August 3, 2008

…possibly as code for “Jewish Lobby”
by Bill Levinson

A My.BarackObama.com user re-posted the following E-mail he received from a site administrator or moderator, who is therefore an official representative of Barack Obama’s campaign. Emily is obviously counseling EMK to use “Israel Lobby” (the title of Walt and Mearsheimer’s infamous book) as code for “Jewish Lobby.”

Hi [EMK],

Thank you so much for your involvement in the My.BarackObama online community. Your voice is valued here; however, we were forced to remove your recent blog post that referred to the “Jewish lobby.” Please use the more specific and accurate term “Israel lobby.” We appreciate your understanding and hope that you continue to be active in our online community.

Emily
Obama for America

Emily is an administrator or moderator for Obama for America, and she therefore represents the campaign itself. We know this because we received the following E-mails from her within the space of five minutes when we posted referenced (with page numbers) excerpts from Obama’s “Dreams From My Father” and Michelle Obama’s thesis at my.barackobama.com.

From: mybarackobama@gmail.com on behalf of mybarackobama@barackobama.com (mybarackobama@barackobama.com)
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Sent:
Fri 6/27/08 5:36 PM
To:
[our E-mail address]

Hi,
Thank you so much for your involvement in the My.BarackObama.com online community. Your voice is valued here; however, your recent comments on the HQ Blog were disrespectful to our other users and detract from a welcoming community where all people can engage in positive discourse.

This is your first and only warning. Unfortunately, if you choose to disregard this warning your account will be deactivated resulting in a complete termination of your My.BarackObama account, points, blogs, and other past activities on the site. I encourage you to review our Terms of Service: http://origin.barackobama.com/terms/

Thanks for your understanding and cooperation in maintaining a respectful dialogue on our website.

Emily
Obama for America

From: mybarackobama@gmail.com on behalf of mybarackobama@barackobama.com (mybarackobama@barackobama.com)
Add contact Add contact
Sent:
Fri 6/27/08 5:41 PM
To:
[our E-mail address]

Hello,
Thank you for your involvement on My.BarackObama and the countless hours you have dedicated to this campaign. Unfortunately, we were forced to deactivate your account after you abused our blog tool. We regret having had to resort to this action.

Thank you for your understanding.

Emily
Obama for America

This was of course the equivalent of the bum’s rush, with Emily fabricating an accusation; note that she does not cite the “disrespectful” speech or the specific rule it violated–perhaps because she does not want to put the campaign on record as censoring dignified and respectful criticisms of Obama. It is enough, however, to establish beyond any doubt that the Obama campaign exercises editorial control over this site, thus negating the disclaimer, “Content on blogs in My.BarackObama represents the opinions of community members and in no way should be interpreted as endorsed or approved by the campaign.” In other words, the Obama campaign is 100 percent responsible for toleration and sanction of entries like “The kike filth are trying to steal this election from us.” Now this official campaign staffer’s E-mail to EMK has just put the campaign on record as approving use of the phrase”Israel Lobby,” possibly as politically correct code for “Jewish Lobby.”