Where (Oh, Where?) Will All the Obama Supporters Go?
December 9, 2008 by Julia King · 7 Comments
Here in freshly Blue Indiana, Obama supporters are doing what Obama supporters are doing everywhere. We are trying to figure out how to best capitalize on our success. So last week, a handful of local dynamos who helped put Indiana on the political map invited area residents to a brainstorming meeting at the public library.
There were jumbo-sized papers taped to the walls and magic markers and a room full of people eager to “organize for change” as the invitation had said. The attendees that night were probably much like attendees at other Obama-inspired meetings across the country: a longtime mayor, a city council person here and there, the head of the local Democratic Party… and plenty of people still new to the political scene, many of them initiated into the democratic process during the 2008 presidential campaign.
In no time, fat, colorful words were scrawled on the newsprint: “health care,” “war,” “education,” “environment,” along with the categories, “local,” “state,” “national,” “international.” There was even a list of ideas for specific service projects (something the Obama campaign is encouraging, clearly as a means to keep the energy and newly forged political relationships alive until he gets into the White House). There was talk of possible monthly meetings, of leadership within the group, of civic education. Finally, there was a paper with the heading, “Organizational Structure,” or something to that effect. This meant that when all the ideas were put into words (even spelled correctly, which truly says something about the caliber of the people running the meeting), there was still one enormous question remaining: HOW?
If you are an idealistic sap (like me) you’ve been in a room like this before, one crackling with human electricity, full of capable people and good intentions. And if you’ve been in a room like this before, you’ve encountered the question sitting in the middle of the room, the question of HOW.
How do we usher in this change? Real change? You know, Change We Can Believe In?
We could begin by acknowledging that if it was very, very simple (like taking a nap or eating ice-cream), we probably would have done it by now. The fact is that creating significant societal change is much more like trying to cook a butternut squash in the toaster.
The beauty of Barack Obama’s campaign was that it (he) inspired and attracted new and unusual voters to the political process. People who never dreamed they would do such things wrote letters to newspapers, knocked on doors, and made phone calls for a candidate, actually spoke aloud about… politics. The catch is, now that the election is over many of them are reverting to their old ways, hesitant once again to embrace a system they see as inherently dirty (or at the very least, broken). Some of them prefer the speed and flexibility of small-scale, private sector projects and others prefer the safety and intimacy of congregational life to the rough and tumble nature of political parties. And the real rabble rousers root for the Ralph Nader route (why couldn’t his last name be “Rader”?), an end of the two-party system.
In this small community, it’s easy to catch bits and pieces of conversations – and even e-mails – that weren’t necessarily intended to be public. It’s easy to know that some people are talking (and typing) in favor of serious change, but against involvement in “politics.” I’m not sure exactly what that means, but I think it means that things go back to the way they were before we elected the first African-American president, with each of us flitting about in our separate-but-equal realms doing what feels good.
Somewhere along the way Americans took the word “politics” and rolled it and squeezed it until it turned into an unrecognizably small thing, sort of like what children do to slices of white bread. Then we put it in a box and closed the lid.
“Oh, I’m not interested in politics,” is both a familiar and popular American refrain, but one that never ceases to surprise me, particularly after 8 years of George W. Bush, two wars, a flailing economy, soaring education and healthcare costs. Is there really a way to work through any of these problems without an interest in “politics”? Politics is about power and influence. It’s about keeping watch over our elected officials, about encouraging the good ones and putting road blocks up when the bad ones go astray. It’s about local government budgets and state budgets and national budgets, about police and firefighters, the justice system, about school boards and what’s served in our kids’ cafeterias, about pot holes and bike paths and traffic and literally anything you can think of. To claim a disinterest in politics is to claim general disinterest in the human condition. Staying out helps no one but your ideological adversaries.
So, where to from here? What sort of structure could provide a place to explore and pursue varied interests, but also nurture a shared sense of purpose? How can we duplicate our Obama success and move toward the ideals that inspired us in the first place?
We can make something all our own, something from scratch (like anchovy cookies with mint icing – no one’s done THAT before), or we can follow in the footsteps of a grassroots community organizer turned leader of the free world. He knew what many of us still need to learn, that sometimes the most radical place to be is smack in the middle of the establishment. The point is that big change takes a big organization. And, seriously, how does one clean a house from the outside? If we pack up all this energy, all our brilliant ideas and our commitment to social change and to hard work… we can transform the Democratic Party (unless someone thinks it would be easier to change the Republican Party).
