Bit By Bit

Transcription of NABJ Q and A

Peter Erickson — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 15:59:48 EDT

As promised, here is my transcription of Obama's NABJ Q and A session:

Obama's New Direct Answer to "Black Enough"

Peter Erickson — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 15:56:25 EDT

(Cross-posted on DailyKos and MyDD)

Obama's appearance on Friday at the National Association of Black Journalists sparked one of the most interesting question and answer sessions in a long time, with Obama addressing tensions between the black and hispanic communities, arguing for a broader engagement with Africa, and answering questions about his chances as an African-American candidate. Obama gave his most detailed and thoughtful treatment of the problem of race in America in a long time.

My own unedited transcription of the most interesting sections of the Q and A session is posted here, and you can also listen to a full audio recording of the event here.

Calling for a broader engagement with Africa:

On Darfur, he cited instituting a no-fly zone as the bare minimum we can do, along with supporting the UN peacekeeping troops who will be there on the ground, "in preventing increased bloodshed as we try to initiate broader peace-talks between the rebel groups and the government in Khartoum." But he pivoted to knock the ball out of the park by making a much broader point about America's role in Africa:

Last point I would make, we've got problems like this all throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. And we can't wait until the genocide's taking place before we engage Africa. We've got to have an Africa policy that is active, that is involved, that is engaged, that is dealing with the health care infrastructure, that is dealing with the educational infrastructure, that is expanding trade opportunities for African nations and that is holding African nations accountable for rule of law, anti-corruption measures and so forth. Because if we're not a partner with Africa and we just wait until all heck breaks loose, then we're never going to have enough troops.

And keep in mind, as tragic as what happened in Darfur is, we've had millions of people die in the Congo in the last six years. And if you asked the average American, they wouldn't know a thing about it. And that is a consequence of us not being consistently engaged and we've got to understand it's not just a charity or a humanitarian issue, it is also a security issue, because if you've got chaos and anarchy in Africa, terrorists will find a way to exploit that chaos and anarchy, that's where they're going to be based, that's where they're going to recruit and we're going to have increased problems in years to come.

Obama further explored what he imagines he could accomplish for American politics that no other candidate in the field can. I'll address this answer for my first front-page post on MyDD as a candidate blogger on Wednesday, but for the moment I'd like to turn to two questions asked towards the end of the forum: about Obama's chances as an African-American candidate and for the potential to change the racial dynamic in the United States if he became president.

Debate: Obama/Edwards vs. Biden/Dodd

Peter Erickson — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 12:17:46 EDT

Flashbacks to the 2004 debates?

The debate in Chicago yesterday seemed to open up a new faultline in the presidential race between the candidates.

On the one side, you have Edwards and Obama, both candidates of a newly resurgent, newly confident left, both relatively young and having risen quickly due to charisma, speaking ability, and sheer talent.

And on the other side, you have the establishment candidates of Dodd and Biden, both who have served long careers in the Senate, often making arguments about the wisdom that comes with the years --- Biden recently called Obama a "Johnny-come-lately" and scorned Edwards yesterday as a late-comer on union issues.

Chris Cillizza made an interesting observation:

Expect the spin out of the debate to center on these two groups. The Obama/Edwards allies will paint it as a choice between change and more of the same. Supporters of Clinton/Dodd/Biden will cast it as experience versus inexperience.

What's interesting to me is that this dynamic isn't particularly new. Is anyone else getting flashbacks to the 2004 debates?

Dems Visit Elko, NV for First Time in 50 Years

Peter Erickson — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 09:13:17 EDT

Democrats breaking new ground

Many blame Democrats' failure to gain ground in places like Elko for the party's statewide losses. Nevada Sen. Harry Reid has said the Democrats' 2004 nominee, Sen. John Kerry, would have won the state had he spent more time campaigning outside the urban centers of Reno and Las Vegas. Kerry lost Nevada by 2 percentage points. Source

Democratic candidates for president have started venturing out of Reno and Las Vegas in preparation for Nevada's early caucus currently scheduled for January 19th, five days after Iowa's caucus and three days before New Hampshire's primary. They're starting to show that they'll go just about anywhere to find Democratic caucus voters. This bodes well not just for the caucus but for Democratic general election chances in Nevada.

Elko is deep in northeastern Nevada, far closer to Utah and Wyoming than it is to Vegas. With a population of only 17,000, it's still, according to Wikipedia, the largest city between Reno and Salt Lake City on Interstate Hgwy 80. Of the 17,000, only 25% are active registered Democrats, though just under 20% of the city's population is Hispanic. Bush won Elko County in 2004 with 78% of the vote, Gibbons with 67% of the vote in 2006. Elko also has five legal brothels and at least as many casinos.

Wim Wenders filmed part of his recent movie Don't Come Knocking here and described it this way:

We continued our shoot in Nevada, in an old cowboy town called Elko. Unlike other Nevada towns, Elko isn't completely eaten up by the gambling business. You can still feel its tradition as a cattle and sheep town.

It was once populated largely by Bas[que]s, who have a great tradition as sheepherders, and you can still have great Bas[que] food in town.

Once a year hundreds of cowboys from all over the West gather here for the annual "Cowboy Poetry Festival."

It's safe to say that it's a wee bit out of traditional Democratic presidential campaigning territory. According to the Reno Gazette-Journal:

Elko has long been a favorite stop of Republican candidates for national and state office.

In a last-minute campaign push for U.S. Rep. Dean Heller last year, President Bush, suffering from historically low approval ratings nationally, drew a crowd of 6,000 rural Nevadans. They waited in rain for hours to listen to him speak.

McCain made Elko a part of his announcement tour, and Romney is scheduled to vist Elko next week.

Obama Opens Up Online Healthcare Discussion

Peter Erickson — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 11:28:13 EDT

As part of his ethics reform package, Obama proposed making the internet not only a tool for furthering government transparency but for fostering civic engagement. The internet is not just there to disseminate information but to allow citizens to interact with their government: he imagined regular broadband townhall meetings from cabinet officials, opening up public regulatory hearings online, and creating an area on the White House website for public comment on pending legislation. Details here.
Now Obama has opened up a blog devoted exclusively to discussing health care and soliciting input. The goal is to create "a real forum for discussion and debate as a way to refine understanding and evolve solutions." This is a continuation and further development of Obama's social networking website towards including more policy discussion and will be called "My Policy," involving discussions on a variety of issues. Until now, "My Policy" has mainly been used as a way of gathering anecdotes from supporters for policy speeches, but the goal is now to move towards creating a dialogue.

Obama Responds to Bill Clinton on Experience

Peter Erickson — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 08:49:17 EDT

1. Lessons from 2004 and the 90's
You can't understand Barack Obama's appeal unless you reflect on the recent history of Democratic nominees for president. For two straight presidential cycles, Democrats lost by being unable to present a candidate with a new frame for progressive politics. John Kerry amassed an array of policy proposals by election day, including a fairly bold health care plan, but fundamentally lacked the ability to sell them to the American people. He was unable to present a compelling vision for the progressive role government can play in society --- as I feel Obama did on the floor of the DNC in 2004, striking the perfect pitch:

Don't get me wrong. The people I meet in small towns and big cities, in diners and office parks, they don't expect government to solve all their problems. They know they have to work hard to get ahead and they want to. Go into the collar counties around Chicago, and people will tell you they don't want their tax money wasted by a welfare agency or the Pentagon. Go into any inner city neighborhood, and folks will tell you that government alone can't teach kids to learn. They know that parents have to parent, that children can't achieve unless we raise their expectations and turn off the television sets and eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white. No, people don't expect government to solve all their problems. But they sense, deep in their bones, that with just a change in priorities, we can make sure that every child in America has a decent shot at life, and that the doors of opportunity remain open to all. They know we can do better. And they want that choice.

Our next president will not only be the chief spokesman, the head campaigner, and the primary fundraiser for the Democratic party over the next four to eight years, but the primary advocate for progressive policies for the next decade. There will only be one post-Bush election in which we will have the opportunity to reset the debate.
Whatever you say about the Clinton administration and Bill Clinton's obvious talents, in the end it failed to build a progressive majority, failed to make the case for a universal health care system, and, more fundamentally, failed to make a defense for the role of government in society. In this way, Bill Clinton would not, could not, lay the groundwork for a fundamental change in American politics. The Clintons have had their turn in the spotlight. As Bill Clinton said in 1992:

And we have to change in this country. You know, my wife, Hillary, gave me a book about a year ago in which the author defined insanity as just doing the same old thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

No progressive agenda will ever make it through the Senate unless our next advocate-in-chief can (1) strongly make the case to the American people and (2) not only elect themselves but provide the frame and rhetorical firepower to expand Democratic majorities.
This election is about who can best fulfill the above goals. Obama will continue to lay out his proposals in detail --- Hillary Clinton, not Obama, is the only leading candidate without a universal health care plan, and it is Obama who has taken the clear lead on ethics reform, both in the Senate working with Russ Feingold and in his presidential run, as well as delivering an agenda for relieving urban poverty that has gone mostly unnoticed by the mainstream media --- but this election is more fundamentally about the face of our party going into the next decade.

Obama Proposes New Era of Government on Internet

Peter Erickson — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 16:36:07 EDT

Tucked into Obama's ethics reform package announced last week –– which he pledges to sign as an executive order on his first day in office –– is the beginning of a new acceptance of the role of the internet in government. There has been an endless amount of discussion about the role of Internet 2.0 in political campaigning, but what about in the everyday business of governance? How do we get beyond the internet merely being a tool for disseminating information and towards its being a tool for strengthening our democracy and promoting civic engagement?
So far, discussion of the role of the internet in governance has focused on transparency. We see this in Hillary Clinton's own ethics proposal, announced in April, which would require, for example, every federal agency to post a copy of its budget on the web. This seems emblematic of the newly accepted role of the internet –– as a public storehouse for information or as a new means of disseminating information. The idea is to simply take budgets with hundreds or thousands of pages and post them on the web --- to throw these volumes into the public realm.
And this is great as a first step, and at first, Obama's proposal seems to merely be an extension of this direction: for example, (a) by having a period of five days in which he would post legislation on the White House website before signing it, or (b) by ensuring that gratuitous earmarks are discouraged by forcing them into the light of day. And he says things like:

Building on his “Google for government” bill, which was signed into law and allows every American to do a simple search and see exactly how federal money is being spent, Barack Obama will ensure that any tax breaks to special interests, or tax earmarks, are also publicly available by directing the Office of Management and Budget to post them on its website.

These are all great developments.
But the internet can play a much more critical role. Just as political campaigns are now discovering that a website is no longer about merely posting position papers, photographs, and news articles, but about fostering contacts between supporters, engaging them in the campaign, soliciting ideas, and creating new possibilities for interaction with their candidate, it's time that we expand our thinking about the role the internet can play in honest and open government.

I think Obama just might be applying these same lessons not only to his political campaign but to his style of governance. Here's why below the fold:

Suggestions for Obama Facebook Application

Peter Erickson — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 20:36:13 EDT

It's now been a couple weeks since the release of the new Obama facebook application. The application looks amazing. For those who haven't seen it, it adds a box to your personal profile on Facebook. It provides the basic functions of spreading Obama-related video and news, as well as spreading the word about events and fundraising drives like the Dinner for 5. And most intriguingly, it searches your friends list for those living in the early primary states to encourage you to contact them. (Aimee Fauseer has a great blog post describing the application in further detail.)

Is there more that it can do? Can it play a role in getting out the vote and in fundraising? Here are some ideas... Feel free to post your thoughts and suggestions.

Electing Obama by Transforming the Facebook

Peter Erickson — Mon, 14 May 2007 13:32:49 EDT

Much ink has been spilled over the excitement brewing on social networking sites this presidential cycle. There has been an explosion of interest in Obama's campaign on the Facebook. There are now hundreds of Obama support groups with hundreds of thousands of members. But how much value do these support groups really have? Is this finally the crucial tool for Democrats to mobilize the 18-25 demographic? Or is it all just a bunch of hype?

New York Times' Judi Kantor again questions Obama's faith

Peter Erickson — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 07:03:10 EDT

Many of you will remember the public argument between Judi Kantor of the New York Times and Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s pastor in Chicago, in which Kantor implied that Wright had come to feel shunted as Obama prepared for his presidential campaign. In a furious letter, Rev. Wright lambasted the article as being grossly misrepresentative and passionately defended Obama as one of the most principled public figures he had ever known. (Read more here.)
On Monday, Ms. Kantor released another lengthy article about Obama’s relationship to his pastor, having taken none of Rev. Wright’s criticisms into account. In her latest article, Ms. Kantor even goes so far as to question the sincerity of Obama’s faith, not merely implying that Obama’s conversion was a cynical move to further his political career but also the far more troubling proposition that his faith, because it is rooted in a black tradition, is radical and even racist. Her article is riddled with baffling assumptions about Obama’s faith, but there are a couple points that simply must taken issue with explicitly.

New Feature Suggestions: Bookmarks, Favorites, My Petitions

Peter Erickson — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 21:27:59 EDT

Some other suggestions for new features that might be great additions to the website as we think about improving the site over the longterm. This website is a fantastic resource. Let's keep thinking about how to make it better:

1. Minor suggestions first: (a) It would be nice to have a bookmark function so that you could mark a blog and be able to return to it later, such that it would turn up under the "My Blog" section on our toolbars. (b) There could also be a favorites section under "My Blog" as well that would allow people to have a list of their favorite entries/stories/organizing ideas/important list of resources posted by others about the campaign. There is kind of a happy chaos at the moment amidst all the blogs on this site, and it would be nice for at least individual members to have tools for organizing the information.

2. I was poking around another political networking site PartyBuilder at democrats.org and looking at some of the functions that we don't have yet. One that I really liked was the petitions function. The my.barackobama toolbar could add a My Petitions button that would allow people to either endorse campaign petitions, petition members of Congress about bills of Barack's before Congress, or even create their own petitions (for example, to urge local officeholders, under the campaign's radar-screen but visible to locals, to endorse Barack). This seems like another nice way to get people involved in grassroots organizing. An online grassroots petition effort for Barack is already underway here.

Who are you and what have you done with Tom Vilsack?

Peter Erickson — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 19:46:03 EDT

This week, former Governor Tom Vilsack announced his endorsement, after having as a candidate taken his most prominent positions on two issues: immediate Congressional action on the war in Iraq and deploring the role of money in our politics.

I have only one question: Who are you and what have you done with Tom Vilsack?

Tracking Absentee Votes –– Support new bill in Congress!

Peter Erickson — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 23:05:24 EDT

For those of us, especially students and those living abroad, who will be voting in the upcoming election with an absentee ballot, there is a fantastic bill that was introduced on Thursday by Rep. Susan Davis (D) of California. Called the "Mail-In Ballot Tracking Act," it would require states to take measures to allow voters to track their absentee ballots via telephone or internet. This would allow you to ensure that your ballot arrived safely in time for Election Day.

I recently graduated from college and for years I have stuck my ballot in the mail without ever even knowing if it had arrived. As absentee voters, we're curiously disconnected from the voting process. I have been wishing for an online tracking system just to know that my ballot was indeed counted.

A similiar bill is going to be introduced in the US Senate by Sen. Ron Wyden (D) of Oregon, a state that recently moved to conducting its election entirely by absentee ballot.

Show your support by contacting your Congressperson and by sending your thanks to Ron Wyden and Susan Davis! Click on their names to send them an email! Read more below the gap:

Vilsack endorses Hillary... Let's get to work on Harkin!

Peter Erickson — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 13:38:41 EDT

Tom Vilsack is preparing to endorse Hillary in an announcement from Iowa on Monday... Thanks to everyone who sent emails and signed our petition to former Gov. Vilsack urging him to endorse Barack. What do we go now?

Let's get to work on Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin! Vilsack's announcement makes Harkin's endorsement that much more important! Let him know that just how vast Barack's grassroots support is!

There are two options: For Iowa residents, there's a petition set up here, and don't forget Gov. Culver here. For everyone else, contact Sen. Harkin: send him an email, give him a call, drop him a letter!

Here's Harkin's contact information:

The first primary of the 2008 season is NEXT WEEK!!!

Peter Erickson — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 17:14:26 EDT

A few of my friends have been asking me, "You know, the election isn't for another year. Why are you so worked up about it already?" A lot of people seem to be saying, "All that matters is if you vote on election day. Nothing else counts."

Here's what they're missing: On March 31st, candidates will report not only on how much they have collected but on how many donors have contributed. The press will report on both these statistics.

That means that even if you donate ten or twenty dollars, you're counted and, in the glory of American democracy, your one will be equal to any other big-name donor in the race. Think of it as your first chance to cast a ballot in this election and prove how expansive Obama's support is in this country.

Obama's Pastor Fights Back

Peter Erickson — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 22:17:21 EDT

There was a recent article in the New York Times titled "Disinvitation by Obama is Criticized" that ran on March 6th. At issue was the fact that Obama's pastor, the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, had initially been invited to deliver a public invocation. At the last minute, the invitation was withdrawn, after Obama's advisers convinced him that Wright's presence would be too controversial.

Thus goes the story of the New York Times anyway... So what does Rev. Wright have to say about?

Read this magnificent letter in which he lambasts the Times for misrepresentation:

New Facebook Group Admin Collaboration Site

Peter Erickson — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 15:45:02 EDT

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to let you know that you inspired a similar group collaboration forum on the Facebook for the hundreds of Obama support groups with hundreds of thousands of members there that are now trying to get organized.

If you have a Facebook account, take a look:

Facebook Admins for Obama - Collaboration Group

Group Blog Entry Cap Suggestion

Peter Erickson — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 11:26:57 EDT

Could I add the suggestion that there be a cap on the number of groups a blog entry can be posted to? It seems like people are often get a little trigger-happy, posting every blog entry to every group they belong to, but this often leads to a lot of blog posts that aren't relevant to the group at hand and means that individual groups never form any sort of cohesion.

I think a cap like this would be a simple measure to foster more focused discussion. Maybe a limit per blog entry of ten groups to post to? Of course, if someone had an exceptionally important announcement, they could easily go around the limit by re-posting the same blog entry each time to a new group of ten, and that's perfectly fine, but at least maybe they would pause a little before posting to too many, and they might consider tailoring their announcement a little more to the group they're posting in.

Anyway, just a suggestion... What do people think?

Romney and the "French Question": What we're up against...

Peter Erickson — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 09:01:32 EST

Many read the report of a Romney campaign document obtained by the Boston Globe. If anything, I was surprised that it did not meet with more outrage, and of course the most remarkable part of the document was where it explicitly tried to map out a strategy of French-baiting. Leaving aside the history of French-baiting in the United States that peaked with the presidential campaign in 2004:

- From Spinsanity.org: "Radio host Rush Limbaugh has also pushed the line hard, repeatedly referring to Kerry as 'French-looking' and mocking him as 'Jean Cheri' or 'Jean F. Cheri' last fall."

- From the Washington Post's Dana Milbank: "And House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) has begun speeches with the statement, "Good afternoon, or, as John Kerry might say, 'Bonjour.'"

And leaving aside the irony of this, since France is currently engaged in a presidential campaign where the leftist candidate Segolene Royale has consistently reproached her center-right technocrat opponent Nicholas Sarkozy for being 'too American':

What does this say that Romney is taking it up again?

The Genius of the "Joshua Generation"

Peter Erickson — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 08:01:55 EST

Once again, the press seems to have missed the real story. In an article about Senator Obama's speech in Selma, Alabama yesterday, the Chicago Tribune wrote: "While Obama did not explicitly claim for himself the role of Joshua, that was clearly the implication, coming during a campaign to be elected the nation's highest leader." And a whole row of newspapers seemed to enjoy pointing out that Obama was actually born in 1961, three years before the crossing of the Edmund Pettus bridge, and hence could not have been "conceived" in its wake. Others pointed out that he hadn't "actually" been to Selma before and that it wasn't "really" a homecoming. They all seemed to have missed the point. They all missed what was so moving about Obama's speech.

Early Endorsements for Barack

Peter Erickson — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 17:47:30 EST

It's interesting to take a look at where the early endorsements for Barack are coming from. There are currently two governors (Virginia and Illinois), one US senator, and 14 House representatives that have endorsed Barack.

One of the most interesting fights is going to be over members of the Congressional Black Caucus where Clinton is trying to win endorsements to help her hold her own with the black vote. So far Barack has been endorsed by at least five or six (of 42 black members of Congress).

Barack has also sealed up most of the Illinois Democratic congressional delegation, with the exceptions of Daniel Lipinski and Ralph Emmanuel (who will probably stay neutral because of his many ties to the Clintons, worked for many years in the Clinton administration...).

Barack is currently even with Hillary in the race for Congressional endorsements with 15 each.

Below is my complete list: Let me know if there is anyone I missed!

Setting Fundraising Goals

Peter Erickson — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 17:09:35 EST

Since we are most likely to hit $10,000 tonight, I thought it might be a good time to start thinking about our next fundraising goals and about our pace so far. Lindsey, the new admin at Million Strong, has said she would be interested in posting fundraising goals on the site. But what should they be?

Clearly March 31st, as the end of the first fundraising quarter of the presidential campaign, is a crucial date. The candidates are in an intense rush for funds: Link

"Although all appear for forums, speeches and television programs, the bulk of time till the end of the first-quarter campaign-finance-reporting period on March 31 will be consumed with scraping together dollars. Mr. Romney plans 21 fund-raising events in 30 days...

"Mrs. Clinton’s machine is operating all out to post a huge number to intimidate her rivals. She is planning a Los Angeles extravaganza in late March to rival Mr. Obama’s $1.3 million event there last week. As of yesterday, an e-mail plea sent last week by Bill Clinton had raised $705,000 toward the goal of $1 million in a week."

So that's where the campaigns are at, what should our goal be going forward? Let's take a look at the math...

ACTION: Contact Tom Vilsack and Urge Him to Support Barack!

Peter Erickson — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 05:02:59 EST

Send Gov. Vilsack a short email this weekend urging him to support Barack before he makes up his mind on a future endorsement. Someone posted this on Facebook:

Tom Vilsack announced that he would no longer be seeking the Democratic nomination because he was unable to secure a certain level of financial support. Write him a compelling message and ask him to endorse Barack Obama for president. If we ALL do it, it should make a significant difference.

Here is his contact info: Link

It only takes a second! LETS GET TO WORK PEOPLE!

Progress in Mobilizing the Facebook

Peter Erickson — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 11:13:52 EST

One Million Strong for Barack has lots of members but doesn't have the ability to contact them, as the group admin's ability to message its members all at once is disabled when the group reaches a thousand. So our plan is to target all Facebook Obama support groups with less than a thousand members, of which there are at least 160 and whose number is growing rapidly each day.

So far, with six volunteers, we've contacted around 60 groups. Ten administrators have responded thus far, messaging a combined total of around 5,000 of their members. Most of the response I've received has been genuine excitement. These people who are happy to help but just haven't heard about the Million Strong fundraising drive. My goal is to use this method to contact 30-40,000.

There are still 70 more groups to contact, so we're always looking for more volunteers. We're keeping it to 8 groups per person per day, so as to learn from past efforts' mistakes and not run afowl of anti-spam controls.

Sound good? Any other ideas about ways to get around the anti-spam controls and contact more people on the facebook? Or other ideas about what the Facebook mobilization team should be doing next? Post in the comments section.

Also, click "see more" if you want to see the form letter we've been using.

Suggestions for Utilizing this Community Blog

Peter Erickson — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 11:04:08 EST

I thought maybe it would help to open up a community blog for this group to allow us to report on our progress, brainstorm ideas, network on the my.barackobama site, etc.

I'd suggest that we keep blogs posted in this community section mainly to organizational / logistical / fundraising / outreach kinds of discussions, so that it doesn't become too cluttered, and everyone has the opportunity to see easily what other people are working on and offer ideas.

It also seems helpful to keep blogs shorter, creating a new post for each new idea, so that people can scroll through easily.

What do you think?

Coordinating Fundraising

Peter Erickson — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 18:05:24 EST

There has been an explosion of groups of Obama supporters abroad. If we combine to coordinate our donations, we can send a powerful message that we as a group are behind Obama. We can set a common goal, and everyone can feel empowered making whatever contribution they are able to.

As members of an American community spread out across the world, we are all too keenly aware of the effect our president has had on our country's reputation overseas. It is time for us to organize. Show with your contribution that you're a proud member of an international community of Obama supporters who feel the need for change.

As anyone living or studying abroad can attest to:

We need a president who has himself lived and traveled abroad, who has learned the tolerance and cultural senstivity that comes with it.

We need a president with the idealism and commitment to renew America's role as a positive force for change in the world.

Make a donation here: Link

Thanks!

Collective Fundraising

Peter Erickson — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 13:56:51 EST

One of the most exciting developments on this website has been this:

Student groups have started using the "My Fundraising" button to set up their own fundraising pages, such as Stanford for Obama and One Million Strong for Obama --- the group originally founded on The Facebook, which has managed to attract over 260,000 members and has already raised over $7,355 through 233 students (has had an average of around $20 per person) on their fundraising page on BarackObama.com:

Link

They are encouraging people to make small contributions, however much they feel able to give.

If even a fraction of the facebook group's membership donates, then they have the potential raise a substantial amount of money. (A ten dollar donation from every member in the group would raise over two million dollars for Barack's campaign.)

But what I find even more impressive is this: Most students have never made a political contribution before and are only able to donate a small amount, but they feel empowered by this group. The comments section on facebook is buzzing with people who feel that they have taken the first step to taking their government back and are giddily calling on each other to take part.

This is our chance to once and for all take down the notion that America's young people are politically unengaged. The media is sure to take notice if this group manages to encourage students to contribute on a broad scale.

Peter

University of Chicago ('05)