Let's stop debating whose grassroots is bigger

There's been a lot of talk, some of it private, some public, about the former Obama campaign setting up a new non-profit organization to lobby Congress in support of Obama's agenda. And considering the large grassroots network Obama has marshaled, this isn't a bad idea. But, Obama needs to make sure that this new grassroots movement, Obama's own personal MoveOn, doesn't strive for too much political autarky.

Obama's people seem to have a predisposition towards going it alone. Given a choice between using someone else's wheel that's already out there, and reinventing one themselves, they tend to go for the latter. In real terms, this means that Obama's campaign decided early on not to embrace the Netroots. They would simply create their own blogs and online grassroots at BarackObama.com. And while this worked, famously, to a degree, there came a point in the campaign where the Obama team and the blogosphere both realized they needed to work together in order to win.

This new Obama organization has the potential to do remarkable things. But it's still untested. For all the fundraising the Obama online machine accomplished, they're far less tested in political advocacy. And for all the unity among Obama's online grassroots during the campaign, keeping a coalition of supporters together during an administration - when one false move by Obama on a key issue could alienate half of his grassroots base - is an entirely different ball game.

Obama's grassroots isn't the only game in the town. The liberal blogosphere and Netroots (including MoveOn, Media Matters, and others), and progressive organizations more generally, have their own loyal online following. And it took all of us a long time during the campaign to finally realize that we needed each other if we were going to win. I just hope that the birth of this new Obama organization brings with it a new spirit of combining our energies, rather than once again trying to reinvent the proverbial e-wheel by assuming that the "old" Netroots is expendable. That mistake was made once. It's in no one's interest for it to be made again.