if I may coin a term), in general, so such loose affiliation along irreducible principles accords with our nature. The Left can pragmatically put one faction's goals aside, if all agree that doing so represents a necessary, but temporary, action, but my sense is that its structure is more of a giant consensus than an agreement to work together within the limited contexts that are possible.

Comments

"announced the hiring of recent Brown graduate Emilie Aries to lead the Rhode Island chapter of an Obama campaign off-shoot organization called "Organizing for America." ..."

This is very confusing. So President Obama's support is not grassroots but top down?

Posted by: Monique at October 5, 2009 2:18 PM

"Whom are the Obamanauts trying to elbow aside? Interesting to see these subdivisions emerge."

Could it have something to do with Betsy Dennigan taking on Langevin, perhaps? OFA strikes me as something akin to Club for Growth... except against growth.

Posted by: Will at October 5, 2009 4:58 PM

I see that our beloved Federal District Court for the District of Rhode Island has turned to Worcester Polytech students to redesign its web site.

I guess Rhode Island college students were too dumb for the task.

Posted by: Marty Martini at October 5, 2009 5:39 PM

grassROOTS? Why is always someone from Brown? Must have had trouble finding a RIer with liberal views who voted for Obama.

I think Will may be on to something. Could be Organizing for Betsy. Aries previously worked on the Lamont campaign in Connecticut.

Posted by: mikeinri at October 5, 2009 6:13 PM

If Will is indeed "on to something", to me it confirms the insanity of the left. That the Obama aparatus would plant seeds in Rhode Island in order to throw out an incumbent who supports a liberal agenda with only one exception, LIFE, is not only insane, it's frightening. Not just insane because it's a "pro-choice" effort, but more insane because it seems to put this "choice" above all else.

Posted by: George at October 5, 2009 8:31 PM