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Local Obama Organizers Struggle to Keep the Movement Alive

Submitted by Patrick Ruffini on Sun, 05/24/2009 - 21:05
in

During the election, the groups functionality on My.BarackObama.com was a remarkably efficient way to communicate to Democratic activists on the local level. Republicans wanting to volunteer for McCain-Palin signed a sheet at county victory headquarters, and might or might not get a call back. If you wanted to get plugged into the Obama campaign, all you had to do was sign up to your local group online, and a local organizer would send out regular e-mails with volunteer opportunities, which if printed out would be something like 10 pages long.

Ever since, the group listservs have served as an EKG of sorts for the movement. It's not so surprising that activity is way down from the election. In one Gmail inbox I used to track groups in swing states, MyBO group emails went from 4,200 messages in October to just under 300 in the last 30 days -- a decline of 93%. However, the content too is considerably less upbeat. Here's part of a message I got to my local group summing up recent election results and looking forward to the June Virginia primary:

Let's prove that 2008 wasn't a fluke because of the cult of Obama....the long term demographic trends are in our favor but WE CAN'T BRING CENSUS AND POLLING DATA TO THE BALLOT BOX and declare victory.

...

So far this year there have been several special elections in Virginia and the results haven't been good....WE RECENTLY LOST TWO CITY COUNCIL SEATS IN ALEXANDRIA (voted 72% for Obama) and came close to losing Brian Moran's Delegate seat and Rep. Gerry Connolly's Chairmanship of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors (home of 1 million people).  Because of EXTREMELY LOW TURNOUT these races came down to a handful of votes as the ELECTORATE OF THE "PAST" DECIDED THE WINNER.

On a similar note, PRESIDENT OBAMA NEEDS US to get involved in the upcoming HEALTH CARE REFORM BATTLE.  So, keep in mind that elections might require the most work for the "community organizer" in us, but WE NEED TO STAY ENGAGED IN OUR COMMUNITY TO GET THE RESULTS WE WANT after our candidates get elected.

The all-caps exhortations seem kind of.... forced, no? Like it isn't as easy anymore without Obama on the ballot. As the e-mail accurately notes, there is a partisan realignment of sorts going on in Northern Virginia local elections, with Republicans coming within one percent of capturing the chairmanship of the Fairfax Board of Supervisors, a Republican picking up the supervisor seat of the newly elected chair in a quite Democratic, close-in district, a pickup of two seats on the Alexandria City Council, and the almost inexplicable near-win of Brian Moran's old House of Delegates seat.

Looking forward, the e-mail sounds an ominous note. Northern Virginia was ground zero in the statewide shift to Obama last November, yet the implication is that Democrats have sat on their hands ever since, content in their victory. There is fear that this complacency might threaten the Obama push on health care and other issues.

Another data point is the DNC continuing to lag the RNC in monthly fundraising, despite the incumbent advantage. Remember that the Obama e-mail list has been brought in-house at the DNC, and fundraising returns from THE LIST (a.k.a. "the 13 million") count towards the DNC's bottom line. And yet, the same fearsome fundraising machine that utterly blew the doors off the GOP last year can't keep pace with the RNC's aging direct mail house file.

There is an inherent problem with "organizing" while in power and it's by no means unique to Obama. It's perhaps an early manifestation of the restlessness that gripped the conservative base in the latter Bush years (and the liberal base in the latter Clinton years). No matter what the organizational advantages were that were "banked" during the election, it's very, very difficult to transfer them into a "movement" to defend a power hegemony in Washington, D.C. The Bush people tried this in 2005-06 after building quite the machine during the 2004 re-election, and fell short of their lofty goals. Electoral machines don't transfer that well to non-electoral situations when people aren't in the mood for community organizing.

Nor does the Internet, which I've written quite a bit about, solve this problem. If anything, the same forces that make it easier for movements to form make it easier for them to de-mobilize after the fact, as the next big thing is always just around the corner. The yawning chasm between the burning passions of an election campaign and second-order movements (like Organizing for America is now) is especially apparent in the friction-free market for activism that it is the Internet.

Parting thought: Was Obama '08 simply the biggest flash mob ever assembled, rather than a "movement?"

Full Obama organizer e-mail after the jump.

- NOVA/DC OBAMA MEMORIAL DAY UPDATE -
(May 22, 2009)

VIDEO:  President Obama at the White House Correspondent's Dinner!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/09/full-video-obamas-white-h_n_201264.html

What better way to recognize those who served our country but by SERVING YOUR COUNTRY this weekend!

As you probably know, we're having a big Democratic gubernatorial primary on June 9th.  This will be the biggest election of 2009 as the media will cover it as a referendum on President Obama and the Democratic Party in this new swing state, but more importantly, it will be a test for YOU.

Even if you don't live in Virginia, you can still get involved like in 2008 and have your voice heard between now and June 9th on who we should have represent us in this fight in November.  To get you up to speed, check out Tuesday's final debate between Terry McAuliffe (terrymcauliffe.com), Brian Moran (brianmoran.com) and Creigh Deeds (deedsforvirginia.com):
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2009/05/19/VI2009051902235.html

Meanwhile, the Lieutenant Governor's race is a very interesting contest between Virginia's Secretary of Finance Jody Wagner (jodyforva.com) and local Young Lawyers For Obama, Foreign Policy Professionals For Obama and Arlington Democrats' member and campaign/foreign policy consultant Mike Signer (mikesigner.com).  Check them out too!

Let's prove that 2008 wasn't a fluke because of the cult of Obama....the long term demographic trends are in our favor but WE CAN'T BRING CENSUS AND POLLING DATA TO THE BALLOT BOX and declare victory.

We might not quit our jobs or put our lives on hold quite like many did last year, but let's show that Americans want HOPE and CHANGE throughout the governing process and won't accept POLITICS AS USUAL anymore!  Helping a candidate or cause for a couple hours once a week, once a month or even ONCE adds up to make a difference....and by that I mean DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!!!  (Virginians can vote absentee or find their polling place by June 9th visiting sbe.virginia.gov)

So far this year there have been several special elections in Virginia and the results haven't been good....WE RECENTLY LOST TWO CITY COUNCIL SEATS IN ALEXANDRIA (voted 72% for Obama) and came close to losing Brian Moran's Delegate seat and Rep. Gerry Connolly's Chairmanship of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors (home of 1 million people).  Because of EXTREMELY LOW TURNOUT these races came down to a handful of votes as the ELECTORATE OF THE "PAST" DECIDED THE WINNER.

On a similar note, PRESIDENT OBAMA NEEDS US to get involved in the upcoming HEALTH CARE REFORM BATTLE.  So, keep in mind that elections might require the most work for the "community organizer" in us, but WE NEED TO STAY ENGAGED IN OUR COMMUNITY TO GET THE RESULTS WE WANT after our candidates get elected.

In addition to the progress of grassroots groups like Generation Obama, DC For Obama, Young Lawyers for Obama and Foreign Policy Professionals for Obama, OFA will be working with supporters across the country to host events this summer (http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hckickoffhost), including June 3rd when the Arlington Democrats and Organizing For America host a reunion event to keep us moving forward.

So, please do something, anything, to stay involved!  I have seen lots of interest since Election Day and so when I look at this challenge of encouraging people to do a little more to keep up our momentum....I say, YES WE CAN!

Jim McBride
Generation Obama / Virginia for Obama

"This victory alone is not the change we seek - it is only the chance for us to make that change."
- Barack Obama (November 4, 2008)

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Comments

There are many reasons for this decline...

Submitted by davidfarrar on Sun, 05/24/2009 - 23:01.

...not the least of which, the necessity of life reasserting itself as they always do after an election. The point here is an interesting one, because it does highlights the difficulties of keeping a very large number of people interested in participating in what is essentially non-paying volunteer work.

The first thing we have to realize about this problem is that the problem itself is breaking absolutely new ground. Never before could we even contemplate keeping 13 million people active in the political process after the election.

The trick to keeping people engaged after the election is providing them with some sort of quid pro quo on their return on investment (ROI). This is where My.BarackObama is presently failing miserably. It doesn't have to be much. It just has to kind of like equal out to the action required.

For example: You want me to call my House Rep to support Health Care? Fine, have your organization answer my personal email message to them, not respond in some general mass-email blast that is sent to millions -- a quid quo pro. Without it, other interests that do offer a quid quo pro will quickly dominate.

This is exactly why I offer the point of empowering the members of the Republican Party with their own voice. Allow them to speak and to be accurately heard as an effective means of building a very large volunteer activist army. The quid pro qou, the party offers them their voice, they have to defend it, and defend it they will.

ex animo

davidfarrar

I will try to answer your

Submitted by Our Paul on Mon, 05/25/2009 - 13:58.

I will try to answer your question, Pat: Was Obama '08 simply the biggest flash mob ever assembled, rather than a "movement?" The answer is a resounding No and the reasons are straight forward.

First, you are losing the intellectual and educated class. In part because as Posner and others have pointed out the corrosive ant-intellectual strain which rules the GOP leads to a dearth of functional ideas. In part because the Center Right has refused to dissociate itself from the strident Christian fundamentalists pet issues. But mostly because thinking people abhor politics of personal destruction as it obscures problems that deserve solutions.

Second, you have lost a whole generation of the young. The data cannot be ignored, and you have failed to address their concerns. They include among others economic, feminine, and multi-cultural equality, an over-whelming sympathy to gay rights issues, and the environment.

Third, you have fuelled much of the conservative movement through overt and subliminal hate campaigns to generate righteous anger. In your successes you have assumed that your opponents are rather testosterone deprived, unable to sustain anger, and unable to support a long term commitment. And that my friend, is the genesis of your question, and why you phrased it in that very telling way.

You can suppress the intellectual class, and you can ignore the youth, but built up anger is not easy to eradicate. The “flash mob” that you refer to was fueled by 8 years of personal attacks on the Clinton’s, an election that many viewed as stolen, and 8 years in which spendthrift President and his party destroyed our patrimony and bankrupted our moral standing in the world

.And there in a nutshell is the real question you have to pose, to wit: How long will the educated class and youth be able to sustain their anger?  

Obamabots have Real world problems to support

Submitted by 4speed on Wed, 05/27/2009 - 20:42.

Since the Election we have had some additional unemployment numbers, a million or two.
Since the Presidential Election California has had a real tough election or Two and an ongoing Crisis of too much spending and not enough money.
Then there is the California Greenies putting 80,000 farm workers out of jobs to protect some fish in the Irrigation shutdown.
We got Michigan and New york going broke, some MORE Billions being thrown at Bankrupt Auto Companies, and a Bailout or 2 or 3 that isn't working for anyone.
The BHO lies are accumulating for voters who are noticing the Lies, and I just don't want to mention the ongoing Foreign Policy SNAFUs.
Its a wonder if any BHO voting College Grad can find one of those "saved" jobs BHO has claimed to have rescued.
On the Economic side the Recession is deepening and Employment is surging higher.
My Dog can win the next election if things get worse.
The Obama polls are a constant loss leader and the Cheney popularity numbers are on an unstoppable rise.
Even Colin Powell is runing to the Right.
Voters Remorse has arrived.