In Praise of the Obama NYC Campaign Office

Last night I amended the previous post, "Politics 101: From Fumble to FEMA," based on some feedback that I received from a friend. I reedited the post, bringing it closer to the original draft -- i.e., taking it from tepid criticism to full-fired rant.

If you're going to make a point, it's worth making it in full voice. That's why I'm taking the time right now to make explicit an idea that has been implicit in every criticism-laden post to hit this blog since its inception.

Barack Obama's New York Campaign Finance Office, including (and, from my understanding, led by Jennifer Yeager), is doing a phenomenal job in fulfilling its primary fundraising mission. The numbers from New York City are outstanding.

Many of Barack's well-reported hedge-fund donors may be based in Connecticut (just a guess from what I know of the industry), but you can bet that the New York office took the lead in pursuing their support. This success is worthy of recognition, and has been a key contributing factor to legitimizing Barack Obama's run in coverage by mainstream and new media sources.

Clearly, the Brooklyn event became a tipping-point stumble for my personal experience of the campaign to date. I reacted strongly because I'm very invested in the outcome of Barack Obama's candidacy. I aimed a lot of criticism at the NYC office, because they're the front line of this particular experience.

I am not rescinding my observations about mistakes that were made, and perhaps continue to be made. This should not, however, be construed as laying blame at the NYC office's door alone.

I'm more concerned about the messages that they're receiving from Chicago, and the role they're being asked to fulfill relative to the resources they've been allocated. A campaign finance office has one major objective: To raise as much money as possible as quickly as possible.

You can bet that this office would not have made its first choice of event a $25 per ticket fundrasiser at a hotel in Brooklyn. That's just not the fastest way to the cash in this area.

This means that they were asked (by Chicago, in response to grass-roots action in Brooklyn) to go above and beyond. They had to use the limited staff allocated to them for their primary mission to make a success of a very different type of event. It's not surprising that there was a mishap. I'm sure they took this task on with the best of intentions and did what they could.

When I write that this would never have happened at a $1000 per ticket event, that statement need not only be read as criticism. I imagine that this office excels at organizing just that sort of big-ticket gathering, and those are also a crucial part of the campaign (take a look at the overall breakdown of contributions by amount). We shouldn't ever discriminate against rich people with open wallets.

What we're missing in New York, and possibly elsewhere, is a larger presence dedicated to getting it right with the so-called average folks. I don't know how large this gap is, but (as I've written before) I don't accept a back-burner approach to primary states that fall behind the conventional first stops. All of the dates in this fast-forward race are too fluid for a simple, four-state wager.

I've made my point repeatedly about the tree that fell in Brooklyn and no one seemed to hear. Now I plan to reach out to the grass-roots groups that I know are functioning in this area and find out what they think of the support they're getting.

I'd also love to find out specifically what resources are lacking in the New York office, so that NYC supporters can help them do better. This isn't information that they should feel they need to hide from their base.

Whether they need volunteers, or need some loud voices calling Chicago and asking the main office to hire reinforcements, people in this city are ready to help the staffers who have come here to get Barack Obama elected. Transparency has its privileges!

As of last night, my friend was still waiting for her refund. This is two weeks after the Brooklyn event, and will soon be one week since her phone call. What's taking them so long to return her $25?

I can guess their answer will be that they're very busy, and they're trying their best. If that's true, then what sense does it make for that office to be buried in email when an eager volunteer force is waiting across the five boroughs?

If they don't feel they can ask Chicago for help, then it's time we start asking for them. The one thing New Yorkers should not be willing to do is to remain quiet and watch the 2008 race be decided with our dollars, but without our input.