This is an opinion piece, not a satire like my other entries here so far. I'm posting the links here on top because I don't yet know how to hyperlink (yes,I feel like a dork)so my apologies for the inconvenience.
By Mayhill Fowler, the article in question:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
The actual incident in question, from YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/...
NY Times article on 'Off the Bus'
http://www.nytimes.com/...
Mayhills piece, "Bill and Hillary: Just Regular Folk in North Carolina"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
The Troll Under the Bus? Mayhill Fowler of HuffPos’ ’Off the Bus’
This may not be the dirtiest presidential campaign ever, but the Byzantine ‘wheel within a wheel’ stuff and the paranoia generated by it has been more intense than anything I can recall. Add to this the role of the so-called ‘citizen journalist’.
This has been like adding another piece to the chessboard, a piece whose role is not yet defined and can change from move to move, causing further confusion and an added arena for intrigue. Case in point: Mayhill Fowler who writes for Huffington Posts’ feature "Off the Bus". Mayhill identifies herself as an Obama gal, but has made a quick name for herself as the blogger who outed Barack Obamas ‘bitter’ statements, delivered at a San Francisco fund raising event. Ms. Fowler had been invited to the ’press free’ event as an Obama supporter, but became famous overnight for her ensuing post. She brought a tape recorder to the event, and posted the entirety of Obamas statements, quoting his ‘bitter’ remark in the article and taking him to task for his attitude towards small town Pennsylvanians.
‘Off the Bus’ was set up to take advantage of the sheer numbers and diversity of the individual bloggers they employ in the hopes of getting to the real political news, spin free, simply from having all of those eyes, ears, brains and fingers for typing. This is a formula we find in one version or another all over the internet. The man who conceived of ‘Off the Bus’ along with Arianna herself, Jay Rosen, has said that the problem of ’citizen journalists’, writers who might have other roles in the story itself, had been anticipated; ""We knew there could be problems with this approach, and possible disputes with the campaigns. But we also felt that participants in politics had a right to report on what they saw and heard themselves, not as journalists claiming no attachments but as citizens with attachments who were relinquishing none of their rights. We talked about it, but we never anticipated anything this big, or wave-like."
Fair enough. Roles have changed, no argument there. Fowlers piece on the Obama fund raiser drew 250,000 page views and over 5,000 comments in 48 hours and earned her a ‘gate‘ citation as the mother of ‘bittergate‘. She’s what passes for famous these days, but is that all there is to this controversy? Suspicions that this was an act of political sabotage by Fowler have been raised but without a pay stub from ‘Hillary ‘08’ made out to Mayhill Fowler that would be awfully tough to prove.
With her latest entry though, Mayhill may have tipped her hand. In what may be the first ‘feel good’ moment of his campaign in quite a long time, Senator Obama was taking questions from his audience in Wilmington, NC when 82 year old Jean Weiss stepped up to the microphone. Here’s how Mayhill Fowler characterizes this moment:
"Don't hit on Hillary." Only the day before the Hickory event, Jean Weiss, a feisty eighty-two year-old, told Obama, when he called on her, thinking he would get a question, just that. Age admonishing youth, it was a powerful moment that the crowd much appreciated. That Senator Obama seemed to have forgotten Weiss only a day later may be a sign only of Wright-driven stress."
Reading this you might have the impression that the candidate had been ‘taken to task’ by a sweet old lady for his negative comments on Hillary. An old stalwart of the feminist movement, perhaps, sticking up for the female candidate. The problem with this though, is that it is not true. The Jean Weiss appearance may have been the first inspiring moment in the Obama campaign in ages and the obviously feisty Ms. Weiss did perhaps admonish the Senator a little, but her admonishment was for him to stick to his moral high ground, and to not stoop to the negativity found elsewhere this campaign season; "When you said ‘yes I will sit down with all my enemies, we’re gonna sit around the table, we’re gonna work this thing out. Sir, that was not naiveté—that was wisdom." She then said, "Don't hit on Hillary, bring us all back, let her do that stuff. Leave her alone, you don't need to do that, you are higher than that. Bring us up higher than that," True enough, and the crowd did love it, but the white haired, intense Jane Weiss, at first fumbling a bit, then bright with intensity continued; "You’d better be president. You’ve gotta be president."
She went on to ask Obama a pertinent question about the environment and the senator responded, "Before I answer that, I just want to know, will you be my running mate?" Ms. Weiss at this point runs(!) up to the senator, gets a kiss from him and then she fires the crowd up as she returns to her seat, fists in the air. Mayhill, however, described the scene as a public chastisement; "Age admonishing youth, it was a powerful moment that the crowd much appreciated."
It was a powerful moment and the crowd did appreciate it, but for a much different reason than Mayhill Fowler would lead us to believe.
I'll quote Ms. Fowler from another piece she wrote about Bill Clinton on the campaign trail, "Bill and Hillary: Just Regular Folk in North Carolina"
"Occasionally, Clinton seems to meander into storytelling. But the Clinton sidetrack is a carefully-crafted element of his performance. He has only an hour here, for he must do two more campaign stops still. With a yarn or two, however, he gives the impression that he has all the time in the world for Asheboro. Likely most of the townsfolk will remember that former President Bill Clinton spent all evening with them, until well after dark.
"I'd keep you here 'til tomorrow morning telling stories," Clinton says as a way of signaling he's about to close. Asheboro laughs, knowing they are going to get one more. "I want to tell you about the lives she's [Hillary] changed," he says. Inwardly, I sigh, for I've heard the story many times before, and it seems so manipulative to me now, although I have to admit that the first time I heard it I was touched."
And when she was touched I’ll bet she did sigh, if only ‘inwardly’.
‘Off the Bus’? Try looking under it.