"Enveloped by a Social Movement"

We're looking forward to what should be a great event. If you are at all thinking of coming / driving in, I encourage folks to do so. We had a great time last night (thanks everyone who came out!). The event will be a great chance to link our online network face-to-face, and I have the feeling that the reception afterwards at our house will go pretty late. Email me at kurt*dot*squire at gmail.com for details!

Howard's one of the premier historians in the US and knows his stuff. And he's not just an academic either, having been involved, at considerable risk to himself, in organizing predominantly black students while he was a teacher in the South at the beginning of the civil rights struggle.

Kudos to The Real News for the interview.

Art that has to be in a gallery to be art isn't art.

Not to open a wound, but I think this post invites us to reflect on The Field's move over here from Rural Votes. Remember all the clucking about community organizing and Alinsky, all the Chicken Little "Oh, my ga-a-a-wd what kind of lefty stuff is Al spouting, and why won't some one think of the Rothschilds?" I do, and now I think Al deserves a ton of credit for pursuing what his judgment told him was true-- this was always about a movement, not a messiah.

I guarantee you the next would-be Rove is starting to think hard about why the Democrats came on so strong this year, how Obama's fundraising marks a new paradigm, how you build a campaign with the characteristics of a movement. One of them will be reading Alinsky, you betcha.

Thanks again, Al. This year has been a real education for all of us.

In Clark County, Nevada, there's five days of early voting down and nine to go. Here's the numbers:

* 113,165 votes cast, up 60% from the 70,669 cast during the same period in 2004.
* 57% of early voters are Democratic
* 27% are Republican
* 16% are unaffiliated

The interesting thing is that in the past couple of days, the Democratic advantage has accelerated. In the last two days alone:

* 62% (!) are Democratic
* 20% are Republican
* 18% are unaffiliated

It's hard to see how McCain will be able to make up for this Democratic enthusiasm on election day; if anything, Republicans are growing increasingly disillusioned, which could accelerate the Democratic rout.

http://www.jedreport.com/2008/10/more-early-voting-trends.html

Some on the right warn of a democratic sweep of the house, senate and presidency. The idea is that a relatively inexperienced Obama, who voted with the party 90+ % of the time, could not stand up to the party heavyweights like Pelosi.

The difference though, as you point out, is that Obama has a movement behind him, not a campaign. Aside from giving him great moral authority, it gives him practical authority as well since the movement can spread his message to the roots of the nation. ie. Those who elect congress.

Thus, if he choses to use it, he *can* enact the kind of change needed to put America back on track without having to compromise his values.

 

Obama 51 McCain 46

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/georgia/election_2008_georgia_presidential_election

 

Yes, you can say that what really propelled the Obama campaign to beat the previously unbeatable Clinton machine was its elements of movement organizing. And Bill did not start a grassroots movement -- except for MoveOn. But frankly, this is how we're all victims of history. The movement was all on the right in the '90s. What the "liberal" press ran with was largely the phony attacks on President Clinton from the right -- the entire Whitewater "scandal", and everything else up until the Monica business were completely bogus, and the NY Times and the rest of the "liberals" went along with it -- while the militias were active, the shouting of right-wing populists were loudest, and so-called "liberals" were nearly absolutely useless. Go ahead, I'm voting for Obama too -- but don't neglect history.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EARLY_VOTING?SITE=NVREN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

OT: here in Michigan there is a Proposal (#2) to vote for or against Embryonic Stem Cell Research.  Of course the against commercials have been well-financed and full of bull...

but I just saw the worst...comparing stem cell research to the Tuskeegee Experiments with syphillis on Black men in the 1940s...

disgusting...

 

waterprise2 AKA Pam

Liberal with a Capital L!

 

Love Zinn. By the way, he lost his wife last year. Zinn is a way cool human being, and I concur with his analysis and sentiments about where we are at in our history, about what can and should be done. The people are still largely apathetic and their minds are dulled to a degree never seen in human history. This is a product of decades of intense propaganda and social engineering people to become passive consumers. This model works like a charm as long as the herd can consume in the toxic green pastures--and as long as the credit bubble is being propped up with the help of international capitalism. The surface debate in this presidental race is standard fare--a testiment to the perception-management techniques employed by the corporate herd-masters. To be blunt, the rightwing attacks are just plain silly. Obama has to keep his cool and play the game--and if the rightwing of the ruling class don't steal this election, he just might win. In my view, things will need to get incrementally and considerably worse before direct action becomes possible. The sheeple are too worried about slightly raising the taxes of the super rich--ecudation, health care, and the environment be damned. Really, I find it difficult to even engage a conversation with people that participate in their own grave ignorance. There is a delusional quality in the thinking of almost half the population that is really disconcerting. That said, I find Obama's candidacy a bright-spot in the ghetto of US political culture--and his model for organizing the grass roots seems like the only hope that progressive folks have at the moment. If they/we continue to use the grass-roots organizational structure to back a progressive policy adgenda AFTER the election, I will be pleasantly surprised. If Obama encourages the grass roots to set the adgenda, I will be blown away. Al, I'm sure your talk tonight will go well--and be careful making your way down to Florida. When you get down here I will have a four-pack of OBP2 (Orange Blossom Pilsner 2) waiting for you, ice-cold.

 McCain camp says "McCain might skip his own election night party"   ??? Are you kidding me? They really do not want it this year. This is the worst ran campaign evah!

as seen in "The War at Home."

 

Democrat for US Senate (Wisconsin 2012)

 Obama 49 McCain 45

http://www.whas11.com/justposted/stories/081023whasasPoliticsIndianaPoll.13e574f24.html

N.B - My post above re the Rasmussen Georgia Poll has a typo by me. It should read McCain 51 Obama 46.

Last night, Al, you pusherd the importance of Barack keeping mybarackobama.com up.

During the "get FSA Right' battle, while i applaud the campaign's decision to leave the group online, wee found the actual interface quite poor for any self-organizing of more than a couple dozen. Only the campaign could effectively reach any larger number of users. I'm suspecting the limitations in the architecture were not accidental. we ended up doing the actual work on Facebook and, now, migrating to getfisaright.org

 

Democrat for US Senate (Wisconsin 2012)

Barack is ahead in Indiana?   WTF?!

Obama is leading 53 over McLame in North Indiana--and behind in South Indiana.

This should be interesting.

When you've got John Melloncamp o9n your side in Indy, you've got to be worried.

I just got back from a Counsel for Change 2 hour training class in downtown Chicago.  It was very, very well organized with 300+ attorneys present who will be at various polling places throughout Indiana on Election Day.  This group tonight represented less than a 1/3 of all the attorneys who are trained and ready to go to the Hoosier state!  Since we have no official role in the polling facility, our campaign title is Vote Promoter and we will station ourselves at least 50 feet away with our one and only responsibility of making sure that everyone coming out of the polling facility who is registered was allowed their citizen's right to cast a ballot.  With a couple of polls today showing Obama with a lead there, each and every vote WILL make a difference.

It's looking like we probably won't make it back in time for the Grant Park celebration but that's going to be fine.  We will have many, many more days to celebrate beyond the 4th.  

 So grateful for you and all the attorneys like you doing the good work this time. Thank You!!!!

Thanks Christi - I am so excited to be a part of all of this and getting a chance to be involved in the smallest of ways to give the voters of Indiana the opportunity to choose Barack Obama is a real thrill. Fingers crossed. But after I reread my post, I realized I wasn't clear that I'm not an attorney. I went with a couple of my attorney friends who I had enlisted and the campaign told me that they need a few of us to assist them with non-legal tasks through the day. But the group there was 90% attorneys.

@Viva Ernesto Cortez - I was thinking about that very same thing just the other day. I can't wait to read all about the amazing grass roots campaign in the years to come. I feel like the more I know the less I understand about how Obama brought it all about. How much did he know would happen versus hoped would happen? Lots of stories to be written and enjoyed.

Can you believe it guys??  I'm still crying from reading the previous thread.  It's all coming together just like it was always supposed to.  I still say the man is crazy to want to be president at this time in our history but thank God he does.  This is exactly the right leader for this time.

What a toll it's taking on him (and McCain).  My husband was shocked last night to notice the gray hairs.

So glad to be a part of this community...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/opinion/24fri1.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

This country needs sensible leadership, compassionate leadership, honest leadership and strong leadership. Barack Obama has shown that he has all of those qualities.

And, three pages long too.

amk

YOU are in the Times - NYT Comment #81:

"Thank you, NY Times, for your lovely endorsement. But no one has said it better than Al Giodano did today:

"In four long years, Obama hasn't changed his message or let it blow with the wind. He's said it with almost the same words over and over and over again and it's so familiar now as to be like part of the national wallpaper. You don't necessarily notice it as you wake up and step out onto the street each day, but it's there, everywhere, in the air we breathe, in the panorama we see, in the people we meet, in the collective soundtrack of our lives, the seeds of a new America being born from the ashes of the old."
http://narcosphere.narconews.com...

In the midst of the mire George W Bush has sunk our country into, that this good man can give me and millions of others hope for renewal of America is nothing short of astounding.

— wvng, West Virginia"

Might need some coins in the cup for more bandwidth! Let us know, Al!

 

waterprise2 AKA Pam

Liberal with a Capital L!

 

@catherine- in my book!

NYT-comments section-Go Al!

Love that AMK was first to post the Times endorsement (expect amk is still in India), Anne Crumpton notices comment #81 quotes Al.  Did anyone notice the time these comments were posted?  Were you guys really awake in the middle of the night?  Pam wakes up  (on her way to make sure Her Women in the Home for the Elderly are ok & all registered to vote?) & reminds us to keep putting coins in the cup.

What a community.  Organizing the President 2008.

ALSO: very special thanks to Catherine for all her work - Grant Park will happen because of you, and the millions of us who are all in this together.

Thanks, Al.  Thanks, Field Hands.  Finish line in sight, for the first part of our work.

I was in M'sia for past two weeks where I get a head-start of 12 hours on you guys on EST. I returned to India today afternoon and the first thing I saw was the NYT endorsement. If truth be told, I was trolling their page everyday since I felt they were dragging their feet because they bet on the wrong horse in the primary. It was of nice them to say they got it wrong.

But the election night is going to be nightmare for me since I will be pulling an allnighter on 4th and celebrating on 5th night too due to my b'day party.

amk

Last night, I saw a program on pbs on social movements -- how they take take form, evolve, enlist participation,etc.  How they start out as challenging the status quo and through many individual acts of courage and much work, go mainstream.  They develop around a singular idea - civil rights, worker rights, equal rights, etc.  The more transformative social movements are political movements. Al, I immediately thought of you and this blog, as you've been covering these very things extensively and quite well.   

What will this new social movement look like?  we know the big ideas that Obama is promoting.  What will it look like in its execution?  I suppose that story is yet to be written.  I do think the size of Obama's mandate (ie. presidential election results) will go a long way in determining the size and scope. As well as the size and severity of the economic crisis; and the challenges facing our political standing in the world.

Again, I congratulate you for your writings and for one of the most thoughtful blogs on the internets.

 

 

all my indian (now naturalized american) friends of 25 years will be voting for Obama.

Two in MA, Two in CA, One in NJ and One in GA (who also wants to kick that repug Chambliss's ass).

There it is. Now, I have also done my part for the campaign (though admittedly, it was easy-peasy).

amk

As a male who was also born in 1961 (and look younger than my years) I can tell you the grey hairs have started to come on fast in the last year or so. So don't read too much into it. ;)

BondiBeachViews

I KNOW!!!  I was jumping up & down with joy cuz a friend of mine in Washington DC emailed me the WAPO endorsement - came to the Field & you'd already posted it!  Our "social movement" is so definitely global.  Synchronicity for me: Howard Zinn was my professor in college in 1965.

For all the poetry lovers out there: TSEliot, Four Quartets, Little Gidding- " We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."  Tho' the poet was referring to something else, this is how I feel about this election!

This interview is so on point.  Like regarding Nader, it's not that we don't support his ideas, it's that we don't see voting for him as being effective.  I know that I come to this site to learn how to be effective, and I look forward to first, victory in November, and then taking that opportunity and making the most of it.  When this door opens, we need to be ready to charge through it!

Does anybody else have trouble logging in?  The site keeps me logged in for a week or so, and then my password doesn't work.  I have to have it send me a new temporary one, and then change it to my real password again.  You can contact me at jh9856 at gmail dotcom for more info.  Thanks!

The funny thing is the Field has had a global audience and international commentors from the first days back on the original 'farm'.

By the way, does anyone know what happened with the archive from our first home?

BondiBeachViews

So it seems that Palin's agreeing to Brian Williams to release her medical records--apparently to the surprise of the McCain campaign-- now leaves us in situation in which the only person on either ticket not to release medical records is the 72-year-old diagnosed with melanoma? Nice.

Hi Fieldhands...

Here I am with one of my other "fights"...equal rights for ALL Americans, including same-sex couples...

I received an email from PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) and I wanted to pass it on to you...

even if you don't live in CA, if you believe in equal rights for ALL...please check this out and do something!

Remember, we were the first to celebrate the marriage of our own Fieldhand Allan; help him stay legally married!

http://www.noonprop8.com/messages

 

 

 

waterprise2 AKA Pam

Liberal with a Capital L!

 

@ James:

I had that problem over and over, too...look on the sidebar just under the donation and you'll see a link to Al's Tech Team...let them know...

I think they've fixed it for good for me...

Al's so super-bad he has a "Tech Team"!

 

waterprise2 AKA Pam

Liberal with a Capital L!

 

Michael - I think Al mentioned that he had them, or was working on getting them in a post a long time ago.  Expect he'll confirm when he has a chance.

Does anyone have a tape from 10/23 Event in Madison???  Or a transcript?

India for some time now, voted absentee ballot.

amk

In case my fellow Field hands haven't yet visited the newer place on Obama website:

 

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/mollyclaflinblog/gGglvf

It is amazing the junk the Rethugs are pushing out in the 'swing states.' Really VILE stuff.  The campaign is so wise to Shine a Light on this - we've all learned how to deal with a bully!  Show the world what they're doing!

Does anyone know if the video from the event in Wisconsin is posted yet, and if so, where it's hiding on the Internets?

I appreciate your support of the No on Prop 8 campaign.

Some interesting developments here in California over the last two days:

1.  The former mayor of my city, Folsom, took out an ad in the local newspaper opposed to Prop 8 and coming out as gay himself in the process.

2.  Backers of the anti-same-sex marriage proposition are sending attorney-drafted letters attempting to extort money from donors to No on 8, threatening to expose their businesses as enemies of the traditional family.

3.  One such business, Google, is creating a controversy because it accepts advertising from the very same outfit, ProtectMarriage.com, with the result that LGBT news websites that subscribe to Google Ads are inadvertently presenting ads against same-sex marriage to their LGBT readership.

Has your head exploded yet?

And I participated in a street-corner rally yesterday against Prop 8 here in Folsom.  We had about two dozen people, gay, straight, young, old, families with children holding up signs opposed to Prop 8.

Here's a slideshow of pictures from the event, I only took a few because I was busy holding a sign most of the time.

 

and McCain robocalls A Pittsburgh police commander told KDKA Investigator Marty Griffin that Ashley Todd confessed to making up the story & is facing charges PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― Police tell KDKA that a campaign volunteer has now confessed to making up a story that a mugger attacked her and cut the letter B in her face after seeing her McCain bumper sticker. Ashley Todd, 20, of Texas, initially told police that she was robbed at an ATM in Bloomfield and that the suspect became enraged and started beating her after seeing her GOP sticker on her car. Police investigating the alleged attack, however, began to notice some inconsistencies in her story and administered a polygraph test. Authorities, however, declined to release the results of that test. Investigators did say that they received photos from the ATM machine and "the photographs were verified as not being the victim making the transaction." This afternoon, a Pittsburgh police commander told KDKA Investigator Marty Griffin that Todd confessed to making up the story. The commander added that Todd will face charges; but police have not commented on what those charges will be. Authorities are expected to release more details at a news conference this afternoon. According to police, investigators working on the interview process detected several inconsistencies in Todd's story that differed from statements made in the original police report. Pittsburgh Police Public Information Officer Diane Richard released a statement earlier today, saying: "Because of the inconsistencies in her statements, Ms. Todd was asked to submit to a polygraph examination which she agreed to do." No photos of Todd are being released by Pittsburgh Police at this time

It was a great turnout and evening. I'm so glad to have met you all! For anyone who is considering bringing Al to your town for an organization / meet up, I highly recommend it. It's been a real shot in the arm for us and got us moving on to our next steps. What a catalyst for change...

Thanks for the link!

It was interesting to see that NC is at "ground zero" on the attacks, with the highest concentration of junk.  Interesting, but not surprising.  The NC GOP, after all, are the same folks that did that very nice Rev Wright ad in April that McCain asked them to take down.

Everything on the ground here for the McCain campaign is done either by the NC GOP or the RNC.  Given their past history, it isn't surprising that once McCain turned them loose the NC GOP would go after this stuff with gusto.

What Has Happened?

(Bertolt Brecht)

The industrialist is having his aeroplane serviced.

The priest is wondering what he said in his sermon eight weeks ago about tithes.

The generals are putting on civvies and looking like bank clerks.

Public officials are getting friendly.

The policeman points out the way to the man in the cloth cap.

The landlord comes to see whether the water supply is working.

The journalists write the word People with capital letters.

The singers sing at the opera for nothing.

Ships' captains check the food in the crew's galley,

Car owners get in beside their chauffeurs.

Doctors sue the insurance companies.

Scholars show their discoveries and hide their decorations.

Farmers deliver potatoes to the barracks.

The revolution has won its first battle:

That's what has happened.

 

Art that has to be in a gallery to be art isn't art.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/24/173926/91/474/640246

The race baiter was a guest on David Gregory's Race for the Whitehouse tonight.  Not surprisingly, he attempted to frame the current state of the polls based on the race variable.  Paraphrasing, "We just don't know what the impact race will have." He made a few other references to race and how the "Joe the Plumber" offensive may be effective in "peeling away" some Obama voters who may have some misgivings based on race.  Finally, Gregory concludes the segment with "Thanks buddy!" manifesting his apparent deference to Fournier.  Does this appearance warrant another round of Al's tonic to express our disgust with Fournier's appearance?

When Al asked all of us what ideas we had for community activism after the election, I mentioned wanting to work on increasing voter participation via changing Election Day to a weekend or holiday.

Well, there's an existing group already working on this called "Why Tuesday?"  Here's their website: http://whytuesday.org/

There is a Op-Ed piece about them in today's NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/opinion/24ornstein.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=ornstein&st=cse&oref=slogin

Steve Israel (D, NY), of the U.S. House of Representatives is one of the Op-Ed's authors and is sponsoring a bill to change Election Day to the first Saturday and Sunday after the first Friday in November.

I urge you to read the Op-Ed and get involved.

Let's build off this year's massive increase in voter participation by extending it even deeper into the ranks of the poor or disadvantaged who have difficulty voting on a work/school day.

 

country that pushes the meme of democracy on rest of the unwilling world, on the most important day of democracy, people have to choose between their work and vote.

And the electoral malpractices in US make it look like a banana "republic".

amk

Why limit it to just two days? I think that early voting should be available in every state and that way people can vote when it is convenient for them. A lot of people work on the weekends as well; there really is no one good day.

Hi All,

Did anyone just see Shields and Brooks on PBS? I would have expected this from Brooks, but Shields agreed with him: Bush actually had higher low donor numbers than Obama. The jist was that the genie of really big money donors was actually more "out of the bottle" and likely in the future than the smaller donor model.  This HAS to be false, but if someone could supply me with data, I would greatly appreciate it. 

This made me angry -- just want to know I'm justified!