My Response to Joe Anthony: 160,000 Reasons Not to Fold - By Alex Hammer

The official news, I guess, in regard to Joe packing it in came from TechPresident with a whimper:

http://www.techpresident.com/node/317

and was not even delivered by Micah L. Sifry, who had broken

http://www.techpresident.com/node/301

the story (and followed up) on the Joe Anthony created Barack Obama MySpace page situation.

I consider Joe Anthony a friend, and despite my advice (most of it highly encouraging) I hope that he feels the same in return.

I respect him.

Over the course of now twenty-something recent MySpace messages received from Joe Anthony (and one phone message)

http://hammer2006.blogspot.com/2007/05/joe-anthony-reaches-out-to-politics-2.html

and buttressed by a lot of work by Politics 2.0 on this story, I feel that I have a fairly good sense of Joe, his approach, and some of the things that have been important to him during his work on the (formerly his, now controlled by the campaign) Obama MySpace page.

Following the recent summation of Joe's sentiments that he had expressed to me

http://hammer2006.blogspot.com/2007/05/joe-anthony-reaches-out-to-politics-2.html

he seemed to, most recently, and perhaps finally, become resigned, or much more resigned, to the notion of his battle being over.

Unfortunately, almost before it began has been my thought.

While just recently he had written, "I couldn't let it go if I wanted to at this point. People want to see Obama live up to his message. I'm confident there will be a positive outcome for all."

since then he had stated "Thanks Alex, I just want to move on."

and

"I think it's best for everyone. Maybe they just made some stupid mistakes. I'll forgive that."

In regard to using the legal system to address his situation, Joe, consistent across more than one occasion, was clear.

"Even if it's worth 100 million dollars, it wouldn't be worth it" he wrote.

While several times thanking us for our involvement, he also wondered what I, or Politics 2.0, wanted from him.

Or expected of him.

I had let him know that I was interested in writing about his future political (if any) web activities (with written notice), and that we could work with him to have his message reach a larger audience if he so desired.

Certainly, there will be bigger issues in this Presidential campaign. But how a Presidential candidate and their staff acts in the smaller areas can be an indicator of how they might also act in the larger one.

It sets a message and a tone.

Some of the additional thoughts that I passed on to Joe (for whatever little they might be worth!):

I shared that others perhaps also wondered whether he would put up a fight:

http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2007/05/4373_how_come_obama.html

and while qualifying that I wasn't stating a belief that the campaign's actions fell into the "evil" category (and I only know what our peering into this situation might or might not lead one to believe) reminded him of the quote that generally states:

"All it takes for evil to thrive, is for good men to do nothing"

http://hammer2006.blogspot.com/2007/05/anthony-speaks-on-obama-myspace.html

http://hammer2006.blogspot.com/2007/05/joe-anthony-challenges-joe-rospars.html

and that many people, I believe, expect our leaders - including supervision of their staffs - to reach the highest standards.

In the reporting of Obama's phone call to Joe it had mentioned that Joe stated that Obama told him that he stood by his staff.

And I worried that with the Obama campaign successfully making the efforts to regain MySpace friends at a fast clip

http://www.suntimes.com/news/sweet/374027,CST-NWS-sweet07.article

that the groundbreaking contribution and achievements he had realized could possibly seem -- after the fact -- diminished.

Or if wanted to had the potential to be even marginalized.

And that if Joe Anthony was a "little guy" that Barack Obama not all too long ago was a little guy as well and that was perhaps part of Senator Obama's appeal.

Those are some of the things that I mentioned to Joe Anthony in our dialogue.

I like Barack Obama as a candidate:

http://hammer2006.blogspot.com/2007/05/my-comment-on-barackobama.html

But I also like Joe Anthony, and don't like the way I believe, from the pieces that I know, that he appears to have been treated.

You'll form, as you should, your own determination about that.

I also told Joe my belief that in life others often do not want something for us more than we want it for ourselves, so that if we do want something that we definitely have to take the lead.

And that the media attention to a story can be short.

Too short.

I can understand why Joe and others might be tired.

I am tired.

Perhaps this is what defeat looks and feels like:

http://hammer2006.blogspot.com/2007/05/joe-anthony-backs-down-obama-1-new.html

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