by Liza Sabater from culture kitchen

Peter Daou has given me permission to post his response as to why not one black or latino blogger was invited to the meeting in Harlem:

From: [email protected]
Subject: RE: There are no black bloggers in New York City or Harlem
DATE: 15 September 2006 06:53:51 EDT
To: [email protected]

Hi Liza – several bloggers were invited who couldn’t attend, including
Oliver Willis (who you didn’t mention in your post). Also, I was told =
that more events like that are planned, and there will be an opportunity to
invite bloggers who didn’t attend the first one.

So respectfully, you may have reached a conclusion without all the =
facts.

Best,
Peter

P.S. Feel free to publish this email as an update to your post.

Grock! I totally forgot Oliver Willis and I read him every day.

Here’s the deal: I am not the political consultant, he is. As a campaign consultant I would actually find interesting that most of the top colored bloggers in the nation are opposed to Hillary Clinton. I would be all over that one because it is a fact that Bill Clinton, Hillary’s husband, was given an honorary ghetto pass by people in the colored community —do I have to bring out Chris Rock’s skit to prove this one? Bill is the quintessential WIGGAH and we love him for it.

Which is why I find it morbidly interesting that most colored bloggers don’t think she can win EVEN WITH BILL BY HER SIDE.

As a campaign consultant, I would be all over Pam Spaulding. As a campaign consultant I would be all over Steve and Chris and any of the top colored bloggers who is not happy with Hillary. As a campaign consultant, I would be all over me. Why?

What we write about Hillary is not about Hillary. It’s about the state of the Democratic Party right now. As a campaign consultant I would be interested to know why Steve Gilliard’s blogging is not just problematic to my candidate but problematic to getting the whole party and the whole nation behind my candidate. As a campaign consultant, I would stop and think about not the perception people have about my candidate at this point but the perception people have about the party.

Because, the short of it is simple: Why do people think that Democrats can’t win with Hillary at the helm. As a campaign consultant, I would all over that one.

More importantly, as a campaign consultant I would understand the function and importance of bloggers who are connectors among a segment or a demographics. Chris Rabb and me are probably two of the largest connectors in the colored netroots. If I can’t have Chris and Liza in my meeting, I would still want to involve them in the process. "Get me black and latino bloggers who don’t have a bone to pick with Hillary. We’re flying, we’re covering costs. Just help me do it."

As many in the blogosphere know, I have done that over and over again for bloggers that I don’t even know, for conferences and panels and opportunities I believe would benefit from their presence. I have even done it with Republican bloggers. And that’s a fact.

As a campaign consultant I would also understand the importance of connectors who raise social and political capital as opposed to campaign money. You don’t have to read Rick Santorum’s book, to understand the importance and interconnectedness of social capital, political capital and, of course, economic capital.

Having 20 white bloggers in Harlem meeting Bill Clinton is not going to raise the social and political capital of Hillary among the black and latino digital communities. We are a minority after all. We all have one or two degrees of separation from one another. Word spreads real fast and it get blogged fastest.

Case in point : Next week I will be at an immigration summit in Los Angeles. I am going to assume that Hillary Clinton’s position on immigration –and her political and social capital among minority communities– will be discussed. And blogged.

I leave you with this comment left at The Daily Gotham :

Submitted by morkfrombrooklyn (not verified) on Fri, 2006-09-15 11:04.

This is appalling and very disturbing. If site traffic was some sort of qualifier, then there is absolutley no reason that Steve Gilliard is not in that group. I have had my disagreements with Steve, and yes he is somewhat of a bomb thrower, but this grouping may has well been put together by the DLC or some other mainstream group. Sad to see that many of the popular bloggers out there have the same mentality as the hacks in DC. Use people of color for our votes and then forget about us.

Enough said.