Updated: 12/2/07
In the past week or so there has been a bit of excitement in Ron Paul space about one of the original grassroots supporters of Barack Obama throwing his support to Congressman Paul. Several sites have linked to http://www.ObamaLA.com where in a rather sparse message from Marc Whittemore proclaims “I started the original grassroots group ObamaLA and carried it until it was 2,500 people strong. Having done substantially more homework now I am inclined to switch my vote.”
I’ll not quote the whole thing here. It is there for all to see.
The story made it to Digg, Ron Paul blogs and MeetUP sites.
There was some speculation that it was a hoax or the domain had been hijacked.
I was intrigued by the story, but also frustrated by the lack of information. Being the curious type I did a little research on google and found what I thought might be Mr. Whittemore’s website and e-mail address. I’m not publishing that here for reasons that should become apparent. If you really want to know you can use google just like I did.
At any rate, the following is the e-mail dialog that ensued. Except for removing the obvious identifying information, doing a bit of spellchecking and one slight change made at Mr. Whittemore’s request, it is unedited. My observations appear afterward.
Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2007 22:43:20 -0500
From: Me
To: Marc Whittemore
Subject: Are you the one?
Hello,
There has been a great deal of noise on the ronpaulintertubes lately
about some fellow named Marc Whittemore abandoning the Obama camp for
Ron Paul’s wacky, quixotic, dark horse “Restore the Republic” brew ha
ha. Are you the one? If not can you direct me to him/her/it?
Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2007 19:45:41 -0800
From: Marc Whittemore
To: Me
Subject: Re: Are you the one?
ha.
you found him…
I am he.
Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2007 12:20:48 -0500
From: Me
To: Marc Whittemore
Subject: Re: Are you the one?
Hello,
Pleased to meet you. Do you have any intention of being more forthcoming
about this? I ask because folks over on ronpaulforums.com are having
Rongasms about this. They would love to have you join the forum and say
hello. Be advised, the attempt to trumpet this from the mountain tops has
already started.
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=41240
http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/Obama_Supporter_s_Change_of_Heart
http://www.ronpaulnation.com/?p=437
There is a slight tendency among Ron Paul supporters to go hyperactive,
especially in an information vacuum. If you have any desire to help shape
the outcome of this I suggest you join the fray, otherwise we may all end up
looking silly.
Oh, and welcome to the revolution.
Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2007 11:04:41 -0800
From: Marc Whittemore
To: Me
Thank you. I am flattered for all the attention albeit — I think,
undeserving. To be honest I have never been a politically involved person.
I only got involved in this election because at the time of my involvement
(and still for that matter) I was suffering from an acute, chronic and
ever-escalating case of seething resentment for what Bush (et. al) has done
to the country. Enter Obama. His oratory skills, coupled with the ample
energy of my resentment fueled something inside me to want to help change
things and make things right. With blinders on I went for it.
Never having been involved politically I just happened to anticipate his
move of running for president and managed to start the first Obama for
President meetup.com site. By virtue of that excellent timing along with
my substantial internet and design (Art Director) experience I slaved away
as the Director for ObamaLA literally putting in 40 to 70 hours minimum for
months and months (on top of a full time job) to build the ObamaLA website
(old site: http://obamala.com/index_old.html ), fill it with content, all
the while brain-storming with other key people that came forth to volunteer
trying to come up with an infrastructure that worked and could support a
full scale grassroots campaign of several thousand volunteers. I designed
the coolest website.. unique t-shirts… ( http://www.cafepress.com/aworkofmarc )
gorgeous buttons — the whole branding, the entire look and feel —
ALL of it. It was truly a very professional looking grassroots campaign.
Not being a public speaker, although very good in smallish groups, I
surrounded myself with people who could pick up the slack there and then
help from other people who had actual grassroots political experience. Then
found a couple guys to write some excellent Op-Ed pieces. We were steaming
forward…. FAST. Still it was utter all consuming chaos.
Then egos got involved. We’re talking MAJOR EGOS. People wanting credit
and total control.. people seeing Obama and their association with him /
ObamaLA as super fast climb up the social ladder of prestige and
recognition. Sadly it became about many people losing sight of what we were
doing, making their own agenda more important. Being new to all of it
bleary-eyed and exhausted way-ay-ay over-worked and, after many run-ins and
playing babysitter, I short temperedly made the mistake, slip of the tongue
(email) of expressing an opinion about how obstinate, short sighted and
selfish some people were (and in not so nice words). Albeit true… it was
a bad move because the email was accidentally sent to THAT person.. who knew
enough other people to escalate it into a full blown mess…. Yuk.
That precipitated a mutiny. Several people choose to magnify that incident
and use it as a wedge to totally undo ObamaLA in part because they also
wanted full control / prestige / recognition and in that process took many
of our key people creating the off shoot called http://www.lagrassroots4obama.com/
The timing was bad because I was too exhausted by then to rebuild and start over.
I gave them the meetup site ( http://barackobama.meetup.com/138/?gj=sj2 )
but I refused to help them out further by giving them the ObamaLA name
and branding after they literally stole my email list of 2,500. names. Looking back
maybe that was selfish but the hit I took after pouring my blood sweat and soul
into something was more than I could handle.
In that process, and by refusing my many requests to work things out and let
egos calm down, they managed to horribly puncture any momentum we built. So
as it stands… their group falters now. The last meetups they had were
complete flops. Only 2 and 3 people attending. Sad. Very very sad because
where we were going with it — it could have been the most amazing
grassroots campaign EVER. We were getting requests from all over the
country — “how’d you do it” “tell us how we can do it” — so I had us
write a manual (see the attached).. we made this awesome document to send to
every group in the country that called us asking for information. HOT, for
a first draft Great information based on our collective knowledge and
experience. It all got flushed. An amazing amount of work… dreams
trashed because of egos. It’s taken me all this time to recover.
Then… then I found Ron Paul. WOW. And Obama/Clinton just seemed to
become more about battling egos trying to win the grand prize.. Obama
beginning to sound like all the rest - talking shit all about who’s health
plan can beat up who’s health plan… suddenly gaining a full-on Southern
accent when campaigning in the South. Maybe in politics eventually the
contenders are just forced to be like all the rest… but Obama’s talk
seemed to peter out — sounding empty when compared to what Ron Paul was
talking about. The stuff about doing away with the thieving IRS and the
Federal Reserve - talking about our disappearing civil liberties and getting
them back… talking about what made this country GREAT — the REAL guts of
this country called the Constitution. NOT the constitution as he chooses to
interpet it (like the current [administration]*) but the REAL DEAL… and how to get
back to that!!! Don’t get me wrong. I still adore Obama and I think he’s
make an awesome President but ONLY IF Ron Paul does not get it.
In my perfect world - we’d have Ron Paul president and Obama V.P.
Long sorted story, most of which you probably didn’t need to know… but I
probably needed to write this out (I have the time now for my company lost
funding and I just hit the lines of unemployment. Ooo-eee. A better job is
just around the corner!) and you needed to know that it’s probably not that
big a deal. Anyways… so still owning the name ObamaLA I choose to write
the piece you see there now. The website is just a small way now to voice
my opinion in the hope of helping Ron Paul.
All the best.
Marc Whittemore
*Note: A slightly less flattering term was modified at Mr. Whittemore’s request.
Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2007 14:46:12 -0500
From: Me
To: Marc Whittemore
Subject: Re: Are you the one?
Marc,
Would you mind a great deal if I posted some or all of this e-mail on
ronpaulforums.com? I could understand perfectly well if you’d prefer I
didn’t, but there are at least a few excerpts that I think people should
hear. We have our own issues with egos and people who try to attach their
own agendas to Ron Paul’s campaign. Your story has inspirational elements
as well as cautionary tales.
If you do decide to join the forum, please be advised it is a cross-section
of America in all it’s glory and squaller, not to mention the occasion weird
uncle who just won’t shut up.
Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2007 11:57:45 -0800
From: Marc Whittemore
To: Me
Subject: Re: Are you the one?
You may post any or all of it.. with the exception of replacing the word
[administration]*… And as long as I’m not touted as anything more than
just a humble guy trying to do the right thing — I’ve had enough of
anything like prestige either coming at me or with others seeking it.
However… I would like to see the part about “In my prefect world”…
because it’s so NOT about party lines. It’s about the best people for the
job and I still think Obama rocks. Just not as much as Ron Paul. 
Whoa… the 2 of them would rocket our country into the very place we were
headed many years ago.
As far as your forum being “cross-section of America in all it’s glory and
squaller”.. haha.. being a gay man I am certainly part of that.
Take care… Gotta run.
*Note: See previous note.
I have to admit I had a few reservations about publishing this. It is obvious that Mr. Whittemore did not arrive at his current position without a bit of a struggle and more than a small bit of anguish. There are many of us involved in this election cycle who are not cynical, hard-bitten political operatives. There are people who feel motivated by a sincere desire to make a difference. To come to the realization we are swimming in a cesspool infested with Machiavellian egos and sociopathic opportunists can be demoralizing. I have no desire to subject him to the potential circus this could become. I am quite certain some of his former associates regard him as a traitor. I’m equally certain there are Ron Paul supporters who will want to make him into a some sort of patriotic hero, which he may well be, but the potential to use him, while disregarding the potential consequences is very real.
On the other hand, his story is one that should be told. People believe Ron Paul supporters are rabid extremists. We have a few of those. All the candidates have their share, but we all see them in the other camps, not our own. What I see in Marc Whittemore is just one more of many who know something is wrong with the direction this country has taken. Some of see it as a consequence of the Bush presidency. Some of us think we slipped off the track in the 1960s. Others take it back to the 1930s, 1913, the Spanish America War, the Mexican American War, the Civil War or the Alien and Sedition Act. Some feel, I’m sure, that there has never been a time in our history when America has come close to realizing the potential of freedom and justice we’ve always proclaimed.
There is a very real sense among ordinary people that this is not the way it is supposed to be. With each election there are some very smooth operators who tap into the that discomfort and promise they have the solution. Time and again people cast their ballots thinking this time it will be different only to find that somehow nothing really changes, but there is a different voice now. We have a man who says “I don’t want to run your life, I don’t want run the economy, I don’t want to run the world. I wouldn’t know how, anyway.”
In Ron Paul’s words “Freedom Works.” In many ways, that is the point. Though freedom has an impeccable spokesman in Ron Paul, it is the message, not the man. Folks like Marc Whittemore and many other ordinary people, like you and I, are hearing that message and responding. That’s why we feel Hope for America.
Afterthought: I must say I disagree with Mr. Whittemore about Barack Obama, as I disagree with the people I hear entertaining the idea of a Ron Paul/Dennis Kucinich ticket, or even a Dennis Kucinich/Ron Paul ticket. I’m not going to address why I feel that way now, but I did feel I should mention it.
Update 12/2/07: It appears the ObamaLA site is down. For good. http://isilion.blogsome.com/2007/12/02/a-sad-post/
