After then-Sen. Obama abandoned his pledge to filibuster legislation that would give retroactive immunity to U.S. telecommunications providers that participated in the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping of Americans, the largest group on his campaign organizing site, MyBarackObama.com, revolted and began castigating him on the site's comment boards.
"Everyone was walking around the building saying, 'Holy cow. What's going on? This isn't what we want to talk about,' " Phillips said. "But it got to a point where we said, 'Let's just tell them where we stand.' "
The campaign ended up putting then-campaign adviser and now deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough in the middle of the Web chats to explain Obama's position and respond to criticism.