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Community Organizers Are The American People |
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Seeing as community organizers seem to be political targets these days, I’d like to say few things about the role of community organizers in Health Care for America Now and in the health care reform fight in general.
In my very first post as a Health Care for America Now staff member, I touched on the difference between this campaign and past, unsuccessful fights to win health care reform in America. Specifically, back when the Clintons were pushing for health care reform, the insurance industry put their “Harry & Louise” ads in heavy rotation all over America, and the Democratic National Committee responded with an anemic ad buy in the DC area. While the health insurance industry was reaching most of America with their misleading message that health reform would be “too complicated and expensive,” the response from those working for health care reform only hit the elites in Washington.
We all know how that fight turned out.
Health Care for America Now is fundamentally different. Yes, we’ll be using some of our resources on advertisements, though they will be pretty much exclusively out in the states as opposed to here in DC. However, a vast amount of our money will be put towards our field operation, run by community organizers all around the country:
We will have a nation-wide grassroots presence, organizing people on the ground to pressure their elected officials to stand up for health care as a fundamental right. This will not be a Washington-centric campaign. When the insurance industry tries to target voters all over the country, we will be there, on the ground, fighting back.
The fact that Health Care for America Now has the money and the grassroots organizing capability to really tangle with the insurance industry is what makes me so excited about my new position. We’re asking America, “Which side are you on?” When they tell us that they are on the side of quality, affordable health care for all - as hundreds (now thousands) already have - we’ll be there to make sure their voices are heard.
Community organizers are the heart and soul of Health Care for America Now. They are the ones organizing communities around health care, getting people together to protest the insurance industry’s “listening tour,” holding house parties, calling Congress, and in general moving the issue forward. This is a people powered campaign.
In a very real way, community organizers are how people in America are fighting for the change they need - quality, affordable health care for all.
While some may belittle the community organizer and an organizer’s experiences, those who are working for positive change in this country - and not another round of failed policies - are the organizers and the communities they work in.
If you talk down to community organizers, you are talking down to the American people.
(also posted on the NOW! blog)
They always say in politics that what you fail to define, your opponents will define it for you. The Obama campaign has been touting the *community organizer* aspect of his narrative for a long time, but I doubt more than 10% of Americans know what that means. And he’s never worked to explain who they are and what they do…and what he did during this time. Obama needs to define what it means w/ regards to his experience and overall narrative. If he doesn’t, expect the GOP to continue jumping into that vacuum and do it for him.
I think that’s pretty fair criticism, though I do think those who have seen Obama in person, or even seen the high profile speeches, probably have a good idea of what Obama means by his community organizing experience. But that’s not everyone in America, or possibly not even most.
Sorry but community organizing does not prepare one for the Presidency in a large way. It is almost laughable. You are truly stretching. That is no surprise as you see what you want to see. Hillary and Biden both KNOW and SAID he is not ready. Interestingly that is forgotten.
You mean like being a sportscaster? Obama was a community organizer straight out of college. Palin’s first job out of college was being a local sportscaster. After that, Obama went to Harvard law, where he was the president of the Harvard Law Review, graduating Magna Cum Laude. He then was a civil right attorney, taught constitutional law, wrote two critically acclaimed bestsellers without a ghostwriter, was an Illinois state senator (his district was bigger than the entire state of Alaska), then a US senator of America’s 5th most populous state (12 million).
It’s ridiculous that the republicans are comparing Obama’s credentials to Sarah Palin’s She didn’t even have a full-time job for the entire 2005 and much of 2004 and 2006, while she ran for governor of America’s 4th least populous state (683,000). Previous to that, she was the mayor of a town of 6000, hired a lobbyist to get earmarks, and left the town millions in debt. She has a history of using her power to fire people who she doesn’t like, and is under an ethical investigation in Alaska. She also has a hard time telling the truth, lying about being against the bridge to nowhere (which she was for before it became a punchline), and pretty much everything she says about Obama.