This is not the type of communication I was talking about...

Here's the DNC's new effort to use the momentum of the Obama election to push forward a progressive liberal agenda...a year after he was sworn into office: Gen44! Yeah...a new 'youthful' vibe that's totally not at all based on all of the old problems of using a figurehead as a political movement.

Anyone else remember when Katha Pollit told democrats NOT to do this exact thing?

Stop looking for a savior. If we create a strong movement, leaders will arise. Probably too many! When a movement is weak, what you get is men--and I do mean men--on white horses, people with thin records of accomplishment upon whom wild hopes of rescue are projected. In 2004 it was Wesley Clark--supposedly electable because he was a general. This year, it's Barack Obama, with John Edwards coming up the inside. My point is not that both men are lightweight, inexperienced and less progressive than advertised. It's that, whatever their merits, if you want the next Democrat in the White House to feel beholden to you, don't act like a groupie two years in advance. Concentrate on building a movement he'll need to court--and satisfy.

I'm sure it is the intention of the Gen44 folks, whether the idea was initiated at the DNC or elsewhere, to make sure Obama ISN'T the headliner of the party for the foreseeable future, but making the name of the organization tasked with doing so an explicit reference to Obama probably won't accomplish that. Just saying.

How about instead of this, the DNC and OFA work on crafting a durable, poignant message about what their current legislative platform is, and how it will help Americans? How about they do some media studies to find out how to best distribute that message?