http://reform-dem.blogspot.com/2008/06/why-obama-matters-young-voters.html
Friday, June 06, 2008
WHY OBAMA MATTERS: YOUNG VOTERS
“Get 'em while they're young” is the key to making real political change in America. People tend to form their political identities based on the first couple of elections they participate in. Take a look at the chart below, it shows the big reason Obama has so much potential to move this country in the right direction.
by Russell Wallace
Changing of the Guards and Chimes of Freedom
A World View of Obama's Milestone ?! 🙂
As Barack Obama begins the search for his VP, he may have said these words to Hillary last night during their clandestine meeting in Washington, D.C. “You're Gonna Quit Me, You Angel You. You Changed My Life and now Whatcha Gonna Do?”
With that thought in mind, when fellow VT Blogger SPS wrote a diary entry that wondered aloud, ” how intrigued the rest of the world is with Obama's rise”, it caught my attention for a blog post (and a comment to SPS).
I wondered what my thousands of cousins in Europe were thinking and saying about the new Political World in the USA. I'm sure they're being realistic about Obama's victorious milestone. They will realize that his road to the White House is an almost Endless Highway.
I did a little Googling and in short order I arrived at the basis for this diary entry. I wasn't looking for reactions from Denmark, but I've got a few cousins there as well, so it will do!
P.S. You get a lollipop for identifying all the song titles in this story!
A reaction from Denmark ?! 🙂
From the Times Online, June 5, 2008 issue:
In Denmark, a 67 year-old man was interviewed about the Obama victory. “The fellow made these comments when being interviewed in Denmark, where he stopped over in a hotel during a tour of Scandinavia… he said: “Well, you know right now America is in a state of upheaval. Poverty is demoralizing. You can't expect people to have the virtue of purity when they are poor. But we've got this guy out there now who is redefining the nature of politics from the ground up…Barack Obama. He's redefining what a politician is, so we'll have to see how things play out. Am I hopeful? Yes, I'm hopeful that things might change. Some things are going to have to. You should always take the best from the past, leave the worst back there and go forward into the future.”
Long ago (44 years ago) this same fellow sang a song for 2008 – “Come senators, congressmen, please heed the call. Don't stand in the doorway, don't block up the hall,” and: “Come mothers and fathers throughout the land, and don't criticise what you can't understand. Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command. Your old road is rapidly agin'.” (1)
(1) http://timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4076339.ece
The Obama campaign has cleared one hurdle – the number of delegates needed for the nomination. Now the real race begins and his campaign must adapt to the new nature of the battle. So far he has been very adept at adapting.
The most important feature of Obama’s campaign strategy has been his reliance on new folks to the political process, grassroots volunteers and millions of small (and recurring) donations to his campaign war chest.
Obama and his campaign team realized and embraced the dominant role of the Internet from the very beginning of his campaign. This pivotal decision was the backbone of his success – political organizing, get-out-the-vote (GOTV) efforts and fundraising. The Facebook-like software that the Obama campaign uses, served as a National, State, Local and Issue-driven “virtual office” and campaign infrastructure.
The Obama campaign was not an Internet campaign; The Internet infrastructure merely acted as a conduit, a clearinghouse and an incredibly efficient “office assistant”. The Internet enabled the Obama campaign to be focused on the issues and the skills of the grassroots volunteers – driving every local event and action, and supplying the hundreds of thousands of “foot soldier” volunteers that spearheaded the GOTV efforts.
Senator Obama recognizes that the Facebook-like software they have relied upon has enabled his campaign to build and organize “communities” of real people – who interact with one another in-person and online.
The Howard Dean campaign of 2004 introduced the political world to Internet applications. The Obama campaign has embraced the cutting edge and breadth of electronic media and communications. This almost total reliance on Internet applications has yielded dividends that are astronomical:
Total funds raised to date: around $250 million
Percent of donations that averaged less than $100/each: 90% were less than $100
Total number of ACTIVE volunteers: around 750,000 active volunteers
Total number of financial contributions given: more than 3 million
Number of groups formed affiliated with the Obama campaign: around 8,000 Obama groups
Total number of Obama “Events” held: around 30,000
Reliance upon long-standing models of political organizing and fundraising has not been sufficient this year. John McCain has relied on the old models: large exclusive, invitation-only fundraisers. He has raised far less than half of what Obama has raised. McCain’s campaign is an old-fashioned “top-down” affair, and on-the-ground activists have played a much smaller role.
McCain, the professed campaign-funding “maverick”, has been increasingly relying upon a “hybrid” donation scheme, allowing individual contributors to donate up to $70,000 to his campaign.
Obama will need to rapidly expand the size of his “big tent”. It’s my guess he’ll still be relying upon the same methods (and a few new ones) that have brought him to this point. He’ll always be a “community organizer” at heart.
The delegate counting reached an extraordinary point last night – we’ve created a new and lasting paradigm! This election season will be a model for future campaigns – ideas, strategies and relationships.
As for myself, I shed a few tears of joy in the midst of the euphoria and jubilation…
With all of the positives flowing out of this milestone, some of our Party leaders have begun to speak up and show some leadership. Ed Rendell said that Sen. Clinton should concede soon and throw her full support behind Barack Obama. From the Democratic Party website: “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, DGA Chairman Joe Manchin and DNC Chairman Howard Dean today issued the following statement: “Democrats must now turn our full attention to the general election. To that end, we are urging all remaining uncommitted super delegates to make their decisions known by Friday of this week so that our party can stand united and begin our march toward reversing the eight years of failed Bush/McCain policies that have weakened our country.” (1)
At last report Al Gore remained uncommitted…
A less encumbered Party leader, former President Jimmy Carter, in an interview published today in the Guardian/Co.UK., advised Senator Obama, Carter said “I think it would be the worst mistake that could be made” for Obama to choose Hillary Clinton as his running mate. (2)
It’s time to begin our march toward November now. We cannot have this cloud of uncertainty hanging over us for the next 3 months. That would put a knife through the heart of the Democratic Party, potentially detrimentally effecting State and local campaigns, as well the Presidential race. Obama could and should have long coattails.
(1)http://www.democrats.org/a/2008/06/a_statement_by.php
(2)http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/04/uselections2008
Bill Clinton didn’t surprise many people with his (hopefully parting) words yesterday. Bill demonstrated his “style”, when he described Dee Dee Myers husband and his recently penned Vanity Fair article (1).
Of more interest are the comments of Dee Dee Myers. She tells us what might be on the Clinton’s political horizon in the next few days and weeks (2).
Here are Bill Clinton’s (hopefully) parting words to us all: (loosely misquoted from page 8 of Todd Purdum’s Vanity Fair article) (1).
“So much of my life is characterized by stories of self-indulgence and self-destruction,” Clinton writes near the end of Giving, from which he earned $6.3 million and gave away $1 million (or 16 percent) to charity. “So much of my life is focused not on honest differences of policy but on personal attacks. So much of my life is dominated by people who earn fortunes by demeaning others, defining them by their worst moments, exploiting their agonies. Who’s happier? The uniters or the dividers? The builders or the breakers? The givers or the takers? I think you know the answer.”
Lastly, here is an amazing audio/video of Clinton’s remarks about Purdum and Obama (3)! He actually says the article is part of an Obama campaign conspiracy to smear Hillary.
Good Night Bill…
(1)http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/07/clinton200807?currentPage=8
(2)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlrWnz8ALNw
(3)http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mayhill-fowler/bill-clinton-purdhum-a-sl_b_104771.html
Some relish the unknown – I even used to fashion myself as a person that constantly sought new lives, newer people and I dreaded certainty. I’ve changed over these Vermont years!
This political season though, I’ve found myself obsessed with the idea and prospect of change. I dream of change in local, state and national politics and discourse. I fantasize about a colossal tectonic change in the entire collective, national cultural inner-self. Change? Whoa, I tell myself, “don’t jump the boiling creek until you’ve studied your options”!
Now it’s Monday, June 2, 2008. Tomorrow night the Democratic primary season will come to an anti-climatic close. For the sake of simplicity, let’s just call it a “51-49 race”. No one has ever been nominated using any metric other than delegate counting. Change? (I warn myself again!)
As we approach the rise in the hill before us this week, it sure is frustrating not to be able to see over or around that looming knoll! We all know the options. When we reach the top of hill, the path could split multiple ways. Are we approaching the top of a hill, or an edge of a cliff? We won’t know till we get there folks… Where is the leadership of our Party? Pelosi and Reid; Gore, Schroeder, Carter and many others? Will we see leadership and unity after Tuesday?
Or, will the party enter the convention in Denver with a raw fissure dividing us still at “51-49”? Alternately, will Denver be a space and a place of soaring possibilities? ……. Will I be dreaming or dreading?
Politics and baseball – Vermont Style… “through GRASSROOTS connections ” !
IT ALL INVOLVED >>>
Breaking an almost 50-year political logjam
Two years of consultations and dialogue
Negotiations at the Swiss Embassy
Striking a deal with the U.S. Treasury Department
Conferring with baseball league officials
Organizers from Vermont Public Radio … Dartmouth College …
Bird watching…. Natural and Political History…
Vermont COWS… Florida millionaires… AND
The VT politician that should have been Anthony Polina’s foe this fall –
However, Anthony opted to shoot himself in the foot instead…
Congratulations to Coach Ted Levin for his persistence and coordination of this effort. I’m sure the 11 and 12 year-olds from the Upper Valley region will have lots of fun on this historic trip!
The above quote and the full story I’m referring to was published in the Rutland Herald (not by me !!) and written by Bruce Edwards (that’s not me !!). >>>
http://www.rutlandherald.com/a…
“It would be little short of a miracle if the Democrats should elect their State ticket – few, if any, of them believe in their hearts that such a result is more than a prayerful probability;, but with all the ancient courage of the party in this State they are making a record-breaking campaign, and with the reasonable expectation of increasing their strength in the Legislature and of so reducing the Republican vote that the election of Governor will be thrown into the Legislature.”
Quoted excerpt from a Special to: The New York Times, August 25, 1912, Sunday, Page 10, 1094 words
Click on the link (to the right) to read the “whole story” http://query.nytimes.com/mem/a…
WHAT IF – Gaye and Anthony had formed a coalition – a ticket so to speak
– and sold that ticket to every hurting Vermonter; such as those of us that really can’t afford to put oil in our home furnace tanks, and those of us that don’t have the money in our checking accounts to pay our kid’s college bills – then they’d probably be riding in the parade to Montpelier I describe in my blog today! Take a look!
ENJOY !! >>>> http://vt-democratic-grassroot-cynic.blogspot.com/
