When Obama supporters gathered this weekend to build support for the first major legislation of the new president's tenure, those who had campaigned for change found themselves talking about something unexpected- politics as usual.
"I trust Obama. I'm disappointed in what has been put out here for this meeting today," said Ron, an Obama supporter from Alexandria who hosted an "economic stimulus house party" Sunday with five attendees. "We were uniformly disappointed."
When Obama and the Democratic National Committee asked Americans to host such parties, they supplied a 13-minute online video of DNC Chair Tim Kaine answering viewer-submitted questions and one page of talking points. There were as many as 3,000 parties across the nation, but attendees at two parties in the Metro D.C. area didn't walk away encouraged.
"The first answer was good, but the rest was just fluff," said A.B., a web entrepreneur from Alexandria, of Kaine's responses. "What people want, if you're going to spend this much money, is some reason to believe that it's being spent in an intelligent way."
The reaction, among even Obama's grassroots in one of the bluest areas of the country, reflects a surprisingly deep skepticism of the popular president's first major legislative push, and the extent to which the Obama administration has lost the message war over the stimulus.
"Isn't there a lot of pork in this bill?" asked Rahilla, the 20-something Chicago native echoing Republican criticism of the bill, which Republican leaders point out is stuffed with pet projects and long-term spending not meant for stimulus. It's the supremacy of that message that has sent support for the stimulus package tumbling by 8-14 points in a month, according to polls.
In a sun-drenched high-rise apartment in southwest Washington, D.C., Rahilla and 14 others gathered Saturday for food, drink, and activism. They were reluctant to place much blame for problems with the current bill on Obama, preferring to pick on the less-popular Congress.
"Many senators, when they go in to vote on a bill, they don't know what they're voting on. They know a piece of it, but they don't know all the underlying things they put in there," said A.J., a 75-year-old African-American real estate agent from the District. "They haven't read the thing."
And, while all supporters expressed happiness that Obama called for grassroots gatherings, some of them questioned the timing- a day after the behind-the-scenes deals were made in the Senate and after public input could have much influence.
"Do you think anything that we say will have any influence?" asked Constance, a government contractor from Alexandria.
Each party was asked to send feedback from their gatherings to the administration via a website. Party host Brenda, who is on active duty with the U.S. Navy, summarized her report:
"We're upset that we didn't have this plan laid out to us prior to its signing. That we're in the dark, we're being left in the dark, kinda like mushrooms. Now, last minute it comes out to us after it's passed, and we just have to reap what it sows, right?"
"And, don't do it again!" interjected A.J.
Frustration with other problems in the new administration's transition spilled over into party conversation, as Ann a lawyer from the District let loose on Obama for his support of Tom Daschle. Daschle withdrew his name from consideration for Secretary of Health and Human Services because he failed to pay more than $100,000 in taxes owed on a car service.
"(Obama's) preaching, 'I'm so wonderful, I apologize. I screwed up.' He did screw up. He screwed up in a way he's not admitting to. He should never have been in bed with Tom Daschle. Tom Daschle should not have been his choice. It's a red flag because he was in bed with the health-care groups," she said.
"And, he has red glasses," she added, getting a laugh from the room. "Really."
In Alexandria, lingering questions about the handling of the $750 billion bank bailout passed right before the election added to concerns about whether stimulus money would be spent responsibly. Obama's promise to set up Recovery.gov, a website for tracking all the stimulus money, was promising, but not satisfying, attendees said.
"This is not the level of information we need as organizers," Constance said, brandishing the one-page talking points memo Obama distributed. "We're supposed to be the ones convincing other people. We can't do it if we can't explain it."
Steve, an auditor from Alexandria, read one talking point to the group before remarking light-heartedly, "I feel dumber after reading that."
The gatherings were not without praise for the administration, but they were characterized by criticism and frustration. One attendee, Lucinda, tried to lift spirits at the close of the Washington, D.C. meeting by focusing on the diverse gathering of three generations of Americans- from A.J. and his wife to their granddaughter and everywhere in between:
"The fact that you have actually brought together this many people... it's certainly a huge shift of consciousness," she said. "I voted for Barack Obama. But this man cannot fix something in two weeks. I think the reality of the expectations set for him were just too high."
In Alexandria, no one volunteered to lift the mood, as Steve admitted to, "walking away more confused. I came in confident about it, and now I'm like, 'Hmmm.'"
As Ron prepared his report for the feedback website, he summarized: "They need to work harder to think these things through," he said. "We expect more and better out of you."
At the close of both gatherings, as the sun set over a capital city now controlled by Barack Obama and a Democratic House and Senate, there was a palpable sense of surprise among attendees that the dawning of the new administration has left them hoping for so much to change.
