Some information is starting to filter out of this past weekend’s “summit” in Chicago of about 300 key organizers from Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign (evenly divided between regional field directors, field organizers, and team leaders). Tony Loyd, an organizer from Racine, Wisconsin, reports on the YesWeCanRacine website back to the members of his local group:
Here are the outcomes of the meeting.
1. There is a process that is still forming, based on your input. Let’s be honest: we’re making this up as we go along. We want to take the time to get this right.
2. The process has been and will continue to be open and transparent. We’re trying to make sure you hear about this from us instead of read about it in the press, though I understand that word is already starting to leak out.
3. The first step was to gain feedback from the field about what you want from this organization. We have already heard back from over 500,000 people. The first steps of forming this organization are being strongly influenced by the survey results.
4. Please be patient. You may have heard the president say that he is going to move with “deliberate haste” in the transition. In the same way, we’re moving with deliberate haste in forming the new organization.
Our goals will be as follows:
1. Legislative Priorities – We will use the organizing principles of the campaign to rally support for the legislative agenda. Though we do not yet have a legislative calendar, count on an economic stimulus package in early January and be ready to take massive action in support of that priority. Expect similar action on health care, energy and the environment to follow. I’m sure we will hear more about the priorities in coming days.
2. Electoral Organizing – Let’s use the organizing model to rally behind and support candidates. Perhaps you will want to consider running for office yourself. Or perhaps we can find someone else who shares our values and put them forth.
3. Civic Engagement – During the election we tapped into a deep well of volunteerism that can be applied to local issues from hunger and homelessness to education and the environment. For example, there are homeless families here in Racine County who need our help.
4. Promote two-way Conversation – It’s important to realize that this is not a monologue but a dialog. The campaign is sincerely interested in your input. We spent a majority of time at the conference looking backwards at what we did right and what could have been done better. Jon Carson was present for all of these conversations. He and the leadership team want your input.
A few observations on what is obviously still a work in progress:
1. Yes, information will leak. If people haven’t noticed, the internet views suppression of information as damage and routes around it.
2. 500,000 responses to the online survey asking for feedback on planning is low from the perspective of having 13 million email addresses (a response rate of 10% is a reasonable target), but on the other hand, half a million people expressing continued interest in being involved in any kind of Obama-style organization is pretty huge.
3. Not surprisingly, Chicago is planning to use this network to mobilize support for Obama’s legislative agenda.
4. Interestingly, they’re also talking about electoral organizing in support of candidates for office. This will be VERY interesting.
5. It’s great that Chicago is looking for more input and that this is seen as a “dialog,” not a monologue. However, they have a long way to go before we can fairly call this a two-way conversation.
To be continued, hopefully…
December 09, 2008