The responses to my “Series of Questions” illustrate a major problem with progressive activism. That weakness is an excessive reliance on what Ronald Heifetz calls “the old definition of leadership” – that is, “the leader has the answers, the vision, and everything else is a sales job to persuade people to sign up for it.”My first question, which I sent to a number of progressive activists, was:*****Please tell me what you think about the following, which someone else wrote:
YES WE DID! YES WE MUST:
Þ Protect him from harm both verbal & phyiscal
Þ Stay "FIRED UP" by staying active
Þ Work Bi-Partisan to bring "Change" together
Þ Don't just bitch, get active and stay engaged
Þ Start and join a local "Change" group
Þ Be philanthropic, serve your community, state and nation
Þ Stick by Obama, STOP smears on the Right & the Left!!!! Hold yourself responsible as you hold Barack!
Join the future of this movement!!
http://change.gov/joinus
http://www.communityorganize.com
http://www.ourpresidency.com
http://www.usaservice.org
http://www.whitehouse.gov
Barack's DNC 2004 Speech
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWynt87PaJ0&feature=PlayList&p=B1939005B8A4D4ED&index=188
Barack's DNC 2008 Speech
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ato7BtisXzE&feature=channel
Barack’s Election Acceptance Speech
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wJ-2Zu_Iic&feature=channel
Barack’s Inauguration Speech
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjnygQ02aW4
As we await a full report on what Barack and his team will do with the campaign organization post-election, my primary concerns can be summarized in three questions:
The OFA 2.0 Thing - Links, Video, Resources & Inspiration
I just had some rare vacation time in New York where I had time to
do lots of reading and research on what’s up with the OFA 2.0 thing.
The Dec 13th and 14th Change is Coming House Meetings that I went to
at SEIU 1021 in San Francisco were very inspiring. The first day was
for volunteers and the second day was focused on organizers. There
was a great deal of organizer talent in the room Sunday.
California OFA Campaign veterans & volunteers have created a great
new web tool www.CommunityOrganize.com to serve as an organizing
tool for teams across the state of California.
http://progressiveresourcecatalog.org/index.php/Obama/Home
http://ProgressiveResourceCatalog.org
Equally inspiring was yesterday’s CA Democratic delegate elections that
I attended in my own AD 13 district, and in AD 16 where I was attending to support the Labor / Burton slate.
Next up for inspiration is a gathering of thousands in Oakland to watch
the inauguration live on large screens, where 2 million people in DC will
be gathered to watch the inauguration live on large screens, as one billion people worldwide will watch the inauguration live on small screens. Jan 20 - Inauguration Day - Oakland Arena Celebration
http://www.green960.com/pages/inauguration09.html
- http://www.coliseum.com/events/show.php?id=1229554633
OK so now here is my collection of articles, video and links and recourses
on the OFA 2.0 thing, that I hope will be helpful for fellow
community organizers and information networking geeks.
Fist here is the essential information on Plans distributed at he Dec 14th
Change is Coming meeting at SEIU 1021 in San Francisco:
---------------------
Obama for America 2.0 Plans
The MyBO.com website will continue as an organizing tool
http://my.barackobama.com
There will be paid staff on the ground in every state, working with
unpaid staff and volunteers, just as in the election. Details are still to be
worked out, but the basics should be hammered out by late January.
They are moving with “deliberate haste”.
Obama for America (OFA) 2.0 will have 4 goals:
This includes pushing president Obama’s agenda, and it also
includes organizing around state and local laws / initiatives.
develop grassroots leaders to organize and serve their communities
and the grassroots, so that each knows and responds to the priorities
of the other.
again at both the local and national levels.
The process of creating and structuring this organization is meant to be
transparent and open.
Feedback survey forms are at:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/pesurvpage1/
Archive of every useful document from the campaign.
Send to ofa.archive@gmail.com
-------------------------------------------
These Are My Assembled Links & Resources:
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/01/the_organizing_dnc.php
From the Los Angeles Times December 31
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama31-2008dec31,0,2985997.story
More Hints from Chicago on Obama For America 2 By Micah L. Sifry, 12/11/2008 - 10:04pm
http://www.techpresident.com/blog/entry/33394/more_hints_from_chicago_on_obama_for_america_2
Joe Garofoli, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer - November 24, 2008
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/24/MN7214842D.DTL
Obama Campaign Testing the Waters for an Ongoing Grassroots Movement By Nancy Scola, 11/19/2008 - 11:55am
http://www.techpresident.com/blog/entry/33244/obama_campaign_testing_the_waters_for_an_ongoing_grassroots_movement
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-newmark/a-craigslist-for-service_b_150924.html
http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/OrganizingforChangeLegacyConferenceParti
The Democrats' New Weapon - the Obama campaign helped make the DNC's voter database 10 times larger. By David Talbot Thursday, December 18, 2008
http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/21902/page1/
Joe Trippi declares political parties dead
http://www.techpresident.com/blog/entry/33393/liveblogging_the_harvard_internet_politics_conference_part_7_joe_trippi_declares_political_parties_dead
YouTube: A conversation with Marshall Ganz http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhCoz5hMhTI Marshall Ganz on the Future of the Obama Movement http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1ISwjmwZ1U Q&A with Marshall Ganz and Jeremy Bird http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jcz7awW9EX8
Marshall Ganz and his community organizing background
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NglXpj94Z2o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0sWUI3pZ3I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnhmByYxEIo
Please call your Senate and House representatives and ask them to push for the above.
I think we should hold public protests.Please let me know what you think.
Thanks for your time and support,Paul
YES WE DID! Thanks To Everyone Who Supported Barack & This Group!
We did it because we believed we could. Now we must move forward to make the win a real win for America. We cannot go back to business as usual. We no longer have an excuse. Truly, anything is possible with God.
God Bless each and everyone...
God Bless Barack and his family and Joe Biden and his family and...
God Bless America
YES WE DID!!!
Dr. Barbara Palmer
Group Administrator
I'm about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but I wanted to write to you first. We just made history. And I don't want you to forget how we did it. You made history every single day during this campaign -- every day you knocked on doors, made a donation, or talked to your family, friends, and neighbors about why you believe it's time for change. I want to thank all of you who gave your time, talent, and passion to this campaign. We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I'll be in touch soon about what comes next. But I want to be very clear about one thing... All of this happened because of you. Thank you, Barack
Find a polling place near you at Last Call for Change.
Dear Ken, Kevin, Michael, John and Patty,
Over the years I have watched, and argued with each of you as your political philosophies vacillated from left to right and vice versa. However, none of you have ever known me to support a Democrat. I have always been proud to be a fiscally conservative, socially liberal member, in good standing of the Republican Party. We have joked about the many Christmas cards, photographs and invitations to inaugurations that I have received from George Bush and the Republican Party. However, on the eve of this election I wanted to write to explain why I am supporting Barack Obama for President of the United States.
Put starkly, I am very concerned about the mess that my generation is leaving to you and particularly about the future facing my grandchildren. In foreign affairs, John McCain’s views are more hawkish than Bush’s and his principal advisors are Neo-Cons, or lobbyists who have represented foreign countries. Your children, like it or not, will live and work in a globalized world. We must regain the prestige and leadership that Bush has squandered.
On the economy, we risk another great depression. Yet John McCain says "the fundamentals of our economy are strong" then "suspends" his campaign to fly to Washington to showboat. He demonstrated that he was ineffective. The only "solutions" for our economic problems that John McCain promotes are to maintain and even increase the Bush tax cuts. This approach has led to some of you having trouble getting credit or a mortgage, employment insecurity and the plunging stock market that is cutting into retirement savings. Under Bush we have borrowed billions from Japan and China that, unless we change the policies that Bush and McCain support, your children will have to repay with a substantially reduced standard of living.
John McCain, espouses the "trickle down theory" of economics that has led to the current mess. He proposes more tax cuts for the rich and seeks to scare you that Barack Obama will increase your taxes. The truth is that it is John McCain who is proposing to tax the value of the medical benefits you get from your employer in exchange for a $5,000 tax credit to buy your insurance. I seriously doubt that any of you can replace the insurance you are getting from your employers with a $5,000 credit–it will cost you substantially more and I have a seriously doubt if you could get insurance covering preexisting conditions for you or your children if your employers cut back their medical plan since they would no longer be getting a deduction. John McCain has suggested deregulating the medical insurance industry just as was done for the banking industry. No thank you Senator McCain.
Since none of you are currently making over $250,000 the Obama tax plan will give you a tax decrease as opposed to an increase. What Senator Obama has proposed is to increase the top tax bracket from 35% to 39.6%–what it was under Clinton. Such a tax increase is neither socialism nor a redistribution of wealth. While you were growing up, I remember a top tax bracket of 90% and 70%. In those days we paid for wars and government rather than borrowing the money. As your grandfather used to say "the country has been good to us and we have an obligation to contribute to the common good by willingly paying taxes, government service and/or charitable activities." John McCain’s belief that if we just give tax breaks to the rich and to large corporations the wealth will "trickle down" to the middle class just hasn’t worked.. In the past eight years the income and wealth disparity in the country has spiraled out of control. 20 to 40 million dollar salaries to CEO’s, entertainers and athletes are becoming commonplace while the middle class is struggling to stay above water–a loss of job or an illness away from foreclosure. We are approaching the level of disparity between the top and the bottom that foments revolutions. Even if Barack Obama were to raise your taxes–which he will not–it would be far better than the McCain alternative where the rich would get richer while the middle class suffers.
As you know, on his birthday I wrote a letter to John McCain questioning whether, at age 72, we were both too old to be President. That letter was sent the night before John McCain put temporary electoral advantage ahead of country and brought us Sarah Palin. Since then, I have closely observed John McCain’s demeanor, temperament and judgment. The conclusion is inescapable that he is too old to be President for the reasons stated in my previous letter. However, apart from questions of age, the nature of the campaign that he has presided over disqualifies him for the job. Simply put, John McCain and his "sidekick" have conducted a totally negative campaign based upon character assasination and lies. Listen to a McCain and Palin speech–it is all about tearing down Obama. You never here the details of a positive program. Just pandering and spite.
In order to move forward we have to end the mindless partisanship that has infected Washington and eliminate the politics of negativism and character assassination. While the McCain camp says that both sides are negative, a review of both sides advertisements, speeches and positions refutes their claim. We have had eight years of lies and spin from the Bush administration. The lies and spin will continue if McCain-Palin are elected.
For all of the forgoing reasons I am supporting Barack Obama for President. This year move than ever, I also believe that it is important in voting for your Senator and Representative to consider their record. Have they voted as a mindless partisan? In particular, do they have a voting record like John McCain of 90% support of Bush policies? If so, you should consider also voting for change in your Senate or House race. Arguments that the Democrats are responsible for the mess in Washington because they controlled the House and Senate for the last two years ignore that progress has been hamstrung by vetoes by George Bush and a record use of filibusters by Senate Republicans. I hope that my Republican Party will see the light, purge the extremist elements and regain the traditions of Eisenhower, Goldwater and Regan. Then I can go back to the party, but for now we need to eliminate the "know nothings" that have infiltrated it.
I am certain that all of you will be voting on Tuesday and I hope this letter convinces you to vote for Barack Obama. Please share it with your spouses and feel free to also share it with your friends if you agree with me that it is vital to future generations that we give Barack Obama the chance to bring real change to our country.
With Love and Hope for the Future, Your Dad
"In one week, at this defining moment in history, you can give this country the change we need.... We can't afford to slow down, sit back, or let up for one day, one minute, or one second in this last week. Not now. Not when so much is at stake." For more, select link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDw5_d0M-wc&NR=1
Taking It Back With Barack
Watch and enjoy…
http://www.devradowrite.com/
