| Senior officials from the Obama campaign offered "The first public window into the campaign's organizing strategy" at the Netroots Nation panel "Organizing for Change: An Inside Look at Obama For America's Grassroots Strategy". I liveblogged the event here, but thought it was worth a follow-up because it gave the first comprehensible explanation I have heard of the "change" Obama seeks.
This campaign, according to its leaders, doesn't just want to win this election: they want to start a movement -- to use Obama's run as a vehicle to energize the electorate, register millions of new voters, build a new Party, and shift the balance of power in this country from the regressive Republicans to the progressive Democrats.
Steve Hildebrand, the Deputy Campaign Manager, laid it out: "When Obama and Michelle first considered their White House run they didn't bring a lot of ego into the process." According to Hildebrand, Obama said: "Winning the Presidency would be remarkable, but building a movement that could change the agenda and put Americans back in charge of their future would be worth much more." The manager concluded: "This is not a joke, not a game: this is something that potentially can change the country and change the world."
Thus their emphasis on a 50-state campaign. "This is a campaign that has taken volunteerism to a whole new level. This is not about people who will take an evening now and then to stuff envelopes. This is about people who want to build a progressive movement in this country that has a life of its own and a future. It's about: what are we doing for the next decade," Hildebrand said.
The campaign's emphasis over the summer and into the early autumn will be on voter registration: "There are 56 million unregistered voters in the U.S." There is no greater priority for this campaign, at this moment, than getting people registered to vote." Specially, they will organize a massive three-day voter registration drive on Labor Day weekend after the Convention. The goal: "Register millions and millions of new voters. Build a new Party. And get rid of this idea of red states and blue states."
The primaries, Hildebrand added, have shown huge opportunities for new voter registration: (1) There is a seriousness and urgency -- a lot of problems that people are facing in their own lives -- that is new. (2) A candidate who is very inspirational to people. (3) Volunteer resources like no one has ever seen before. (4) Financial resources. "We want to use these four factors to register millions and millions of new voters not just to get Barack elected but to build a party for the next 10 years. If we don't use this opportunity shame on us. So get behind this effort. Tell your readers about it."
He offered Texas as a illustrative example. "We are competitive in every state. Texas is a good example. The last poll here had us down by three percent. There are 3.6 million unregistered voters in Texas. Of those, 1.4 million are Hispanic and 600,000 are African-American. We must sustain our ability to excite and energize young voters. Why does Barack Obama at times admire Ronald Reagan? Because he built a movement."
A Big Idea for sure. More power to us! |
