DEL.ICIO.USObama’s campaign workers … keep on working
‘Change is Coming’ rallies continue in metro Atlanta and across the nation
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Barack Obama’s campaign isn’t over. It’s being transformed into a grassroots movement, involving hundreds of political cells and thousands of people across the country, to put into action the president-elect’s promises.
“We don’t have to wait until after the inauguration,” local Obama campaign manager Saba Abee told nearly two dozen volunteers recently in the basement of Zion Hill Baptist Church in southwest Atlanta.
CURTIS COMPTON/ccompton@ajc.com
Wanda Cunningham (standing) chair and founder of Working Together for Change, leads a community meeting at Zion Hill Baptist Church in the Lynhurst community of Atlanta.
CURTIS COMPTON/ccompton@ajc.com
Obama supporters Grace Carter (left)and Stephanie McIverat the Lynhurst gathering.
“We’re in our communities now,” she said. “It’s time to start moving forward.”
That was the theme last weekend as hundreds of “Change is Coming” parties, rallies, meetings, service events, breakfasts, luncheons, dinners and concerts nationwide met in response to a message by Obama national campaign director David Plouffe.
His Dec. 4 letter to the legions of campaign workers and volunteers was a call to action on Obama’s prevailing message — change.
“Now is the time to start preparing and working for change,” Plouffe said. “Learn what you can do to support President-elect Obama’s agenda for change and continue to make a difference in your community.”
In all, nearly 90 “Change is Coming” events were held this past weekend in metro Atlanta, all organized and connected via online social networking. More are planned through the end of the month.
Tonight, for example, the DeKalb County Democratic Party hosts its Christmas Party at Manual’s Tavern in the Atlanta’s Poncey-Highland. “Help us plan for the future,” says the invitation, posted on the www.myBarackObama.com Web site.
That means brainstorming about resolving the nation’s healthcare issues, as people did when they gathered for drinks at Fred Zimmerman’s Sandy Springs home last Friday.
The same day, a concert at the Clayton County Performing Arts Center raised money for the Baitul Salaam Network’s women and children’s shelter.
Saturday afternoon, John Doxey, of Decatur, gathered a dozen disparate Obama supporters in an online conference call to discuss education, among other things.
Back at Zion Hill, not far from the Obama state campaign headquarters on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, volunteers were reaching out to families in the Lynhurst neighborhood.
“We’ve adopted two schools, and we’re going to sponsor 40 kids and 10 families,” said Wanda Cunningham, chairwoman and founder of the campaign-organization-turned-community group Working Together for Change.
“We’re writing the organizing textbook for the 21st century,” said Doxey, who planned his teleconference for people who couldn’t make it to other events. “We took old-style grassroots campaigning and merged it with new technology.”
Zimmerman, who hosted about 30 neighbors and friends for cocktails and conversation, called the broad-scale event “participatory democracy.”
“We determine the issues of importance to people, and how we want to be involved,” he said.
Georgia Republicans, fresh from two statewide victories — seating the state’s 15 delegates to the Presidential Electoral College, and a resounding win in the U.S. Senate runoff to keep Saxby Chambliss in office — have been able to tout their own grassroots network.
“It was the Georgia Republican party at its best,” state GOP Chairwoman Sue Everhart said of the runoff win. “Our volunteers were out on the streets, they were door to door, and they were on the phones. We’ve always been successful at grassroots.”
And the momentum from the Dec. 2 victory will carry over into January, Everhart predicted. Scheduled precinct, county, district and state meetings planned from February to May are aimed at one goal: Victory in the next election.
Still, Democrats — and Obama’s massive social network, in particular — are building tools to help move his agendas.
After each “Change is Coming” event, the hosts gather input from attendees regarding successes and shortfalls of the presidential campaign, and ideas people on the ground have about improving the economy, the environment, education and homeland security, among others.
That information, along with contacts for the attendees — particularly those new to the Obama organization — are forwarded to Obama’s transition Web site, www.change.gov, to be reviewed by members of the new administration.
“It’s like Obama is pushing the reins of action all the way down to you and me,” Doxey said. “That’s why he won the election.”
Hadayai Majeed, who planned the Clayton concert, said the plan reassures those participating that their actions in their neighborhoods are resonating at the highest levels.
“We want people to know that the groundwork that the Obama campaign began has been laid,” Majeed said. “You have a direct connection to the power base in Washington. They want to hear our views.”
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