Keeping it classy

I posted a while back about Obama's campaign gaffe in Portland. I got a response, of course, as I noted, and thought little more of it - I figure their campaign gets a flood of complaints every time Obama or one of his minions puts a foot in the campaign's mouth, and the way his campaign's been going, I'd bet there's rather a lot of it.

Anyway, so I didn't really complain when I started getting spam from Obama's campaign. I don't really give a rip about Al Gore's endorsement, the incessant pleading of the campaign to "help us beat John McCain" with a hand out every time, and the Very Important Announcements of the campaign that the media rushes to get out there every time the guy opens his mouth. I used my Yahoo throwaway email address for it; Yahoo has an excellent spam filter already, and I dutifully flagged every email that made it through as spam, consigning it to the trash bin with the Nigerian money movers and penis enlargement offers.

Wednesday morning, though, I got this:

Dear WG --

Tonight is the crucial financial reporting deadline for June. Right now is the time to step up and own a piece of this campaign. I need your help to take on John McCain, the Republican National Committee, and the shady so-called 527 groups that are dedicated to attacking this campaign using millions of dollars in unregulated contributions. Please support this movement by making a donation of $25 by Midnight tonight: https://donate.barackobama.com/deadlinejune

Together we are setting a new standard for how presidential campaigns will be
organized and funded. For the first time in a generation, a presidential
campaign is putting staff in every single state for the general election. Our
staff and the Obama Organizing Fellows are getting to work right now to build on
grassroots energy in all 50 states. And -- unlike John McCain -- we're going to
do it without contributions from Washington lobbyists and special interest PACs
that have held too much power for far too long in this country.

By putting our organizational and financial future in your hands, it's clear who will be responsible for our success and who we will be accountable to in the White
House: the people. But in order to match the resources of our opponents, we're
going to have to do more and get more people involved than ever before. Your
donation of $25 right now will help make that happen: https://donate.barackobama.com/deadlinejune

I'm counting on you to take the lead and build this campaign. The stakes couldn't be higher, and every American who hopes for something better from their government is counting on us.

Thank you, Barack

I was annoyed. For one thing, as I recall, the "so called 527 groups" were a loophole made for lobbyists largely because in 2002, the McCain-Feingold act closed all of the others, leaving this one because the Democrats in Congress screamed about it. Before 2002, of course, it wasn't an issue since candidates could spend soft money any way they wanted to.

There is a world of difference between groups like the Swift Boaters and groups like MoveOn (which, to be fair, is no longer a 527, citing "new politics from the Obama campaign - the cynical part of me wants to see this as a strong message from the Obama camp that MoveOn has become a liability, not an asset). For one thing, although the Swift Boat Veterans were largely credited with torpedoing Kerry's campaign in 2004 (to make an apropros pun), they were formed for the express purpose of addressing the deficiencies of one candidate for one office. MoveOn was formed in 1997 as a response to the Clinton impeachment proceedings, has been a major player in every election from then until now, and is largely credited with the 2006 Democrat takeover of Congress.

Disavowing 527's is probably a good move, and it's one shared by both candidates; McCain has been very critical of them in the past, and remains so today - he was one of the few prominent Republican senators on the sidelines in 2004 that was openly and vocally critical of the Swift Boat Veterans.

No, it's the characterization of Obama's campaign as being "different", the constant drumbeat of "hope" and "change" that offends me. His campaign is playing no less dirty than any other political election in the history of this country, and to paraphrase a famous quotation, those with respect for politics and sausages should never watch either being produced. I realize that's his platform, and it's a pretty good choice considering that he manages to pivot on just about every issue the campaign comes up with, but still....

Anyway, I decided to try unenrolling - went to the Obama site, wrote a complaint, asked to be disenrolled from their mailing list. why they put me on the mailing list in the first place is beyond me, considering my only contact with the campaign was a complaint about their conduct. How that translates into my being a supporter....whatever.

So I went to check my mail, seeing that there's more spam in there, and guess what? More Obama mail! I'll try disenrolling again in a few days and make it clear that the campaign is now in violation of the federal statutes on unsolicited bulk email.