Obama political arm: Disorganized for America?

Just wanted to note for you two big fuck-ups that actually have me wondering WTF? On Sunday, the Obama political org (“Organizing for America”) sent out an email with a form to “schedule an appointment” with your congressperson to discuss health care. My girlfriend dutifully filled it out to go talk at 3PM on Monday (since our rep, Gutierrez, only has hours from 9 to 5 in the district — sheesh). She actually took time off from work to do this, because we both think that at this point the Dems need a spine injection so we don’t end up with some watered-down bill that is worse than useless. I went along since I run my own consulting business and have a flexible schedule.

When we arrived, the Congressman’s office had no idea what we were talking about, and said we had to fill out a form on a clipboard as a constituent request. We told them we had ALREADY filled out a form online to schedule an appointment, and they said, “oh, that. Someone else came in, too, and showed it to us. We have nothing to do with that.” They also said that “unless 25 to 30 people” request a meeting, the congressman doesn’t meet with constituents.

Now, Gutierrez is the least of our worries, he’s on board for a public option (although I’m not sure if he’s on board with the progressive caucus to refuse to vote for a bill without one); however, it was very annoying that the Obama political arm wasted our time with this deceptive “campaign” that was NOT coordinated with reps. It is even more upsetting in light of what happened next.

Organizing for America sent out an email “inviting” both of us (each at our own email addresses) to participate in a teleconference about health care Tuesday night with David Axelrod, and when you register you fill out a little form with your question for Axelrod. (Mine? Why hasn’t Obama drawn a line in the sand and said he won’t sign any bill that doesn’t include a public option?) They sent an email saying to be ready 15 minutes before the call, that you’d receive a call with instructions on how to get into the conference. Then, they sent a second “reminder” email Tuesday afternoon to remind us to be waiting for the call.

We waited. And waited. I got no call at all, and emailed them to let them know at the address for “problems” which they cited in the email. 10 minutes later, still no call so I sent another email, and got an auto-response indicating that they can’t reply to all requests.

My girlfriend got a call, which quickly rattled off a number to call in case you get disconnected, then in less than a minute she WAS disconnected and hadn’t had a pen to write down the number.

So, TWO DAYS IN A ROW our time was wasted by Obama’s political organization — and we were staunch supporters, traveled out of town to register voters last summer and everything.

I think I now have a clue as to why they are having trouble not only getting a bill passed but controlling elements of the Democratic caucus. The coordination is not very good, and it’s very, very, annoying for working people to set aside time to try to help and then get essentially shafted by poor planning.

So, basically, no more. They can win or lose this battle on their own, but I’m not spending any more of MY time trying to help, since it appears that they are more willing to bend over backwards to “compromise” with people who are never going to support health care than they are willing to simply coordinate well enough to not waste their supporters’ time.

Bah. It is beginning to seem that the “brilliant” political organizing attributed to the Obama campaign was simply riding the crest of a wave, about as “brilliant” as the Wall Streeters who managed to make millions in a market bubble.