I think we can call this a small victory for public action, and a vindication of the notion - much out of fashion since the 2008 election - that an involved, engaged and active electorate can overcome the power of special interests in our political system.
I hope other corporations are taking notice and I hope President Obama and his "team" are taking notice. They have done a terrible job selling the successes of their agenda - if you listen to this George Packer-Ryan Lizza talk on the New Yorkerweb site, you'll see I'm not the only one who thinks this.
The example Packer uses is the stimulus bill, which contained a huge tax break for the middle class, yet somehow it has largely gone unnoticed by the majority of the public. Not only that, Obama and his aides seem to have made very little effort to contrast his stimulus tax break with the GOP desire to extend the tax breaks for the richest 1% of the public.
Overall, I think those of us who got involved in shaming Target can feel good about we've done, but it is a drop in the bucket compared to the flood that is likely to occur as we approach the November election.
For the article and the full text of the apology from Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel, please go here.
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