At the end of the US election some of us were wondering what the very well oiled and funded machine will do next. I found this news interesting in the midst of the train journey and inauguration/transition coverage currently underway.
Obama’s campaign moved to the next phase with the announcement today of Organizing for America – a new movement working within the Democratic Party where Obama will be encouraging all his supporters to transfer their energy to campaign for legislation and the Obama presidential agenda. First thing to note was the way he found out what the campaigners and supporters wanted to do.
This announcement follows a dialogue with Obama for America supporters across the country. More than 500,000 completed surveys following the election making clear their vision for the organization, and more than 4,200 hosted house parties in their communities. A clear majority believe that organizing in support of President-elect Obama’s agenda should be the most important goal for the organization.
(Update: Keith has more on the survey here)
He sent the announcement today to all his supporters including the Youtube below and will be sending more information in the next few days on the organisation itself.
So if Congress or the Senate aren’t too co-operative he’ll just call out the electoral troops or something? That’ll be interesting!
h/t Huffington Post.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=de2f2b0d-9d50-49a6-9031-72b088693051)
More on that survey they did at:
http://www.keith.gs/2008/11/obama-followup/
Thanks Keith – stuck the link in the post!
Is this new version of Reagan’s strategy to appeal to voters over the heads of Congress? New, and interesting strategy indeed.
I’m taking the day off, and tuning into the doings on Tuesday to watch it all on Sky (BTW: did you see the overview of inaugral speeches, LBJ’s made me cringe, it was really like the Tory’s ‘quiet man’ speech by Duncan-Smith). Surely Obama has to quell the ridiculous expectations on him, like walking on water, etc. and get America to put its shoulder to the wheel and fix things. He can always threaten them with the ‘lipstick pig’ if they don’t comply!!
I heard someone on the radio saying that the traditional powerful lobby groups in washington haven’t gone away and wondering how Obama will withstand them. Maybe the idea behind this is that a large citizen lobby group could be a counterbalancing force. Och, its idealistic, but here’s hoping!
Hello Blogland | DarrenByrne.com // Jan 20, 2009 at 00:31
[...] many people are thrilled to herald the innauguration of Barack Obama . It’s a hugely important [...]
He was so the right candidate for the Democrats, and it looks like he’s generated huge goodwill among US Republicans too, as well as some realism about what he can actually achieve.
Like SoftLass, I hope that this organization will be a counterweight against lobby groups – on healthcare and the rest of his agenda.
I may even get up at 3.30am local time to watch the inauguration : )
Irish Election » Fianna Fail Continue Online Outreach // Feb 19, 2009 at 14:07
[...] web efforts over the coming months and during the next election is very good news, no doubt others will have something to say on [...]
Obama’s Carrot & Stick Approach to Congress | Keith @ Granite Shavings // Feb 26, 2009 at 17:32
[...] Barack Obama has, as discussed before and elsewhere, built up a huge list of supporters who want to engage with him. Now, we’re finally seeing [...]