The post-primary assistants Obama will be requiring in the field, which he is christening FELLOWSHIPS, are unpaid positions. Unpaid Fellowships. Perhaps Obama means to say apprenticeships or internships. Are those terms too vocational? To exploitive? So much for Obama’s respect for Labor. Academic fellows are paid out of an endowment, or directly by scholarships. Medical Fellowships are just plain paid. Obama plans to impart his political journeymen expertise to his field canvassers. Every campaign has. Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose. In the grassroots world they are called volunteers.
 
Accepting the indignity of political advocacy subsidized by your family, is Obama going to create grassroots, or grass tentacles? Consider the rise of MoveOn. The phenomenon mobilizes “grassroots” but all discretion to act flows from above. Obama will call that mentorship.