Organizing for America | Roger Beatty's Blog: A post partisan president needs post partisan supporters

A post partisan president needs post partisan supporters

By Roger - Dec 25th, 2008 at 1:05 am EST

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Tags: Partisan, supporters

It is said by some that Barack Obama maybe our first post-racial president. It is possible he may be our first post partisan president as well. One of my favorite Barack Obama-ism is from his book "the Audacity of Hope". It reads: "I am convinced that whenever we exaggerate or demonize, oversimplify or overstate our case, we lose. For it is the predictability of our current political debate, that keeps us from finding new ways to meet the challenges we face. It is what keeps us locked in "either/or" thinking: the notion that we can only have big government or no government" Clearly he understands the need for nonpartisan effort to solve the huge problems that face us. So, if Barack Obama is the 1st post-partisan president, a harder question may be: can WE find a way to be post-partisan supporters. Can we veterans of the passion of the Obama campaign continue to be excited about good government and be active in civic affairs, without being required to turn into partisan Democrat party workers? Is there a "career path" that allows non-partisan citizens to continue to be passionate and support the wave of change that is embraced by President Obama? I think it's going to be difficult, but it's important that we try. It is going to be hard to measure our success. In a political campaign, success is measured by whether or not your candidate wins the election. It is simple, straightforward and brutally clear. Now the challenge is to transform into an organization that doesn't measure success by winning or losing but measures how well we can produce collective good. We cannot measure success by the number vanquished political bodies we leave behind but how many of all of "us" we can get across the finish line. Barack Obama gives us additional insight into this organizational change in the closing words of Chapter 1 in "Audacity of Hope". He says: "I imagine they (ordinary citizens) are waiting for a politics with the maturity to balance idealism and realism, to distinguish between what can and cannot be compromised, to admit the possibility that the other side might sometimes have a point. They don't always understand the argument between right and left, conservative and liberal, but they recognize the difference between dogma and common sense, responsibility and irresponsibility, between those things that last and those things that are fleeting.They are out there, waiting for Republicans and Democrats catch up with them." Well, we are the "they" Barack Obama talks about above. We are the Democrats, Republicans, Independents and others that came together to be the Obama campaign. That organization has fulfilled its goal. We won! Now, what do we do in round two? I doubt there are many organizations that can successfully transform themselves from a victory seeking campaign machine into an organization that reveres civility and cooperative effort. However, in my experience, with the diverse, kind and generous group of people who have made up the Obama revolution, I KNOW if anybody can do it, we can do it. Yes we can! YES WE CAN! Roger Beatty Tarrant County Texas precinct #3361Grapevine-Mid Cities for Obama http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/GrapevineMid-CitiesForObama

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