I am impressed. I am very impressed!
My first experience with the Obama organization was in the spring of this year when I was a volunteer during the Texas Primary campaign. It seems that not many people know it but Barack Obama won the Texas primary. It took our caucus to do it but in the end we sent 98 delegates for Obama and 95 delegates for Clinton to national convention.
It was an exciting time for me, normally being Republican, but this "flash hand grenade" called Barack Obama inspired me like many others to do new things. One thing is for sure that once you donate money or campaign effort to Barack Obama you will never want for e-mail again! Every morning sitting at my computer was a note from Barack, Michelle or David. One other thing for sure was that no matter what content of message there always was that damn red DONATE button at the bottom.
One of the first exciting things for me was our precinct caucus. We talked politics with our neighbors and eventually took our time and effort to go to our county conventions. For me in Texas it was all pretty much over by early June. We now had to wait and see with the national convention would bring us.
I was saddened by this because I would miss the many interesting people, have the opportunity to think the many deep thoughts and just in general be more alive because of the campaign tasks we had to deal with. I was going to miss many of these new colleagues. I hoped there would be some way to keep the good times going.
Fortunately for us Obama turned out to be the candidate. The old team came back together again but also some new national leadership which mostly helped but sometimes got in the way.
In any case, we won and Barack Obama became the President-elect of the United States. We had a joyful evening and once again I was concerned that this passionate group of folks that made up campaign would drift apart now that we had "OUR GUY" in office and we could let the Washington political process work its wonders. AT least we would never have to look at the damn red "DONATE" button again.
In early December I got an e-mail from one of my more revered neighbors (Greg) with whom I'd worked during the campaign. He invited me to a "change party" on December 14. I did not know exactly what this was about but if he was going to take the time to host the event, I was going to take the time to go. So I went.
At the meeting we had a larger group than normal which I thought was strange but good.
There were several issues in the Obama transition team was soliciting input from members of the campaign organization. Of the many choices and small subjects we could have tackled, our group decided to work on solving "the healthcare issue". I thought: "This is a good idea. We should start with something small and simple. Something that nobody has ever worked on before." Good Grief!
None the less I went to the follow-on meeting (Two in fact) and was most impressed!
I was really impressed by the people who took time from their holiday season to come and discuss this issue. While I'm always impressed with Obama volunteers these seem to take on a more a dedicated purpose. After all we'd won already. We don't have to look at the damn red donate button anymore. But nonetheless here they were.
Some of the folks were people who clearly had issues with the current system. They had needs that were not being met and they wanted somebody to fix it.
But the larger demographic of the meeting was made up of people who have successfully navigated the current health care maze, and while finding it far from perfect have manipulated it to some level of success. Some of the folks were business people; some were actually doctors and healthcare professionals. Almost all knew technically more about the subject than I did.
I thought what a marvelous leader Barack Obama must be to inspire these individuals. And then "flash" a light bulb went off. I thought, hold it, you may have this one backwards. It may be these marvelous folks that inspire Barack Obama.
What a concept. Citizens coming together to do their civic duty and leading their politicians to practical answers.
If this catches on this could really piss off some professional politicians. Make them really angry and confused.
It could possibly change the dysfunctional psychology of our nation's capital.
I'm impressed. I am really impressed
I am glad to see we are trying to keep the Obama network and passion going post election. As Obama warned us we would need to do.
Any chance of posting an agenda or maybe just some kick off discussion points to help focus our thinking?
I know I would like to discuss some questions:
1. How does the Obama organization hope to solicit input from the troops (us)?
The election campaign was a wonder of organization but I felt was not very good at providing pathways for feedback from lower level volunteers. With a single goal (winning the election) this might not have been too important, but with the multiplicity of issues and priorities we face this becomes paramount.
2. How do we, as a local group, develop and express the issues and solutions we would like to receive attention.
3. How are we different then the "Democratic" party?
Personally I feel the Obama base is bigger than the Democratic Party.
We don't want to try and fit all the diverse Obama supporters into one "career" path.
4. and many others
-Roger Thanks for your continued efforts
-Lisa (prct captain)
It looks like Hillary is concerned about our ability to succeed in the cascus.(see below) So Sue and I managed to get time off from work to make sure we are there. Do you think we will have enough delegates?
-Roger
"Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign has raised the possibility of a challenge to Texas' primary and caucus rules just days before the contest, drawing a warning against legal action from the state's Democratic Party.
Top strategists for Democratic rival Barack Obama said Friday they supported the party's action, suggesting the Clinton campaign was trying to block the reporting of caucus results.
Aides to Clinton said earlier this week they were alarmed at the lack of clarity about many of the caucus rules and expressed their concerns on a conference call with staff for rival Barack Obama and state party officials. Texas has a two-step voting process to choose delegates to the party's national nominating convention this summer, with a primary and then caucuses shortly after the polls close."
I have created a flyer that invites Tx Republicans to vote for Obama (Which they can do) in the primary. I would like to make the MSWord file available for others to use, but I don't know how place it on this web site. Anybody out there who can give me some advice?
