Back in October, I made the observation that:
Do I really think that Obama is trying to form a new Hitler Youth type movement? Probably not.But if I had to pick between Obama and McCain, as to which one was more likely to do exactly that – there is no question that it would be Obama.
Fast forward to the present, and we find out about this (courtesy of the LA Times):
The organization, known internally as “Barack Obama 2.0,” is being designed to sustain a grass-roots network of millions that was mobilized last year to elect Obama and now is widely considered the country’s most potent political machine.
Organizers and even Republicans say the scope of this permanent campaign structure is unprecedented for a president. People familiar with the plan say Obama’s team would use the network in part to pressure lawmakers — particularly wavering Democrats — to help him pass complex legislation on the economy, healthcare and energy.
Though the plan still is emerging, one source with knowledge of the internal discussion said the organization could have an annual budget of $75 million in privately raised funds. Another said it would deploy hundreds of paid staff members — possibly one for every congressional district in certain politically important states and even more in larger battlegrounds such as Florida, Ohio, Colorado, Virginia and North Carolina.
The full-time staff is likely to consist primarily of the presidential campaign workers, many in their 20s, who served as the local points of contact for the campaign’s vast network of neighborhood volunteers. As part of the new organization, these workers probably would focus on similar campaign-style tasks, such as arranging phone banks, distributing signs, recruiting more helpers, buying coffee and doughnuts for house meetings and reporting voter contact data to senior officials.
“The only way to keep this thing going is to have boots on the ground,” said a strategist familiar with the plan who spoke on condition of anonymity because campaign officials have not granted permission to talk about it.
In what would be another unprecedented step, Obama’s political staff is deciding whether to create a service organization that would use the vast corps of its grass-roots campaign supporters. As described by one source knowledgeable with the discussions, this nonprofit arm would be used to help victims of natural disasters, but would do so under the Obama umbrella while continuing to build the overall network’s massive e-mail database.
The prospect of a president being able to guide a service or relief agency outside the framework of his government is a unique development.
So we now see that the Obama is not only planning to run a perpetual campaign, but to build his own organization separate from the Democrat Party. Think ACORN, but dedicated to Obama and his administration.
If John McCain had won the election, and made the same move, there would have been wailing and gnashing of teeth from the Media. The Left would have been screaming about Brownshirts and Nazis.
So, let me do the media a favor, and point out that there is a modern equivelant to what Obama wants to build:
It is called Hamas.
From Wikipedia:
Since its formation in 1987, Hamas has conducted numerous social,
political, and military actions. Its popularity stems in part from its welfare and social services to Palestinians in the occupied territories,
including school and hospital construction. The group devotes much of
its estimated $70 million annual budget to an extensive social services
network, running many relief and education programs, and funds schools,
orphanages, mosques, healthcare clinics, soup kitchens, and sports
leagues. According to the Israeli scholar Reuven Paz “approximately 90 percent of the organization’s work is in social, welfare, cultural, and educational activities”
The only difference I can see is that Hamas has a fully fledged Military wing.
Of course, that may just be a matter of time.
Tags: Obama
