[COMM-ORG] morning in the United States

[Discussion list for COMM-ORG]

[ed:  Donna invites us to discussion, as well as collecting information.]

From: Donna Hardina <donna_hardina at csufresno.edu>


I think stories would be a good idea - but I also would like the 
opportunity to engage in some critical analysis with other organizers 
and campaign participants. Peter Dreier and other commentators have 
described differences between Obama campaign tactics and traditional 
organizing methods. My experience at the local level with the Obama 
campaign may have been atypical, but much of what I saw communicated to 
volunteers as campaign priorities and practices differed substantially 
from "conventional wisdom" in terms of both community organization and 
the way in which political campaigns are generally run (for example, the 
emphasis on contacting voters in swing states versus strengthening local 
campaign organizations by recruiting and mobilizing new voters via 
social networks). We know the Obama campaign was phenomenally 
successful, but why was it successful and how did implementation vary 
among state and local organizations?



Discussion list for COMM-ORG wrote:
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>  
> [ed:  thanks to those who sent personal notes responding to me, which I 
> won't post here unless the senders request it. Please consider Betty's 
> idea in this message, which would be a great project.]
>
> From:
> "Betty G. Robinson" <bgrobinson at verizon.net>
>
>
> Hi Randy,
> Just a thought:  Could Comm-Org collect all the stories about Obama 
> campaign organizing in one place?  Even links to same?  I am thinking it 
> would be a valuable resource for folks around the country -- I plan to 
> do it for folks here but I am sure I don't have access to the universe 
> of stories.  How about folks sending links to things they have read or 
> felt showed the depth of the organizing?
>
> Betty
>
> Discussion list for COMM-ORG wrote:
>   
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>>  
>> Good morning COMM-ORG,
>>
>> It is a rare opportunity to bear witness to the power of community 
>> organizing.  Seldom in this country's history have we seen the craft 
>> reach the heights of its potential--the Civil Rights Movement, the 
>> passage of the Community Reinvestment Act and, maybe arguably, one or 
>> two other times.  But last night I witnessed, as an adult when I can 
>> truly appreciate it, the power of the people united through community 
>> organizing.  I, perhaps like many of you, are still in a bit of a 
>> shock.  Regardless of the extent to which we may or may not agree with 
>> President-elect Obama politically (from either side of the political 
>> spectrum), we must appreciate the historic election of someone whose own 
>> lifetime began under the disenfranchisement of African Americans.  Less 
>> than half a century ago Barack Obama would have had difficulty even 
>> trying to vote in the southern United States.  I am also the parent of a 
>> 16 year old multi-racial (including African American) daughter.  She 
>> could not bear the ambiguity of the early returns, and could not sleep 
>> once the result was decided.  I remain, this morning, overwhelmed by the 
>> momentousness of this election.
>>
>> As we dissect what happened, I hope we appreciate how the lessons of 
>> community organizing, which include fundraising, and its leadership by a 
>> 47 year old community organizer who perhaps finally figured out how to 
>> organize, brought about this historic result.  My congratulations and 
>> thanks go out to ACORN and all the other community organizers who put 
>> into play, in magnificent form, time-honored community organizing 
>> practices to register voters and organize against voter suppression.  It 
>> is a new morning in the United States and, for the moment, it belongs to 
>> community organizing.
>>
>> Randy Stoecker
>> moderator/editor, COMM-ORG
>> rstoecker at wisc.edu
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