The 13-million-strong email list accumulated by the Obama campaign for 2008 is now managed by the Geek-Genius, David Plouffe, who heads a new organisation called Organising For America. One of the key political questions of the next few years is whether the massive army of volunteers that helped deliver the presidency to Obama can be mobilised for the purpose of supporting his goals as president. This week that question will start to be answered. Here's the latest email from OFA:
This weekend, supporters like you are organizing Pledge Project
Canvasses to talk to people in their communities about this plan and
mobilize support in neighborhoods across the country.
On these canvasses, you'll join fellow supporters in your community to:
- Talk with people about the President's plan
- Ask them to sign their names to the pledge
- Provide information on how to contact and urge their elected representatives to support the plan
The aim is to use the grassroots network of supporters to put enormous pressure on legislators, especially conservative Democrats and a few Republicans, to pass Obama's budget plan.
Obama hopes that his supporters still want to change the world. This is not just for self-interestedly political reasons: ever since entering politics, his dream has been to revitalise America's body politic from the ground up. It is, of course, much harder to get people to proselytise in big numbers for policies, rather than a candidate; it's much easier to get people marching to a banner of CHANGE than ENFORCE PAY-AS-YOU-GO-BUDGETING RULES. But if just 10% of the list make phone calls or or go canvassing then the Obama army will prove that it's an enduring and significant force in American politics.
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