April 13, 2010 06:54 PM UTC

The Blueprint - Inside Baseball at it's Best

•  
• by: JeffcoDemo

Thank you Mr. Schrager!  

For getting me to sleep this morning at 2am.  I couldn’t put the book down.  It was one of those nights were I couldn’t wait to get the kids down, for my wife to retire to the bedroom.  As quiet fell upon the house, I opened the book and began the journey that started long before I got involved in any of this.  I am fairly new to politics and new to the Democratic party, so this was a very nicely laid out “how did we get to here” book.  For someone who really wants to understand how something works, this was the perfect book.

The book introduces you to the main characters and goes very in depth for the “Gang of Four”.  Then it takes you through the building of the plan, the execution of the plan, and spreading the plan out, to other states.  As an MBA in marketing and statistics, with 20 years biz experience, there is much that makes you wonder why or how it took this long for someone to come up with this kind of blueprint.  As is stressed throughout the book, none of it was brain surgery, just common sense and a sense of purpose.

I really found the fact that they could all come together with one goal, put away their individual agendas, and work together the truly inspiring work.

Having read Bush’s Brain a month ago, it was so nice to see ruthlessness wasn’t just owned by one party.  It did make me cringe to read about some of the tactics.  That said, the mindset of the characters in this book always seemed to be focused on pushing forward their collective agenda.  That is in contrast to a Rove who really seemed like he would cut off his own nose if it meant he could win some points against his opposition.  Similar tactics, but a completely different mindset.

It also raised a lot of questions internally about what really matters in some elections.  Not being at this level, one has to wonder what drives someone who is in a non targeted race, who doesn’t get the “thanks for trying” support, someone who isn’t part of the chosen.  There is also that ethical dilemma about holding the higher moral ground.  One thing that I have held firmly since getting involved a year ago was the ability to say ‘that’s what separates us from them.”  At a national level, whether it’s torture or assassinations, I have found comfort in any debate pointing out “that’s what makes us (the US) different.”  My favorite all time TV line, “Doesn’t this mean we join the league of ordinary nations?”  I have never wanted to live in one of the ordinary nations.  Do I now live in one of those states?

So we are 6/7 years removed since the beginning, the authors make the case that with the infrastructure in place, the key individuals aren’t as important as the organization they created.  It certainly seemed like many of the original group have moved on, Gill to his national foundation, Polis to representing the state of Colorado and others have taken their cause nationally (state by state).  Should we be concerned when CoDA goes away, when a CO Media Matters closes up shop?  I’m not inside enough to know if they have been replaced and another quiet entity has taken their place or have we already started developing holes in the blueprint?

Thank you again authors, I just hope it doesn’t inspire our friends on the other side to come together under one tent.