david plouffe, the campaign manager for obama 2008, just finished giving an hour and half speech at pomona college in claremont, california. he was described in the event’s “lecture bill” in the words of his former boss, now president, obama. “he is the unsung hero of this campaign, who built the … best political campaign, i think, in the history of United States.” that’s some pretty top-notch praise, from someone who should know. but let’s be honest for a moment, who doesn’t know that about david plouffe.
in his half hour of taking questions from the crowd of claremont consortium students, plouffe thoroughly revealed his deep analytical perspective, and a great sense of loyalty to president obama as well as the democratic party. this was somewhat surprising, as one might recall that plouffe is a hired professional, not an elected official. not to make the guy out to be a mercenary, especially considering the fact that according to reports, he only made $144,000 on the year. which is INSANELY low for the liberal answer to karl rove. particularly when we consider that axelrod apparently made over a million dollars.
anyway, plouffe had a lot of interesting things to say at pomona. speaking to a crowd of well over 1,000 students at the gorgeous bridges auditorium, plouffe commended young people for being involved in the democratic process. “I’ve never been more sure in the future of our couintry than I am becuase of the creativity and energey of young people” plouffe said. he also laughed derisively at the lack of youth-orientation of the other campaigns. responding to what allowed obama to overtake hillary in iowa, plouffe recalled a comment by mark penn (then hillary’s campaing manager). just before the caucus, penn told reporters that obama’s youth strategy was misguided, because “facebook doesn’t caucus.” not only was this proven quite wrong, but everyone in the crowd got a good laugh over the incorrect grammatical phrasing.
a thorough democrat, plouffe reserved his best wit for deriding the republican party. responding to questions about how obama outplayed mccain for the win, plouffe explained that obama had a notable disadvantage in that he did not secure the democratic nomination until june 3rd, two months later than it had taken john kerry to do the same in 2004. “john mccain had 8 months to raise money and differentiate himself from george bush,” plouffe explained, “but by some feat of political malpractice, mccain did neither of those things.”
“the republican party is having an identity crisis” he later confessed, “i look forward to watching how they reform.”
known for his belief that sarah palin was a gift to the obama campaign, plouffe also spent some time joyfully recalling what he characterized as her political inepitude and deviseness. “sarah plain was our best campaigner and fundraiser,” he told the crowd. “we receieved $8-9 million while she spoke in minneapolis alone. the next day, all our campaign headquarters received swarms of people saying: ‘i’m gonna give you the next 45 days of my life.’”
plouffe maintained that it was that kind of grassroots support that made the difference in the obama campaign. he left by giving the students of claremont a reason to clap for him by clapping for themselves. “we owe you,” he repeated twice. “you are the heroes of this election.”
it made me feel like i was back in new hampshire, right before the election, with everything up for grabs. i joined the standing ovation.
just to give the background on this story, i’ve been spending the week with my brother in california while i am on spring break. my brother is a sophomore studying international relations and spanish at pomona college. we actually spent the day at venice beach and arrived halfway through plouffe’s speech. but it was worth it.