Obama's MySpace Drama 483
fistfullast33l writes "TechPresident, which is covering the use of technology by Presidential Campaigns for 2008, has a very interesting article on how Obama's MySpace page is currently the subject of an underground battle for control by the campaign itself and the volunteer who created it in 2004. Joseph Anthony worked with the campaign initially and grew the site to include over 160,000 unsolicited friends that the campaign could use to reach out to. It currently is the main Obama page in the Impact Channel on MySpace. However, as Obama's campaign became more centralized and formal, the decision was made to attempt to acquire control of the site from Anthony. They asked him for a price, which he offered up as $49,000 plus part of the $10,000 fee paid to MySpace for the Impact Channel. Obama balked at the price, and decided to start afresh rather than pay the money. The fight broke out into the open when Anthony posted a response on his blog to rumors that the campaign was spreading regarding him wanting to cash out. MyDD has more."
crazy (Score:2, Interesting)
This is what happens (Score:4, Interesting)
They say politics is like sausage. You can't simultaneously appreciate the taste of sausage and know how it's made.
Re:$19 Million on Hand ... (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Obama's Space Drama (Score:3, Interesting)
I second Bill Richardson. As a former NM resident, I know how hard he worked/is working for the state, and the country. He has a broad depth of experience (foreign/domestic), can go toe-to-toe with anyone, and is frankly a lot easier to digest than your garden-variety Democrat. He seems to surround himself with good people too, which I think is half the trouble any President has -- the last few have been surrounded by "yes men".
Re:50K doesn't seem that much I guess... (Score:2, Interesting)
I understand the need to have control over the official site, but that amount of money is nothing in the big picture.
Re:Obama's Space Drama (Score:5, Interesting)
And if he were a paid professional in stead of a volunteer working on it, that would possibly even be fair value.
Suppose on a lark I bought a beat up motorcycle, and let you, a volunteer work on it for fun. Then one day I decide to race competitively, and offer to compensate you for your time.
So you calculate all the hours you spent on it, lookup what pro pit mechanics are paid an hour, and suggest I pay you for 800 hours at that rate. I'd probably 'balk' at that too.
Volunteers are usually paid nothing. The fact that the campaign was willing to buy him out was the right thing for them to do. Him deciding to value his volunteer time as if he were a contracted professional was probably out of line.
That said, I agree. Its unfortunate that it couldn't be resolved amicalby, but that's life.
Re:What did you expect? (Score:4, Interesting)
Well
If you're a MySpace user, after clicking on http://www.myspace.com/barackobama [myspace.com] feel free to click on "Send Message" and let him know how you feel.
Also, whether you Are or Are Not a MySpace user, feel free to click on "Block User". I'm sure those metrics might make their way to his attention (or at least the mainstream media's).
Re:What did you expect? (Score:3, Interesting)
Did Anthony ever really expect that the campaign wouldn't eventually want full control of the page, especially since they'd already had problems with him posting incorrect content, and the fiascos with unauthorized staffers making huge gaffs and causing candidates credibility?
Anthony KNEW he was going to have to give over control, or he was stupid. He wanted to be a big cheese in the campaign's online presence, though, and the campaign managers didn't want him to be. He stonewalled, then made an unreasonable offer (the time he spent means nothing in terms of the offer, from the campagn's standpoint. What matters is the value of what he's offering -- which is very small, considering the campaign could get it anyway for nearly nothing). One guy's goodwill is not worth $50,000 -- especially since it was already clear that they wouldn't have his goodwill no matter the settlement amount.
Re:Bill Richardson (Score:3, Interesting)
I intend to vote for him.
Re:This is what happens (Score:3, Interesting)
Hell, I eat scrapple. There's no way a bit o' sausage is going to bother you when you know what goes into THAT.
The point is that familiarity with the political process makes it tolerable, for idealist and realist both.
Re:Flamebait? Come on (Score:2, Interesting)
Athiesm is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby.
Re:Sausage Making for Uninspected Meat Plants (Score:3, Interesting)
It's about exactly what it sounds like.
It's a company who sold meat-processing stuff in the 30s/40s/50s (casings, pigs blood, etc) providing a sausage making manual and recipes. The book is copyrighted, but it is specifically flagged as being the property of the company - I guess as long as you bought from that supplier, you got their recipes and techniques for free. I have no idea what differentiated inspected/uninspected meat plants in that era.
My father tells me about taking all of the meat that was going off and getting a little funky, and running it through the sausage making process. The boiling etc killed off everything you didn't want, and the spices covered it all up. Of course, that traditionally was what sausage was for.
*laugh* I'm not sure I'm looking to scan it any time soon -- I just stole it from my father because the title has always made me laugh; it's also rather fragile. It's more of a display item than anything, but I'm thinking of stealing some of the spice mixes for some of my own cooking since they look interesting. (Curiously enough, I *don't* eat meat or sausage, but it's not related to my knowledge of sausage making. =)
Cheers
Re:Republicrats are all the same. (Score:3, Interesting)
Err, I'm not sure if you were watching the same 2000 presidential debate but I'm pretty sure that Gore was significantly lighter on his feet behind the podium than Bush was. Gore made mistakes in that debate, 2 biggies: 1) He underestimated Bush (which is really really hard to do), and 2) He over estimated the intelligence of the average American. The *sigh* is what really cost him personality points. He was attempting to hammer home the point that he was debating with the official Mesquite, TX town idiot. Unfortunately for him he just wound up coming off as being pretentious. Gore is hardly a one trick pony, he's a military vet, served in both the house and the senate, and was Clinton's VP for 8 years. The guy knows the arena. And his work on the environment has hardly been limited to the US, he has been working internationally to try to find global solutions. The guys is experienced in international diplomacy and negotiation, that alone should put him as one of the top ranked candidates for cleaning up our presence in the Middle East.
"...2 years from now when we see that congress has done nothing they promised and everything they didn't, then we'll start hearing "it's because of Bush". But it's the fact that they want to grandstand and grab as much power as they can now."
Very true! I voted for representatives that said they would work towards finding an end to the war. If they fail to follow through with those campaign promises, I would not be nearly so likely to vote for them again. But, just because they didn't do their best doesn't be that they are immediately the worst candidate running. As you mentioned, I would sooner vote for a republicrat than Hitler.
"Remember the Republican are looking at Mccain and Guiliani, not bad candidates."
Okay, now there you've jumped off the deep end. McCain and Guiliani are horrible candidates! McCain will not be elected because he is for the war in Iraq and he has also backed military actions against Iran ("bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran" is NOT a Beach Boys song). Opposition to the war is at about 70% right now, if McCain wins the primary, he will be handing the Democrats a victory. Guiliani is a bad choice for any number of reasons, mob affiliations, track record, moral fortitude... The guy has is notable only because he is good on TV and got his face in front of as many cameras as he could on 9/11. He did a good job of being a public face when Bush/Cheny were indisposed, but he's about bungled everything he's touched since then. I would say that he is a better candidate than McCain in that he is more likely to win, but with the amount of dirt that is already known about him, and the skeletons he has to deal with, he's going to be eaten alive by the media and special interest groups.
I would actually say that IF Bush continues to push the war, and the Republicans in Congress do not jump ship, it would be an excellent time to introduce a 3rd party to the mix. With the republicans completely defunct in the eyes of the voters, and the Democrats seemingly incompetent or complacent, the Green and Libertarian parties could really make some headway in 2k8.
-Rick
Re:Obama's Space Drama (Score:2, Interesting)