Obama Facing Online Backlash

There's more buzz in the news on Barack Obama's perceived apostasies among the hard-left netroots contingents. USA Today reports that Obama's move to the center may so alienate radical leftists that he'll wind up losing significant support among those in the Democratic Party base.

One of the more interesting articles today is at Raw Story, on the "community bloggers" at Obama's official campaign page: "Group Urging FISA 'No' Vote is Largest on Obama's Social Site":

Barack Obama supporters urging the Illinois senator to vote against a pending surveillance law have formed the largest group on the Democratic presidential candidate's social networking Web site, my.barackobama.com.

The group, "Senator Obama - Please Vote NO on Telecom Immunity - Get FISA Right," had more than 14,500 members as of Thursday morning. The group formed last Wednesday, June 25, making it perhaps the fastest growing user-generated group on the page. Sometime around 8 p.m. Wednesday, the group became No. 1 in overall membership, surpassing "Action Wire," the campaign-created group that is designed to fight smears and rumors hurled at Obama.

The "Get FISA Right" group formed in response to Obama's indication that he would support an update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that is to be voted on in the Senate next week. Critics say the bill would essentially legalize the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program, which President Bush authorized, while eliminating pending civil lawsuits aimed at the telecommunications companies that allegedly handed over reams of private customer data to the government.

The group's founder, blogger Mike Stark, tells RAW STORY he is talking to others who have been active on FISA to determine how best to use the group to pressure Obama and other senators who seem likely to vote for the bill, which is scheduled for a vote on Tuesday. The group nearly doubled in size over the last two days as it started to receive more attention from progressive bloggers and even garnered a few mentions in more traditional news outlets.

On Thursday, the group released an open letter to Obama asking that the campaign share its phone banking tools so group members can call voters and urge them to pressure their senators to vote against immunity. The letter also asks Obama to speak out on the Senate floor when the bill is voted on next week. (The full letter is reproduced below.)

I'm getting a kick out of these "community bloggers."

I'm not going to be surprised if Obama shuts down the social networking component at the official page. While the FISA lobbying may be legitimate, the calls for revolution coming from the "Marxists for Obama" can't be good for campaign image-building.

Image Credit: The People's Cube