Crush, Baby, Crush

What I'm going to do after the election depends, in large part, on who wins our Governor's race.  If Gregoire wins, I plan to turn my attention to learning about recycling, more specifically, how Seattle managed to succeed with it so brilliantly. 

If (I can barely even write this, it's so awful a thought), the opponent wins, and survives all the recounts, then...well...I guess I'll not drop off the face of the democrats map afterall.  We'll really have our work cut out for us.

Either way...I have hundreds of email addresses of people who are used to hearing from me regularly.  They can be used to keep people informed and rally the troops for letter-writing and calling campaigns to help pass significant legislation locally and nationally.

"What's next for the Obama movement after Election Day?"

 

Obama will need to keep these people engaged, and I hope he does. There are a million possibilities, but take just this one:

I've always wondered: we've been trying to get health care since Harry Truman. What would happen if 2 million people marched on DC and DEMANDED it?  What if an army of citizens called, cajoled, pushed their congresscritters? What if all this energy was used in a relentless effort to finally get this done?

 

 

Holy Toledo Al....I was stunned reading your essay! Here's to Al, Howard Dean, Obama, Cesar Chavez, Jose Marti, and so many others who have fought the system. YES WE CAN!!!

What you have done for the Obama campaign, and for the electorate in general cannot be overstated.  We will not forget what you have done for us, and will continue to support you as you provide sage advice on how to handle the next round of BigMoney deception that is inevitable.

I'm thinking Saul and Abbie would be proud of you.

and that be enablers of the right and the wrong of an Obama administration.

The Right wingers stood silent and supported Bush on everything, there was no dissent when his decisions violated the most conservative of principles, and that led to the mess they find them sleves in.

This movement must support Obama in face of the old traditional power, but it also must stand up to him when ever he veers away from the right path to good governing.

Obama 50 McCain 45

http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=a98f6f52-fb6d-4800-9f4e-d55dcb6589f2

I can see President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama leading us in a National Conversation about Community.  Our shared values, the priorities we want to set as a country.  The work and sacrifices some of us are going to have to do.  What does it mean to live our values.

I don't know a thing about economics, and as hard as I try, I can't understand how a society based on consumption can also focus on conservation, environmental issues, equity, quality of life, living as a sustainable world community as if our lives depend upon it - they do.

Wish I could find link to the last scene of 70's film "The Candidate" where Redford surprisingly wins the Presidency and pulls his campaign manager into a closet and says "Now what?"

I have been (wishfully) thinking about this scenario for some time now and am so glad you posted about it today. How DO we keep the momentum, the relationships and the engagement going beyond election day to ensure that we continue to be a part of the process in this country?  To be sure that we actually implement these goals that we have set for ourselves?  

I'm not sure I really know, but one of the things that comes to mind is how important and purposeful the opportunities for us to gather and share information have been:  the small offices that have been set up around the country in store fronts, on school campuses, the house parties (usually coordinated by MoveOn)  that have been organized, the on-line sites like this one and Field Hands.  These have all been important, in my opinion, to enabling us to gather, talk and take action with coordinated direction. How do we continue to do this in our communities with purpose?  More importantly, how will we maintain a positive level of inspiration / motivation to keep everyone engaged?

We are having a Potluck / Open House on election night which started with four couples and is now up to 60 people.  I think we will make this question the topic of converstaion for the evening. 

I am also hoping Obama already has a few ideas about this (per Al's post around convention time about gathering cell phone numbers and other data), and am also very interested in reading Al's and fellow Field Hands posts. 

 

 Way back in March, after I became intrenched in this election, I knew no matter what happened on November 4th, it would be time to take a break from the election, the news and everyday life in general. I booked a trip to the Caribbean for 10 days, now that the economy is worse than it was, I should probably cancel but I am going anyway. I will come back ready for whatever is next, looking for a new job, (Real Estate is going to be in the toilet for awhile longer and I cannot and will not go into the foreclosure business as some of my colleagues have) waiting for the book parties and after January 20, 2009, doing my part to help Obama gets his policy plans passed.

I would like to go after the media in general, work like we did on the AP's Ron Fournier. You have me a little excited as to what big plans you are dreaming up, can we get a clue yet?

Al,

If you are not seriously courted by a major political figure's campaign in the next few years, I will be shocked.

A note of your prescience in the aforementioned article in the Boston Phoenix:

"This time it's likely to be different: the March primaries will probably still matter — because of what Obama has accomplished in fundraising."

Had Hillary's campaign heeded that little nugget, we may not have Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee.

Bravo!

 

 

Good Morning Fieldhands:

The first thing I think about is that "legitimacy", and how "they" are already trying to de-legitmize an Obama administration with everything that has been done and said by "them" in the last several days.

And they have "some nerve"; I have never thought GWB was a "legitimate" President all of these years. The only positive thing is that here in a country called America, transition of power is usually smooth, if not always palatable.

So, to answer Al's questions, my first "order of business" is to work in whatever way President-elect Barack Hussein Obama deems proper to shift the paradigm of some in this country of immigrants that a 1st generation son of an immigrant, who just happens to be "that blessed and handsome one"--as his name says he is--will be the legitimate, duly elected, 44th President of the United States. Period.

 

 

waterprise2 AKA Pam

Liberal with a Capital L!

 

I worry that the dem party will have too much power and blow it. I worry that the left will turn on President Obama. I worry that the first few months of the O presidency will be as disastrous as the first few months of the Clinton prez. I worry that the economy will be so bad the it will dictate the course of the next four years.

 

That said I am beside myself with excitement. As an early supporter (they sent me an email saying that I was one of the first 100,000 contributors) I have been at this for two years. I have no idea what I will do next but January 20th is going to be a highlight of my life. A black man as president is a significant acheivement--as an urban organizer--it will change the way we do our work--it will raise expectation in the city schools, street and homes. It will give mothers everywhere hope--they will finally be able to say anyone can be president (at least any boy)

 

I trust Obama. Over these two years I have learned to trust the man because every time I get scared or nervous he handles the situation with grace, leadership and success. I hope to see that mirrored in his presidency.

1.  Get more people off the Conglomerate Media teat and supporting New Media outlets like The Field.  This must happen first or we'll be right back to where we are in a decade or two.  We know, without a doubt, that the BigMedia mavens will be targeting Obama before he even takes office, and it'll be up to us to stop them.  This will require people to actually change their behaviors en masse, which is not easy to do.  Hopefully, Obama will do things in this regard since he has the ear of so many.

2.  Voting and Election Integrity efforts need to amped up big time.  What good is "organizing" if an election can simply be stolen by a few people in a dark room somewhere...literally.  I will doing whatever I can to get people now working for Obama to get involved in this crucial issue.  One of the best resources for this is:

http://blackboxvoting.org/

They have a similar approach to the Fieldhands effort, and it has been maturing over several years now.  BBV is made up of people from all political stripes, and they have even won a lawsuit against Diebold and used to settlement to help fund their activities.  Delicious irony.

These are the first two orders of business IMO, and they'll keep us busy for years.  Obama will be focused on actually governing once in office, and that is something we don't have a whole lot of influence on.  If we focus on the two things above, we'll have his back, and that's what he'll really need from us as the inevitable efforts start to undermine Obama.  They'll also help tremendously in stacking Congress with politicians that'll help Obama pass his reforms.

Recalling your article from last year is especially important, Al, because already we're seeing a narrative emerging that will explain an Obama victory entirely in terms of the financial crisis.

No doubt that crisis has helped Obama (though perhaps not as much as McCain's inane reactions to it).

But Obama was well on his way to victory whether or not Wall Street melted down. And you nailed many of the reasons for his success in your prediction from last year.

(It's worth repeating--though I know I'm preaching to the choir here--that McCain's early September lead was a perfectly normal convention bounce, which was already beginning to dissipate before the shit really started hitting the fan on Wall Street.  Nevertheless, expect the Standard Beltway Narrative to be that McCain's campaign was doing great until it got unlucky and hit a huge economic bump.)

Just a vague suggestion at this point.

We're obligated, I think, to take this community organizing and build a viable alternative to, or compliment to, the church as a gathering point for social contact. Part of the reason that this country has swung to the right in certain areas is that we've realigned ourselves spatial so that the church becomes really the only community focal point a lot of suburbs have (other than shopping malls).

We need to use this newly created structure as a centerpiece for community gatherings-volunteer work for the poor/less fortunate, and environmental cleanup programs like the Rouge River cleanup that used to take place in Detroit annually many years ago.

The big point is, and perhaps Al can elaborate on this, is that we need to seize upon this coming together of community work to keep people from reverting to hiding in their houses again. We can clean up and strengthen our communities in a non denominational way if we keep the momentum beyond election day.

The question has rattled around in my head. Each time I wonder, I think of Tom Joad in the Grapes of Wrath. The Journey has no end.

"I'll be all around...Wherever there's a fight so hungry people can eat...Whenever there's a cop beating a guy, I'll be there...And when the people are eatin' the stuff they raise and livin' in the houses they build. I'll be there too."

 

Maybe that seems a little over the top, but it's what I think of.

I'll do what I did before, help those that need a hand up.

The difference this time will be that I won't be doing it alone.

I really believe that Obama has a very good plan for his organizers. I foresee a New, New Deal coming to a community near you.

 

My hope that the first thing that Obama does as President is to de-corporatize the media and hand over the air waves back to the people. (yeah, US media - my pet peeve). I don't know how he will do that but with the people's support, he can.

amk

The thing about reforming the media is that we already have so many options.  Not sure we really need to change laws and all that stuff.

As Obama and many community organizers before him like to say, "We are the change we've been waiting for."  We can do it right now.  On our own.  We don't need to wait for some politicians to do it for us.

Imagine if Al had a few thousand readers contributing $10/month to the Authentic Journalism.  He could develop his "newsroom" far beyond what it is now and they could be traveling and breaking stories from all over.  We can do this right now if we "organize" like we do for Obama, but for Al.

Few seem to mind plopping down $25/mo for a newspaper subscription, or $70/mo for cable/dish, and so on, so why can't $10-$30/mo go to your favorite New Media outlet?

It's up to us to change our own behavior, and to get more people over here.

Stay focused on climate change because that is not a "cultural" or "lifestyle" issue but covers everything (the economy,foreign policy, war/imperialism, genocide, agriculture, exploitation of labor and the inhumanity of production processes, species loss which will put human life in peril, etc.), in short, a redefinition of our basic humanity and the relationship we have with the earth (the only one we have) and other biological species. 

It's the economy that is a "cultural" and "lifestyle" issue because it assumes that the disastrous system of production that we have now, which has gotten us into this mess--economic and environmental, is the only system of production possible (we have NO RIGHT as 6% of the population to consume and feel entitled to, hence, our imperialism, 35% of the world's resources).

 

I hope that this ongoing catastrophe is the stressed condition in human history that with a movement can cause the mutation that we need for survival.

 

It can only come from the humility that recognizes that we have recreated in our bid to be apart from nature the horror that we assume to be nature on a scale far more horrific than anything we see in nature. It is time to call a bluff: If we are indeed human, then let's be human and and CHOOSE to end this gratuitous cruelty that is unsustainability.

 

It is not the reactionary and unthinking response of man v. dog in a burning building (who would you save?) or the displacement of blame for the devastation that we alone have wreaked on each other onto the concern for other species or even other species themselves as if shooting all the horses in the world or ignoring all the stray dogs in the world under the untrue and complacent excuse of limited resources, as if we are still in the Stone Age, will fix anything. Perhaps the first thing to do is to actually visit the sites of production of everything we find in our super markets. Who works there? Where do the minerals come from? Who mines them? What is it like to skin animals alive, or burn them alive, or chop them up while alive? What's it like for the people who are doing these jobs? What larger mechanisms do these realities point towards and provide access to in terms of our system of production? Otherwise, we are actually the animals that we claim cannot understand their niche but just inhabit it. In actuality we are the ones who lack that understanding because our wastefulness, our relationship to nature and other species that is our "lifestyle" is our own destruction and yet we confuse it with life itself. We need to learn from the economy of nature.

 

So, I hope that after this historic exercise in national politics, which I pray comes to pass and am working towards, we as Americans will have enough confidence in our Americanness to redefine it as literally the task of creating an earth democracy. That is what I will focus on.

Here's a political cartoon that came out soon after Obama announced his candidacy back in Jan 2007 that becomes more hilarious by the day:

 

On another related note: I think a great way for all of us to "rally the troops", to convince other volunteers and organizers to stay involved and keep organizing, is to do so during the election results. On Nov 4, many of us will be at election parties where everyone attending has just spent all weekend and all day getting out the vote, and we'll be watching the glorious fruit of our labor; I can't think of a better time to request a pledge to do more.

I'm still trying to decide what I want to do that night beside make a short speech (collect contact info perhaps?), and it's entirely possible the Obama campaign already plans on doing the same thing, but regardless, I feel it will be too perfect of a moment to pass up.

When the war started in 03, I had just been laid off from a job and was living in NYC. I was so deeply disturbed by the "shock and awe" campaign and attended every protest I could. Then 2 things happened: I missed one protest due to another obligation and found out later that the police had arrested everyone and held them for 17 hours. That freaked me out (never been arrested before). I also attended a socialist antiwar conference at Columbia where the folks there were angry at the war, but their main line of strategy was: the troops are going to be so disaffected that they will eventually turn their weapons on the administration and we will have a revolution. That also really freaked me out. I had been living in a Buddhist community before that and still firmly believe in nonviolence. I was 27, unemployed and did not know what to do with my life. At that point, I decided to become a social worker and be a stealth revolutionary. Now, I work as a therapist with many Republicans, one who loves Palin. I believe that I am reducing their anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, increasing their functionality in the world, helping them improve their marriages and reduce family conflict. I do believe that all of these psychological activities can create a deeper experience of world revolution (but it takes much more time). If people are happier, they will be less violent, racist or tempted to hop on all the fascist bandwagons that appeal to base instincts. I want to tame those instincts. I don't want to increase the polarization in this country, antagonize or crush the right, only to have them resurge in 2012 or 2016 stronger, angrier and more organized. To this end, I think community organizing must retain its human element and find common ground with those we don't agree with. Other than that, on Nov 5th, I'm going to have a party and start investing in alternative energy. Thank you so much for this blog!!!

I've definitely been on this train of thought lately.  Definitely keeping my email lists, and just taking moments to think beyond November 4th.  My questions are, what will happen with MyBO? It has been such a great organizational tool.  What are the restrictions on Obama's continued contact with us through a site like that?  Can a president keep on reaching out directly to us?  It seems like it must be illegal!  It certainly hasn't happened in the past.

So I guess my thoughts are to maintain this network, apply it to new tasks, use it to keep Obama and others on the right track, and mainly to work to provide political cover for our elected officials to make the right choices.  As Al has made clear in the past, that's OUR job.

After the election, we have to work -- hard -- to push a truly progressive agenda. In some areas, this will be pushing on a half-open door (the prospects for some kind of healthcare reform are pretty good), in others we will have to change the entire tenor of the national conversation. Edging out of Iraq seems like a done deal, though it will take longer than I'd like, but Obama's policy to Afghanistan is seriously problematic. Some of that is probably due to election pressures ("seeming strong"), and to be fair some of it is better than it seems at first: He is rational, and does seem to have some grasp of the needed nation-building aspect, as shown for example in his call for less bombing. The good news is that street protests will probably be by no means the only possible avenue for influence. The bad news is that we have a mountain of misinformation to climb over, and an enormous amount of inertia to overcome. But at least we have a chance.

at each level more transparent. And that requires understanding  the issues so people cannot get bamboozled so easily. Citizen watchdogs in specialized local networks with different expertises to be acquired. It seems to me if one wants to check the government as an after hours activity, specialization is needed. It takes time to really understand issues to have a competent judgement on e.g. economics, energy, health care, etc. And definitely people will not be able to keep up that level of engagement over the years that they have now.

A big topic would be the drying out of the o'reilly etc swamp of shout-instead-of-thinking. In order to keep the new majority stable in face of adverse events (which will happen) this may be very important. Invading right wing blogs, newspapers, radio shows with facts and an attitude could go a long way.

 

This seems like a wonderful time for each of us to begin researching groups, organizations we could be linking with: for example:

 

http://www.smallplanet.org/

is just one group that interests me. For anyone who ever read Diet for A Small Planet, Francis Moore Lappe is still here, and working on important issues. There are so many good options. I will be very interested to hear Al's suggestions on organizing.

Regarding media, I support the idea of supporting what we value: Fund for Authentic Journalism. Also will be interesting to follow the work Bill Moyers has done, and expect will continue to do to focus on the dangers of media consolidation.

Thanks for this great post, Al. It's really got me thinking about this issue even more than I was! BTW, Yeah, Field Hands!!!!!

I think that we need to do several things after he wins this election in regards to communiy organizing.  First, he should raise lots of money for the DNC to keep some of the commuity organizers on hand to work on continuing to build the Democratic Party.  This is really important in order to build on what will be the successes to this year.

Then, we should quickly pass pro-union legislation, including both the Employee Free Choice Act and additional legislation to overturn anti-union (right-to-work) laws in the South and several other states.  Many people currently organizing for the Obama campaign can be turned into union organizers.  This will both greatly help the average working man (union members make more with better benefits) and increase Democratic votes as union members are more likely to vote Democratic.

At the same time, we need to raise money to fund state and local commuity organizing efforts outside of the Democratic Party.  For example, I'm working hard to raise money for anti-death penalty efforts here in Virginia (www.vadp.org) so that we can hire organizers.  If enough groups did the same, we could employ many of the well-trained organizers coming from the Obama campaign and transform this country. 

Assuming that Obama wins, we need to focus on the period from November 5 to January 20 when he will be president-elect but Bush is still president and controls all the levers of power. Are there things we want or need to do that can't wait until the end of January? If so, how can we help Obama achieve these when he is still "outside" and does not have power yet?

It seems to me that one of the biggest threats to our democracy in the past two elections (Florida then Ohio) and perhaps in this one (smearing of ACORN, potential abuses by Diebold, et al.) comes from the basic integrity of our voting process. A government perceived to be illegitimate or one that actually IS illegitimate wrecks the foundation of our entire system.

People should be able to vote IN SAFETY (free of violence, harassment or suppression), CONVENIENTLY (it should be a PAID holiday), CONSISTENTLY (across the country so there are no "weak links"), and, of course, ACCURATELY.

Obama's voteforchange.com site is a great start to assisting people with such a complex system, but there is MUCH work to be done.

After the election, I would like to get involved with efforts to make voting much more participatory (hence the national holiday idea--maybe even make it on a Wednesday to help prevent people from just taking a four day weekend and STILL not voting) and much more secure.

I'm not even opposed to voter ID laws (could be a way to compromise with "conservatives," right?) as long as there are multiple, convenient, affordable ways for lower income people to get the proper identification early enough.  That would help their votes be counted and not challenged.  It would help to prevent voter fraud (which I don't think is as big a problem as vote suppression, unless you're counting electronic machine manipulation).

But let's have more states where you can register to vote when you get your license or state ID.  Or maybe when you register for the selective service (do 18 yr old women have to do that now?  I'm 41, so I have no idea). Or maybe others can come up with more ideas.

But if we all work to streamline the process, enlarge it to include the disenfranchised, safeguard it against abuse by "insiders" and make it a damn holiday so everyone has a chance to vote, I think our system will be stronger and more respected.

What's so amazing about this campaign is the infrastructure that has been built, and the habits that have been cultivated.  For instance, most people who donated to the Obama campaign never donated before in their lives - but now they see how easy it is to give $10 or $20 every month or so.  This power of small giving can be channelled to do lots of good.  Also, the internet social networking that has been created is amazing - it's not easy to get this kind of persistent activity (discussions, events, action items, etc) with these numbers of participants.  That's my biggest question - what will barackobama.com look like an Obama presidency.

And the habit of feeling like you matter, like you have power.  This is amazing that this many people will feel like this about their government.  After years of apathy I think it's going to be real interesting.

KD

We local volunteers were bummed when the O campaign sent most of the paid staff to swing states after the Palin nomination*.  We're still working hard, writing postcards, making calls to Ohio and PA and CO (Hi, this is Nick calling from Alaska for the Obama for president campaign...).  We're organizing a pro-Obama rally for Saturday at which we hope to get some media coverage of Alaskans for Obama.

There's lots for an organizer to do up here once we get past the election.  Alaska government is dominated by Big Oil, and the blatant corruption and self-dealing is breathtaking to behold. We need to build a progressive movement to influence the native libertarian ethos towards sustainability and good government and away from support for the corporate greed culture.  What that means in detail is something I haven't spent much time thinking about yet.

*The good news about the Palin nomination is that she's going to come back home to a citizenry that has a much clearer picture of who she really is.

Al, thanks for getting our thought processes going beyond November 4th. First, I believe that part of Barack's plan is to use his millions of field hands to help push and implement the changes necessary to really turn this country around.  Beyond that, I really believe that each of us could ask what is it that we can do to make this country better, from our own communities on up.  We're in a horrible economic mess that has non profit charitable groups starving for both help and funding.  As usual, the ones that suffer the most are our poor and disadvantaged.  So, asking what can we each do to help is good start.  And then, do something, whether it is volunteering or community organizing.

 

Thanks Al.  This is the right focus.

Just curious, why is the Democratic incumbent Governor Gregoire possibly going to be unseated in Oregon?

What am I going to do after Nov. 4? Hopefully I'll get my spouse back for one ;-) (he's neck deep in a NH student voter project and between that and his paying work I see him for about a half-hour a day in five minute intervals).

Actually I've been giving this a lot of thought. I was already looking to return to writing but had planned on taking the next year to work on some fiction. Now I'm needing to find paying work. So, in addition to looking at traditional jobs, I've been thinking I'll be looking to see what sorts of magazine or Internet articles I can come up with. To get myself thinking more along those lines I've started writing in my blog more.

I'm also trying to figure out how to combine all of that with my passion for local food and sustainable communities. I've made some intersting connections through campaign volunteering and I'm hopeful that I'll find a role in my community that is both useful and pays something (and then I can get back to the fiction writing!) but I have trouble letting go and believing that it can all happen.

With young children I am hoping to still be able to be at home caring for them until they're in school full-time and then I'd still like to have a flexible schedule so that I can be here when they need me. I could see myself working with other mothers in similar situations to create some sort of co-operative to enable us to stay home and work.

I don't know this is all still fuzzy in my head and is probably coming out muddled here.

I am certain that I will remain active both in my community and politically as a result of previous experiences and this campaign. 

 

... rather, it is the beginning of a new era in America, and just the kick-off of all the hard work to fix what has been broken.  I know the crybabies on the right are going to wail, gnash their teeth and try to de-legitimize President O, so it is up to us to remain as loyal and steadfast as we have been through the long campaign.  I remember after Bill Clinton was elected, we Democrats rested on our victory laurels and the righties went to work immediately to undermine him.  We can't let that happen again, and I am hopeful we won't.  We must stay vigilant, and to that end I will say that I hope that media reform is one of the efforts to which we can turn our attention.  Additionally, I hope the Dem majority will be able to put some teeth into voting and election reform.  From keeping the pressure on about ending the war, cleaning up the environment, creating energy independence, health insurance rights... there is plenty to do to keep us all motivated!

Excellent question - what's next? My sister introduced me to your blogsite and I've been impressed with your analyses and accurate predictions. She knows I think constantly about "what's next" and encouraged me to submit a response to your question. She even got me reading Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals." She also told me to keep my comments brief, which I probably didn't. One topic that I fear will undermine the next president (and all next presidents) is the general topic of energy, led by what is almost sure to be a near-term permanent downtown (within 1-4 years) in world oil supply, and a very rapid permanent downturn in world oil exports. Since the U.S. gets two-thirds of its oil from the world export pool, that's extremely bad news. By 2030, we could be looking at one-fifth of today's level of oil use in the U.S. - an 80% reduction. Perhaps the biggest surprise I've had this election is to see Matt Simmons (big-time energy investment banker and Republican energy adviser) repudiate John McCain's energy "plan" with its mantra that's so dumb I can't repeat it, plus future reliance on nuclear power expansion, which is even dumber (and I'm a retired nuclear physicist with many years experience in advanced nuclear power options). Simmons is supporting Obama as a result of McCain's just not getting it on energy policy. Here's a link to an excellent job of journalism on the subject, describing Simmons' reasoning: http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/15/news/economy/500dollaroil_okeefe.fortune... Clearly, decreasing future oil supplies, and in future decades also natural gas and coal and uranium, means peak (then declining) total world energy around 2020, the end of total growth, and the end of global society as we now know it. Richard Heinberg describes this well in his first book on energy, "The Party's Over." The Oil Drum blog-site features detailed analyses of energy supply, with focus on oil and spirited discussion at a somewhat technical, but accessible level: http://www.theoildrum.com/. A great website that lists articles from around the world related to energy is the following: http://www.energybulletin.net/. Jay Inslee and Bracken Hendricks co-authored the book "Apollo's Fire," a text outlining the case for a massive, intense effort to replace today's fossil-fuel based energy sources with a combination of conservation, efficiency, and sustainable alternatives. My main quibbles with their recommendations are: (1) their driving premise relates to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, without regard to the equally basic, but currently more pressing, issue of fossil fuel supplies; and (2) heavy reliance on production of bio-diesel and ethanol for gasoline/diesel liquid fuels - there are numerous reasons for not doing this except for highly-localized cases such as farms. I published my review of the book in three parts in a local environmental newspaper and included a few of my own recommendations: http://www.whatcomwatch.org/php/WW_open.php?id=938; http://www.whatcomwatch.org/php/WW_open.php?id=949; http://www.whatcomwatch.org/php/WW_open.php?id=959. In summary, there is an emergency-level need for the country to do just what the city of Portland, Oregon, has done - which is to set up an energy task force to develop a strategic planning report for a sustainable energy future. The report should list impacts of declining fossil fuel supplies, and provide actionable recommendations for how to proceed - along the lines of the ideas in "Apollo's Fire." Here's a link to the Portland efforts: http://www.portlandonline.com/osd/index.cfm?c=42894 But even more generally than in "Apollo's Fire," the next president will need to gently but firmly reduce our expectations of growth forever, which cannot and will not happen on a finite planet. I think of it as 'managing economic collapse' in the sense of Jared Diamond's book "Collapse." Failure to begin making this transition will likely result in a never-ending, chaotic series of one-term administrations, and could lead to electing certifiable maniacs instead of just right-wing dunces.

I think we can harness the current volunteer base to stay engaged in the day-to-day legislative battles that will be waged particularly during the first 100 days.

I think our biggest challenge will be in keeping conservative democrats from straying and voting against Obama's bills.  We need to flood the phone lines for those congresspeople and tell them that Obama has a mandate for change and they better go along with it.

In addition, I wonder whether we need new leadership in the house and senate.  I feel like Pelosi and Reid are not only too weak, but not progressive enough.  They were appropriate for an era where Democrats had to try to not piss anyone off too much and couldn't pass anything because Bush was in charge.  But now we need, I dunno, Chris Dodd or even (dare I say it) Hillary Clinton as senate majority leader.  In the house, I'm not sure who'd be appropriate, but we need someone closer to the likes of Robert Wexler in charge.

I think we're only going to get a small window - maybe 6 months - in which to push through the progressive agenda many of us have been waiting for for years and this country has needed for decades.

If Obama wins...

He has amazingly excellent personal qualities for a president, but he's an centrist, and the rich have his ear. He's committed to war in Afghanistan after all. Its the same old issues the left has to find ways to make noise about.

Baseline: The individual life is what its all about. Self-sacrifice for the good of others is honored but must be voluntary rather than imposed by secret computer programs, corporations or the state.

1. Lets keep the pressure on the economy- he's promised a line by line examination of the tax code. Let's keep talking about all the unfair, barely legal tax loopholes, crony contracts, the cost of war, and what level of personal, inherited wealth is consistent with democracy.

2. Health care now. There are so many sad stories. The best part of his plan is the establishment of a public plan that is as good as what congress gets, and a slow flow from private plans to this public plan. That'll be the first waffle, I'm betting. I also bet he'll at least allow medicare to negotiate for better drug prices.

3. Halve the military. Dear world, we're all in it together, and the U.S. is broke(n). If boycotts and police actions and peace-keeping actions are needed, we're all in it together.

4. I'm just reading about people who've lost money and commit suicide just before the eviction squad comes. Wouln't it be nice if hard hit communities should link up with better off communities, to help people out case by case, instead of waiting for the government?

toward a four-day work week to help meet our 21st Century challenges along with tax incentives to channel workers to give of their time to their local communities and schools with leadership provided by seasoned retirees.

Please excuse my nascent stream of consciousness!

Obama's volunteer army will, in my view, have two main objectives:

1. Shepherding Obama's legislation through Congress by heavily pressuring dithering members of Congress and campaigning for it in the country, thereby helping shape public opinion (which will in turn further increase the pressure upon members of Congress).

2. Take Obama to task if necessary; if he is hesitant to take the progressive option (let's say for instance he wants to keep his enhanced FISA powers) we can pressure him into doing the right thing by organizing around that issue and campaigning for it.

But I do know that my view of community and politics has changed forever and I am sure I'm not alone.  I can so clearly see how once a person gets involved like this, they stay involved.  There just is no turning back.

Many have mentioned email lists and infastructure.  All of that is contained with MyBO so that is a big question.  I have some individual emails but for the most part, my communications goes out via the BO group lists.

Catherine, Gregoire is in WA and she is running neck and neck against Dino Rossi who came within fewer than 200 votes after, I think, three recounts four years ago.  She may be fine just on the Dem coattails but polls show it very tight.  She is not a particularly charismatic or high profile governor - which is not a reflection on her policy or achievements.

Obama 48 McCain 46

http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/2008/10/obama-takes-small-lead-in-missouri.html

Continued organization of a 5 plank progressive policy initiative:

1) Fiscal regulation that stimulates living wages and a savings-based economy instead of a debt management economy that exploits labor.

2) A short, medium and longterm alt. energy plan.

3) A jobs-creation, infrastructure rebuild plan.

4) Affordable healthcare for 95% of Americans.

5) The beginning of an effort to restore progressive taxation to our government funding base.

Whatever the central focus needs to be is fine with me, but such a list should be kept to 3 to 5 central goals to avoid dilution of the progressive agenda till it secures a few basic wins that will permit future expansion.

Obama ends every rally or major speech with the promise to not just "change America," but to "change the world." That is NOT an idle rhetorical phrase in his stump speech; it is the core of the next Administration's re-engagement with the world in a serious, rational, and, yes, adult manner.

I also reject the notion that this is American hubris speaking.  If a President Obama engages seriously the interconnected if not self-identical issues of climate change, sustainable energy, and habitat destruction in a truly holistic manner, we will also be addressing, as Siddhartha adroitly says, global health, education, civil rights, civil society, and issues of war and peace.  In this century, the issues facing us are ALL interconnected and it will take the rejection of intellectual Balkanization, that a true movement in a truly diverse electorate promises, to work--like distributed processing in computation--on the intersection of our crucial issues. 

I agree with John Rawlins that sustainable energy is #1; it is also a euphemism for the protection of the biosphere and human life that is a PART of the biosphere.  But as Gore repeatedly says, changing light-bulbs is not THE solution. It helps, but the solution lies in new laws. This new movement can press for laws that demonstrate a commitment to the next round of climate change talks, laws that spark new industries the way Germany has done with its extraordinary and brand new, world-dominating solar industry, laws that value all life--a truly pro-life agenda--and that commit us to not only "changing" but saving the planet with ourselves. 

As one of the researchers from the documentary The Eleventh Hour says (I paraphrase): what an exciting time to be alive (and politically active); we have the opportunity in the next decade or two to entirely reinvent the systems that our societies depend on. We can literally reinvent what design means.  Yes, things start to sound utopian at a point, but the darkness of the last three decades has been so great that any new light is blinding to say the least. Hell, I ain't afraid to say it: I am a hope-monger.

As Siddhartha says, it is high time to reinvent our basic relationship to the planet--and thus to all its organisms, including other human beings, and thus to ourselves. Ad terra!

I have been thinking about this a great deal. I don't have a complete answer at present, perhaps in part because my "regular" life gives me many opportunities to do work I find worthwhile, including working for a union and being a published writer.

But one thing, so far, which has changed for me due to the campaigns, both primary and general, is my feeling for the USA. I feel more kinship with everyone in all regions of the country. We are not the same exactly, I am from the Bay Area of California, but there is so very much overlap in our concerns and feelings about things. And this broader connection to the country will influence me in some way, as yet to be determined.

Thanks for asking the question, Al, and for asking it now.

Heather aka gratitude

I'm going to turn 16 this Thursday, and I'm counting down until I can make my very first campaign donations (symbolic mostly, as all I can afford to give is 10$).

After November 4th, I'll keep on slogging through high school. If I'm lucky, I'll keep in contact with the incredible field organizers in charge of this area. These are the people who have inspired me to major in politics in college (I was toying with getting a medical degree and doing who-knows-what with it). I'll cast my first ballot in 2010. And I'll continue to do what I've been doing for the last two months- bringing my classmates and teachers into the fold as best I can.

Perhaps eventually I'll become an field organizer, or a community organizer and focus on a single issue or candidate. Until then, I'm going to do whatever I can to tell kids like myself that even if they can't vote yet, they don't have to sit on the sidelines, that they too can take charge and have a stake in the elections and in the government. In our future.

I always look forward to your posts.  I am so glad I found this site - thanks to the Obama campaign.    I've been saying all along that our next movement for change should target Traditional Media.   I can't believe what I've witnessed during this election season.   The list is long but my patience with Trad Med is short!

This is more a process idea than a policy idea:

Many, many communities in the U.S. are hurting now and are going to be in even more extreme pain as this recession deepens.  Now that Obama has a huge army of volunteers, it would be great to have a federal program that gave something for them to do--for the younger ones, the college tuition contribution/waver could be used to encourage teaching/organizing in hard hit communities on a massive scale.

 

This does two things--it puts an intensely personal face on the new administration (endearing hard hit communities to the administration for years to come and fighting against the "elitist" image) AND serves the purpose of "proselytizing" liberal values all over the United States.

I think that Barack Obama is smart enough to avoid what I am about to describe, but it is an important lesson nonetheless.

Ron Carey was the head of a Teamsters local on Long Island and, as far as anyone could tell, an honest guy. I believe that to be true to this day.

When the US government took over the corrupt Teamsters union and ordered it to have national, rank-and-file elections (a first), Carey won the presidency and set about revitalizing the union in the early 1990s. They did so in an alliance with rank-and-file Teamsters reformers who had helped bring him to national prominence within the union.

As the expiration of his term approached, however, he or the people around him forgot the rank-and-file organizing that had helped bring him to power. Instead he hired consultants who cut corners and ended up violating the laws that governed how the union elections were to be conducted. Carey's reelection was thrown out and the result cost the reformers the access they once had.

This is not particularly a slam on the current leadership of the Teamsters, whose president, Jim Hoffa, did back Obama. And as I said at the outset, I'm not personally worried about an analogous outcome in post-Nov. 4.

But it is a lesson in the importance of not using a grassroots organization as a matter of expediency, and of continuing to remain engaged with the grassroots movement that has put you where you are.

 It's time to play Pinocchio Politics-

 

The final debate is Wednesday night, so download your own "McLiar Bingo" boards to have fun keeping track of McCain's lies while you watch with your friends.

 

Second, let's form "Pinocchio Posses " wherever McCain and Palin campaign. We'll wear home-made "Pinocchio noses " and hand out home-printed " McLiar Bingo " flyers with the lies and the truth. Keep checking our upcoming event list:
http://www.pinocchiopolitics.org/candidate_sched.htm

Let's make new friends and have a good time while we put an end to " Pinocchio Politics " and elect Barack Obama!

More info and comments here:
http://www.democrats.com/fight-mccains-lies-with-pinocchio-bingo

I'm co-producing a film about what Joanna Macy calls the Great Turning -- the turning away from the destruction of the industrial growth society to a life-sustaining path.

Why?  To help people see not only that it's possible to turn things around, but that we've already begun -- and that we all can help.

I see the empowerment of the Obama movement -- the shift from me to we -- as an important part of the story. We'll have a web site up soon (thegreatturningfilm.org) and we'll be asking people to share their ideas for the project as we move ahead.

I'd love to hear from Field Hands as we move this along.