How much time do you think Barack Obama spends worrying about the criticism here on DU?

[Mark E. Smith]

There are those posting here who believe that their criticism
of some of the moves Barack Obama has made on staffing and
policy issues is playing an important role in the debate on
these matters in Washington DC.

And they use this rationale to defend their criticisms, citing
their responsibility to speak out and help president elect
Obama do the right thing.

So my question to you is this: given the president-elect's
very busy schedule, how much time do you believe he devotes to
concerns over some of the remarks posted here on DU?

[Jennicut]

1. He has more pressing problems right now then DU

[bunnies]

2. Less than zero.

Thankfully.

[freesqueeze]

3. DU WHO?

Why bother worrying about dedicated Democratic Progressives. Where are they going to go?

[Shiver]

5. change.gov

That is, after all, what it's for

[Posteritatis]

20. But if people complain there, they can't complain that they're being ignored here! (nt)

[bunnies]

12. Please.

Those dedicated to the process have their voices heard in other ways. We do silly things like contacting people who are actually in a position to effect change - or actually get off our asses and *work* for a campaign.

The other half of DU is only dedicated to one thing. Bitching on a discussion board.

[Shiver]

4. On DU?

Not even a femtosecond.

On what's submitted to Change.gov? I'm betting substantially more time.

[Demobrat]

6. I'd be amazed if he'd ever even heard of this place

much less read it or worried about what people here said.

[H2O Man]

7. False premise.

A short time ago, I read your response to an OP where the DUer spoke of their belief the democratic left-wing should be more vocal in advocating that President-elect Obama make appointments that reflect the values of progressives and liberals. That is distinct from his/her saying Obama reads DU. It might be of more value to have an honest discussion, than to make this type of inaccurate attack on a DUer.

[booley]

8. Is he even aware DU exists?

This is not to put down DU, btw. But our power is in the organizing. That's what people outside Du see thats hows what we can do. Not messages on the internet. (not that i don't' like messages on the internet;-)

[jonnyblitz]

9. AND THEN there are those who say our criticism UNDERMINES

him, as if he reads DU everyday. i think people criticize here on DU just to VENT and it is the DU Obama APOLOGISTS who impy what is said here matters in their attempts to shut down criticism. you have it ass backwards, IMHO.

[bunnies]

16. Oh, the persecution!

What next, pray tell. Lions?!

[n2doc]

10. Every Waking Minute?

:sarcasm:

[lamp_shade]

11. Best poll I've seen in weeks.

[polichick]

13. Doubt he even knows about DU - nobody I met on the campaign knew about us.

[Armstead]

14. This is truly boring

Fer Chrissakes, DU is a message and discussion board. The self-appointed Hall Monitors -- or the reminders of how useless criticism is -- are as useless as those they are criticizing.

Very few (if any of us) has any illusions that people like Obama give a jack shit about what is said here ultimately.

But it is a meeting ground for people, and one would hope that it is at least part of the larger conversation and reflects and shapes the overall zeitgeist.

Criticism and praise of Obama and other politicians are equally valid here.

[Pyrzqxgl]

15. I'm sure his people keep track of us and what our thoughts are

He'd be stupid not to and we all know he isn't stupid. How much time that
takes or how he feels about us, and our fellow progressive blogs, I couldn't
say, but we helped get him where he is and I'm sure he's aware of that.

[No Elephants]

24. You're kidding, right? You really think his peeps (a) know about this board, (b) actually

spend time readding the posts here and (c) take up Obama's time telling him what is posted here? Why would they do that? For the most part, people here are posting their opnions--and you know the saying about about opinions, right? The rest is assertsions that are, 9.9 times out of ten, unsupported by any authority, like a link to a good source. And for every person who posts that Obama is doing great, another posts that he isn't. So, what is the point of spending time reading posts here. BTW, do you know how much time it would take to read all the forums on this board?

Sorry, but I really think people are kidding themselves about how important posts here are in the real world. It's a message board. We're passing time, not doing any significant. The significant things are donating and volunteering. After that, it's bs.

[No Elephants]

17. To which President Elect Obama replied, "Who's initials are DU?"

[walldude]

18. LOL we can't even come to an agreement on whether we

should be criticizing Obama or not. Anyone looking here to "get the pulse" of liberals/progressives/Democrats will walk away frustrated at best.

[Mira]

19. Give him 3 seconds and imagine.....

[FrenchieCat]

21. That's not the correct question........

Because I believe that DU's conversations on specific topics do converge with other Liberal blogs, and that the loudest cumulative conversations are picked up by the media, which in turn uses them as it sees fit....and to that degree, the media reporting is something that President Elect Obama and his staff do end up reading about in the Newspapers.

So yes....I think that DU does have some influence, although it depends on the intensity of a given topic.

How's that? :)

[KoKo]

25. Well said. It's not DU its the "collective" of Dem Blogs

and many that are more progressive than most here on DU who are more vocal. It's the Lefty Progressives that read other blogs and post here that complete the circle of voices on the Left of Center. And, yes, we do have influence and it will grow because we will now be noticed as the Right was for all those years because we managed to get a Dem back in and we will work to "keep him honest."

[LittleApple81]

22. I don't know if any of you has read Ryan Lizza's article in "The New Yorker" dated July 21, 2008.

The Title is "Making It". We represent absolutely nothing to him. I am glad that we did not elect McCain/Palin. And I would vote for Obama 100 times if the competition was a Repug. And I hope he does OK.

[AtomTan]

23. A more appropriate poll would ask

Whether one is discussing politics in here because one expects to directly influence the Obama administration, or because this is a POLITICAL DISCUSSION BOARD.

[Mark E. Smith]

36. Now there's a word I can't stand.

"Appropriate."

My poor kids have to hear that one at school
school constantly.

Is this appropriate? Is that appropriate? Are you
engaged in appropriate behavior? Do you really
think that is appropraite?

Gawd.

I'd like to tell them that the 'appropriate' response
to such empty-headed crap would be something along the
lines of: "No, you fucking asshole. But while we're
on the topic of behavior that might not be appropriate,
how about you kiss my ass?"

But, alas, I cannot.

[AtomTan]

37. Man, you must be a terrible parent.

jk

[Mark E. Smith]

38. You don't have kids I'll bet

Otherwise you wouldn't sound so utterly clueless.

[AtomTan]

39. I do have a kid actually

And I know what you mean about the overuse of "appropriate" in school. I was just making a joke about how often your kids are being told their behavior is inappropriate. As for being clueless, I can't argue with that.

[Mark E. Smith]

41. That is the problem with the overuse of that word ..

.. it gets applied to everything. Constantly.

I take back what I said. Thanks.

[wyldwolf]

26. D-who?

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

27. Probably about the same amount of time

he spends puffing on a bong while listening to Krautrock LPs on headphones.

[agent007]

28. By that logic, we shouldn't criticize Bush or McCain, since they do not visit DU

Am I wrong?

[Barack_America]

29. Does negative time exist?

[darkism]

30. If he ever did read DU, he'd think a lot of us are kooks. n/t

[Writer]

31. Obama wears a bracelet that bears the letters "W.W.D.U.D.?"

[Saturday]

32. ROTFLMAO nt

[bigwillq]

33. Nada.Zero.Zilch.

[rvablue]

34. ZERO....and why would he when

there are reams of folks on here that think Barbara Lee, Dennis Kucinich and McKinney should be put into the highest possible policy positions in the land.

Barbara Lee was my rep for years and years and I voted for her a couple of times.

I do not want her to President though......

[tekisui]

35. If he had any heart, he would care a great deal about DU.

Depleted Uranium is a serious issue. Veterans are suffering from its effects and it's still being used.

:)

[Whisp]

40. i think he sits up late at night waiting to see what some asshole here says...

I can name them,
and they all have suspiciously similar credentials if you are a history buff here

but something tells me I shouldn't.

;)

[Phredicles]

42. Wait, you mean he doesn't spend all his spare time on DU, or that

sometimes he doesn't get his work done because he was too distracted by whatever flame war was happening here? My Gods, what sort of weirdo have we elected? Next you're going to tell us he has one of those "life" things I've heard about.;)

[Starry Messenger]

43. Aren't you getting his PMs?

I can't imagine he wastes one second thinking about this place. Normal people don't know about this place. There are some bloggers on here who probably get widely read and linked to but that's probably it. DU does come up a lot in google searches for other stuff though, so I always think it's good to have accurate info in posts but that's another issue entirely.