Plenty of people claim to run "grassroots" campaigns, but very few have a candidate and a campaign strategy that actually live up to the term. Barack Obama is different.
His political path didn't begin with a prestigious internship or a conventional top-down job in DC. He cut his political teeth working to organize real people from the bottom up. This week's US News and World Report takes a look at Barack's political education on the South Side of Chicago:
CHICAGO—Far from the centers of power and privilege that have spawned so many commanders in chief, it's an unlikely place to incubate a future president. But the seemingly endless clumps of drab brick apartment buildings and patchy lawns on Chicago's South Side are where Sen. Barack Obama learned some of his most enduring lessons about politics, leadership, and the paths to social change...
As a community organizer in the Altgeld Gardens public housing project in the mid-1980s, Obama, then 23, quickly emerged as a tireless and pragmatic advocate for the community—traits that characterize the kind of president he says he wants to be. "His work as a community organizer was really a defining moment in his life, not just his career," his wife, Michelle, told U.S. News. It helped him decide "how he would impact the world"—assisting people in defining their mutual interests and working together to improve their lives.
We've got a grassroots candidate -- someone who truly believes that real change happens when people organize on a community level -- and that's why we're running a grassroots campaign. Instead of simply sending out mailings, making phone calls, distributing yard signs, we're empowering thousands of people across the country to become grassroots organizers through Camp Obama.
Check out this article on Camp Obama from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
"I've got to learn how to organize, not only for Obama, but for when something needs to be done in my own community," said Turner, who hopes to one day study law.
He said the senator offers a message of hope and change, which inspired him to become active.
"For me, Barack Obama is a symbol of what's to come, of an entire movement," Turner said. "Just like MLK [Martin Luther King Jr.] was a symbol for the civil rights movement, Barack Obama is a symbol of his movement."
If you believe in Barack Obama, the best thing you can do is follow in his footsteps and become a grassroots organizer yourself. Sign up for Camp Obama and become a foot soldier for change.
By Sam Graham-Felsen - Aug 27th, 2007 at 4:06 pm EDT
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Comments: 28
So far he has said nothing that is out of place for a progressive/liberal Dem, I see no reason why he should get any real attention in the pack but for his color. White liberal guilt is the fuel for his campaign....
Thank you, Sir.
https://www.rmi.org/
I have hope once again for the govermant however I really think that it is going to be a fight everyday to fix what Bush has done. Good Luck with that. Good Luck
Shun, I wouldn't use the Shrub's experience or lack thereof as a yardstick for comparison to anyone else. You are only proving people's points for them and reminding them of the huge mess lack of experience can lead us into. We deserve, and will desperately need someone much BETTER than Shrub to fix Shrub's messes before there can be any moving forward and making things better than they are.
As a president he himself would be tied up with much red tape and advisors to really make the radical impacts he would like,, but Oprahs hands will be free.
Muhammad Ali believed if he could make the changes to improve the black south he would be assassinated. There's no way Winfrey and Obama could both be taken out.
The only way is to keep them out. Is America ready for a black president?
They could both put paid to the white lie that money does'nt solve problems.
And speaking of Hillary..........I did not see her name on the gather list of candidates?
On his plus side is the fact that he's black and half African with family still living in Kenya. That would a needed lift for American prestige in the 3rd World, particularly with the Chinese and Russians competing with us for raw materials.
But on the minus side is his total inexperience on the international stage. He's sort of, though no one could be that stupid, a liberal version of George W. Bush, and I don't think our fair land can survive a third straight naif (Clinton, Bush, Obama) at our helm.
Another problem I have is Obama's unhealthy similarity with the glitz, glamour, and disengenuousness of the Kennedys. Come to think of it, they were naifs as well and almost got us into a nuclear war. Only the level-headed thinking of Nikita Kruschev saved humanity from oblivion.