The BHO campaign has sent out emails to me and probably millions of other lucky recipients encouraging us to sign up for a local "Camp Obama" (my.barackobama.com/page/s/campobamaus, my.barackobama.com/page/s/campobama08la), a two-day session where we'd learn how to be effective organizers for the campaign. Hopefully a citizen reporter will sign up to report back with a critical eye, but for now all we have are the positive and very many negative connotations brought to mind. You can see a full copy of the email here, and if you want to be creeped out even more see the description of last year's "camps" here:

Rivals of Obama know that while he may at times appear to channel Martin Luther King Jr., his methods sometimes give evidence of his allegiance to [Saul Alinsky], who shunned starry-eyed idealists and recommended purging do-gooders from organizations. Alinsky wanted results. And his methods often forced the hands of elected officials... It's not enough to want to help others, [an Obama campaign staffer] says. These campers need to focus on people's self-interests. What do they want? How can Obama help them? ..."We want you to stop thinking about Barack Obama and be Barack Obama," she says.

Keep chanting "it's not a cult and these aren't indoctrination sessions" over and over again as you read the BHO-produced blog about last year: campobama.blogspot.com:

Steve Westly, Chair, California Leadership Committee makes a brief 8 minute speech to the Northern California volunteers assembled on the morning of 8.11.07 that Barack Obama is among the most outstanding candidates to ever grace our lives... ...[Marshall Ganz, PhD Sociology, Harvard] goes into how we can develop our own stories of self so we can relate with voters on a deeper emotional level than just to transfer information. Features analysis of Barack's 2004 Democratic National Convention Speech opening.

It's not a cult, I swear!

Note also that camp is "led by experienced Obama campaign staffers and other professional organizers"; who falls into the latter "camp" and what organizations they're with would definitely be interesting to know.