By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 01/10/2026If you've ever wondered why your vote seems to accomplish so little, I think you can blame the near-abolition of small p politics by Big P politicians of every stripe. 211626
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 01/10/2026Indeed, Obama's genius was summoning up an army of door-knocking, phone-banking small p political activists and then euthanizing that organization after he won the election: newrepublic.com/article/1402...newrepublic.comInside the Fall of Obama’s Grassroots ArmyThe untold story of Obama’s biggest mistake—and how it paved the way for Trump. 413018
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 01/10/2026For Obama, the grassroots were useful for one thing: getting out the vote. The last thing he wanted was for millions of activated voters to turn into activists who'd flame him and harangue him and picket him if they didn't like his compromises. Boy, did Obama ever compromise. 312316
Leslie Nuss @nussforus.bsky.social · 02/10/2026I seem to recall a huge propaganda campaign against ACORN-which did the grassroots organizing. I was part of an online group for parents of kids with disabilities and recall someone blasting it so I said-is this racism? Before I left the group (bc it was racism) 0101
bluestatedon.bsky.social @bluestatedon.bsky.social · 02/10/2026“After the midterm debacle in 2010, when Democrats suffered their biggest losses since the Great Depression, Obama essentially had to build a new campaign machine from scratch in time for his reelection effort in 2012.” 000
bluestatedon.bsky.social @bluestatedon.bsky.social · 02/10/2026One of the dumbest political decisions Obama made. That army of volunteers could have been a weapon to fight lunatic Tea Partiers in the disastrous 2010 midterms. 2304
