In our first meeting back, the Head of School talked about how connected we have become in the ten years since 9/11. Frankly, I don't see the causation that his speech implied, but the correlation is undeniable. My dad and I watched United 93 the other day (with Rescue Me probably the finest work of mass art about 9/11). In it, the passengers on the plane use the Airphones to contact loved ones, even the police to learn about the Twin Towers and that they would have to try and seize the plane. Obviously they failed, but we have a Capitol building today because they tried.
Anyway, we're more "tethered" today than ever before. For some people this is awesome, for others it's an example of how everything has gone to hell.
But lost in the value judgments - as our Head pointed out - is the simple fact that this has happened and it isn't going away. We need to teach to a tethered world, not pretend that we live in the world of Cicero or Thomas Jefferson.
One of the issues that he didn't discuss is the fact that in a tethered world, everything is immediate. Nowhere is this more true than in the Blogosphere - the nebulous entity of political affinity groups.
In the Blogosphere, everything is immediate, everything is zero-sum and everything is life or death.
This is how we got into the silliness of the timing of Obama's speech. To recap for those of you who have lives: Obama wanted to address the Congress on their first day back on the jobs issue. He asked Boehner if he could speak on Wednesday. Boehner did not seem to object, so the White House announced it. Then Boehner said, "no" because the GOP is having another idiotic debate on Wednesday. Obama gets pushed back to Thursday.
On the one hand, Obama comes off looking wimpy. That's the prevalent take among both right wing triumphalists and left wing manic progressives. Markos Zuniga - whom I respect more than his front pagers - has made roughly that case here.
Some of Obama's poll number slippage has, indeed, been caused in part by an increase in his wimpiness factor. But c'mon, that's not the real reason. People are only upset that Obama isn't picking more fights with the GOP because times are really tough. If times were good, no one would care. People still like Obama personally, but they are frustrated because things just don't seem to be getting better. And they would like to see him fight more for things that he believes in.
But the timing of his speech? No one really cares beyond the solipsistic internet crowd.
Back during the campaign, Plouffe's big contribution was: "Don't worry about winning the day, win the election." The Obama campaign refused to let the 24-hour news cycles - with its inanities - drive their campaign. It worked brilliantly.
Now, I am not sold that Plouffe's brand of campaigning will work in 2012, but the "Boehner made Obama move his speech" controversy is silly. It is part of the silliness that infects Washington. It is a great example of the pettiness that makes people hate politics.
Now, Markos is right that the Obama team stepped on their message by first calling Boehner a shifty liar and then acquiescing to the move.
But Obama had no choice. Congress controls who can address it. This was not a fight that Obama could have won. He might have made the GOP look petty and foolish, but really, wouldn't that be redundant after the debt ceiling debate?
Frankly, this timing works better, as it is after the GOP debate, right before the NFL season opener. I don't know why Obama didn't ask for this time slot first.
But the fact is, it doesn't matter at all in the long run. This is the sort of stupid nontroversy that crops up in the interconnected, tethered world of the internet age.
Perhaps the only reason this "Obama caved" storyline is gaining traction is because Obama HAS caved too much to the GOP. What will be interesting about the speech is that it will give Obama a chance to lay a challenge before the GOP House. Can he continue to hammer that challenge once it has been made?
That IS a legitimate story to follow.
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