When I was growing up I heard it again and again. People said that they were moved to get involved in public service or volunteer work by John F. Kennedy. “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” People ran for office, they joined the local school board, they joined the Peace Corp, they enlisted in the armed forces. And they did it because an inspiring president asked them to do it. President Kennedy had a great influence that way.
More than a million people responded to the Obama campaign’s survey (including me) and almost 800,000 of them said that they want to continue doing community organizing. Even more amazingly, 100,000 respondents (not including me) indicated an interest in running for public office. You can’t look at that in any other way than as an indication that the president’s campaign inspired and restored millions of people’s confidence in the capacity of our government to do good things.
And most of the those people have gained at least a little experience in the art of political or community organizing. Obama has created a veritable army of community organizers. Most of them currently indicate an interest in working to advance the president’s agenda, but their skills will be put to other uses this year and in the decades to come.
Kennedy inspired a generation. Obama has done the same thing on a much bigger scale and with a whole set of tools and skills for that generation to put to use in the effort.
Some of us have recognized already how amazing Obama and his team are and I wish the circumstances with the economy had not been so dire, so people would understand just how much he has accomplished.
President Obama is really a man of and for the people. Imagine his legacy if he had not been under unrelenting attacks from half the country. He is a great president and I wish he had the support of the opposing party just part of the time. He has the ability to move mountains, if only the Republicans would stop bulldozing his progress.
It’s heartening to see that he’s inspired so many others to continue working for us. We’re going to need all the help we can get. The Republicans will never give up, and neither can we.
If all those people that want to run for office do so, hell if even 1/4 do and start winning, that would represent a major shift in the politics of this nation. The GOP became successful because, starting at the precinct level it started getting people into office and kept them moving up the ladders of government. And by people, I mean the true believers in the GOP message.
The Dems have always tended to think nationally, not locally, which is where Dean’s 50 state strategy had meaning. Unfortunately, many of the states did not, and still do not, have a viable Dem party structure. This is where the new enthusiasm can have an impact.
Unfortunately, many of the states did not, and still do not, have a viable Dem party structure.
And even where they have a presence locally, the Democrats that are in office act more like Rockefeller Republicans.
There are some Democrats that I wish would act like Rockefeller Republicans. The worst ones at the state and local level are the ones who talk pretty but are on the take for lobbyists and corporate executives. Like the Democrat who Ooops hit the wrong button and allowed an override of a Democratic governor’s veto of a GOP ALEC-authored fracking bill.
I responded to the survey, too. I am still excited and very hopeful about the future prospects for the organization and the people. The very real possibility that this whole thing will continue to grow has the potential to reshape the direction of the politics in this country. There is no doubt it will be a grind. But I think the eyes of a lot of people were opened to the power that exists in those numbers and in that enthusiasm. For too long it was conventional wisdom that simple people-power was not sufficient to make lasting change. I think that whole paradigm was turned on its head on November 6.
For there to be real opportunities for community service, there must be a stronger and more well-funded public sector, a stronger civil society, and labor standards that allow people the time to do community service. All of those existed in Kennedy’s day and were expanded by LBJ. All of those gains have disappeared in the corporate race to the bottom.
I think that the survey results are a good result of the way that Obama involved people in his two campaigns. And I think that Obama’s success has had an effect on the vision of minority youth. However, it is going to take philosophically breaking the back of the conservative GOP ideology before those preconditions for actual community service become widespread.
But 800,000 is roughly 4 per precinct in the country, which is a good start. And 100,000 is around 32 a county–a good recruiting base.
Would be very interesting to see a map of those two groups by ZIP code.
Abbie Hoffman on how a new generation is inspired:
None of that is currently true except the first one and voting restrictions and the almost sure demise of affirmative action by the court may make that one more true that we like.
whoops, less true
You’re too kind.
The “we” that ended legal segregation had nothing to do with Abbie Hoffman.
Abbie Hoffman made a name for himself by protesting the most prominent member of that “we,” Lyndon Johnson.