Making National Politics Individual

Early in Obama's second term there are some fascinating problems facing the nation, many with slow-motion potential, but at least three legacies are apparent.

First is the rise of tax funded community organizers. Much of the administrative work of government projects will be outsourced to politically and socially motivated community groups. The Affordable Care Act will require an interface between the patient and the system, apparently, and that interface will not be government employees subject to citizen oversight, they will be "community organizers" with who knows what blunt ax to grind. Ditto the new and improved immigration system. This peculiar plan, which seems to solve a problem of the illegal immigrant not the legal citizens, will require another interface, again by non-government employees, again "community organizers." The public funding of political and social organizations is an astonishing step, especially when combined with legacy number two.

Second, Obama has created a huge data base of voters, including non-traditional voters. This base has refined the tendencies and preferences of these individuals so that they can be discreetly and specifically targeted in election campaigns. There is no evidence yet that his success will transcend him and his personality but the first trial run in the last election was impressive. The Obama activists were calling voters weekly, starting after the first election! Most interesting, he has not rolled this program into the DNC as is usually done with individual campaign programs; he has kept it separate, an aloofness that should worry traditional Democrats plenty.

Third, the new breakthrough in campaigning against your own policies. This allows a politician to stand outside the government and comment, much like an editorialist, on various aspects of the day as if he were independent and objective. The government thus becomes its own entity with failings and motives. And the President must work with those limitations as he tries to improve things so he is not actually responsible for anything that happens.

These unusual developments have impressive potential. An Example: The esteemed politician facing election publicly frets over current gun policy, whether his or not. He consults his data base, finds those opposed to gun ownership and has the activists call that list weekly, noting the candidate's support for gun control. He then finds gun owners with hunting dogs and the activists call them regularly about the candidate's strong support of fishing clubs and the Humane Society.