Politics: The Obama Faithful

Now playing: Slate V, a video-only site from the world's leading online magazine. Visit Slate V at www.slatev.com.
Politics The Obama Faithful There weren't as many as in 2009. But the people that flooded the president's second inauguration are battle tested. By David Weigel Posted Monday, Jan 21, 2013, at 11:37 PM ET In the run-up to Barack Obama's second inauguration, conservatives clung—clung bitterly, you could say—to the hope his crowd would be smaller. Byron York, one of the city's best-respected conservative reporters, told readers that the "low-interest Obama inauguration" was leaving hotel rooms empty. "Amid lessened hope and enthusiasm for his presidency," wrote York, "it's easy to find a room." Twitchy, a conservative site that collates tweets into stories, highlighted twitpics of empty streets and light human traffic, "just a fraction" of 2009's rolling madhouse. Crowd size is a powerful stimulant. When you enter the D.C. office of FreedomWorks, you see a photo of the Sept. 12, 2009 "taxpayer march on Washington," blown up to fit the better part of a wall. After that march ended, activists shared photo analyses and time-release data to argue that at least a million people had shown up. Fox News took out an ad in the Washington Post, page A9, with a picture of the crowd surging up the mall and a taunt at its rival networks for "missing the story." In 2010, Glenn Beck commandeered the National Mall for his Restoring Honor Rally, and his fans were sure he'd drawn more congregants than Martin Luther King Jr. did. The crowdsmanship flowed straight into the 2012 campaign. When Barack Obama made a campaign stop, Mitt Romney's campaign (or supportive bloggers) fired up Google to confirm that he was drawing fewer people than he did in 2008. A ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate The Obama Faithful Why the Israeli Left Is Lost How To Write a Muffin Recipe	Advertisement
Manage your newsletters subscription: Unsubscribe | Forward to a Friend | Advertising Information
Ideas on how to make something better? Send an e-mail to slatenewsletter@nl.slate.com. Copyright 2011 The Slate Group | Privacy Policy The Slate Group | c/o E-mail Customer Care | 1350 Connecticut Ave NW Suite 410 | Washington, D.C. 20036