Organizing for America | 08arack 08ama 08log: “Obama Movement” is for Meaningful and Participatory Politics

“Obama Movement” is for Meaningful and Participatory Politics

By Nathaniel Krefman - Jun 10th, 2007 at 11:58 pm EDT

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Tags: Abraham Lincoln, barack obama, community, consensus, grassroots, Historic, John F. Kennedy, Leadership, Martin Luther King Jr., movement, organizer, ronald reagan

Americans today are showing a level of interest early in the 2008 presidential race that is completely without precedent. The intense focus of the American public on the race for the presidency, many months before even the first primaries and caucuses, reveals the extent to which regular Americans are longing for a new, meaningful politics. It is this extraordinary pang of hunger for change in America right now that explains Barack Obama's unlikely and astonishingly rapid ascent to become the most inspiring and hopeful figure in American politics since President Ronald Reagan, or even President John F. Kennedy.

America is ready to turn the page. To turn the page on patronage, on dynasties, and on polarization. On cronyism, on Swift-Boat style attack campaigns, and on the auctions we've held in place of elections. America is ready to turn the page on the tired politics of the last generation.

We want a politics of enfranchisement and of engagement. We want a politics of inclusion and solidarity. This generation is sick of being told that regular people don't matter, that we're too divided to find common ground. We want a politics of the People, by the People, and for the People.

We've had our fill of condescending and hypocritical politicians who favor special interests and personal gain over what's good for average Americans, for the Common Good. We've lost our appetite for radical policies that harm national interests at home and abroad. We're weary of leaders who bully and force, who wedge and divide, without giving the least consideration to building consensus and fostering unity. We're sick of being intimidated at the polls, and we're finished with having to hold our noses when we vote.

And we've been told by the pundits who is "electable" and who is "inevitable" for the last time.

Nothing is clearer than that the United States is at a critical turning point in its History. And people don't want to turn back the clock, people want to transform America. They want America to live up to its promise. They recognize, as President Abraham Lincoln did, that "a house divided against itself cannot stand." They want a President of good faith, a President who will listen to diverse opinions (including to those not from his own party), and a President who will unify America. Most importantly they want a President who believes in the American People.

Even the most apathetic Americans are paying attention to Barack Obama, the only politician with the audacity to hope, a man whose inspirational story could only have happened in the United States of America. The people are going to vote this time. Young people who came of age during the Bush administration, who learned the consequences of electing a President with no greater virtue than his family name and his political ties, are going to vote this time. People sick of being told that an African-American cannot become the president in America, and who believe that this country desperately needs healing, are going to vote this time. People who believe that women should be measured by their character and their accomplishments, not who their husbands are, are going to vote this time. People who haven't voted in years, people who lost faith in politics a generation ago, are going to vote this time. And Republicans fed-up with the status quo are going to vote across party lines for the first time.

The disillusioned and the disenfranchised are going to vote for Barack Obama. These people are not supporting Barack Obama because of who his daddy is, or what a stunning haircut he has, or how much he looks on television like Presidents of a bygone era. And they aren't going to change their vote for Barack Obama based on the self-defeating fear that their favorite candidate cannot be elected in America because of the color of his skin. They know that his opponents would like nothing more than for voters to accept this pernicious rumor.

No, they actually believe in Barack Obama, and they cannot be intimidated. Martin Luther King Jr. would be proud. Barack Obama has their vote because of the content of his character.

They find themselves able to believe again, because Barack Obama believes in them. Nothing better illustrates this fact than Barack Obama's work as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago, in some of the most neglected and marginalized communities in the country. After earning his bachelor's degree in 1983 from one of America's best colleges (Colombia University), Barack Obama took a job as a community organizer, so that he could help kindle hope in desperate, forgotten neighborhoods, neighborhoods where drugs and violence remained an unfortunate refrain in the cacophony of daily living. Paid less than $15,000 per year, he spent his days asking the residents about their lives and the adversity they faced in a "city of broad shoulders," and he worked to empower those people. Barry, as he was known then, taught common people the strength in their numbers and their convictions, and he helped enable them to take control of their own destinies, to organize themselves, to not see themselves as victims. He helped them discover the interests and values of their communities on their own, and revealed their latent power by teaching them to organize themselves. He instilled hope in them, and he made them believe in what people are capable of doing together for the Common Good.

And this gets at the root of Barack Obama's meteoric rise: Barack Obama believes that the best advocates for the people are the people themselves, not politicians. That is the reason the Obama candidacy for President is more than a campaign, it is truly a grassroots movement. Obama for America is a grassroots movement, and Barack Obama is the lead organizer--he's driving the bus. But as Barack Obama says himself, the campaign is merely an imperfect vessel for Americans' hopes and dreams.

There have been other great grassroots movements in America. Progressive movements produced the American Independence, gave women suffrage and reproductive rights, ended Jim Crow and outlawed segregation, and established environmental and consumer protection laws. Just like any other grassroots movement, the “Obama movement” requires this generation of citizen activists (the People) to volunteer, contribute, organize, persuade, and ultimately make our voices heard, in order to bring about the historic transformation that America needs.

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