Posted on February 23, 2011 at 10:51pm
by Meredith Jessup
As Winter turns to Spring, President Barack Obama’s campaign organization is setting its sights on the Summer to recruit and train an army of new community organizers, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Presumably, Organizing for America’s efforts to “strengthen our democracy” will likely also coincide with Obama’s re-election plans in 2012. However, the latest recruitment message from OFA goes beyond politics and campaigning to emphasize plans for a new military-style boot camp for grassroots organizers, a “program that aims to put boots on the ground and help foster a new generation of leaders — not just to help win elections but to strengthen our democracy in communities across the country.”
If you apply and are selected, you’ll be trained in the basic organizing principles that have helped to build and power this movement, and you‘ll be assigned to a specific community where you’ll get to work organizing supporters.
Movements are built and sustained by ordinary people taking responsibility for organizing their fellow citizens to make their voices heard. We‘re looking for individuals who are prepared to work to help support the President’s agenda — and lay the groundwork that will help us win a new set of elections.
OFA’s “Summer Organizing Fellowship” also offers college credit in exchange for participation in the two-month volunteer program.
“Effective organizing doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It takes commitment, time, and hard work to build a movement around a cause,” the message says, although it does not identify any particular “cause” other than promoting Obama and his agenda.
The emailed recruitment message went out Tuesday night to millions of Obama supporters and past donors.
The fellows “will be assigned to a specific community,” the message said, “where they’ll work to organize supporters street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood.” Their jobs will involve recruiting additional Obama workers, managing Obama-related events, knocking on doors to talk about Obama and to “lay new groundwork to carry this movement forward for years to come.”
“In the end, their work will take our grassroots power to an impressive new level,” the message boasts.
The Times adds:
The appeal cites as one role model Nikki Giancola who underwent the training, then quit her middle school teacher’s job to become a regional Obama field director and the satisfaction she felt “in helping millions of people.”
Another community organizer, Paras Patel, tells of one unforgettable moment actually meeting the leader for whom they all labor, President Obama. “He shook my hand,” Patel recounts, “and told me that he was proud of me.”
No mention of an Obama organizer flag, uniform — or salute.
ENTIRE ARTICLE:
The community organizer who became president has launched a massive pre-reelection year campaign to assemble and train an army of new community organizers to carry Obama's "movement forward for years to come."
Strengthening "our democracy" presumably has something to do with reelecting the revered leader in 2012.
However, the Organizing for America recruiting message says nothing about politics or election campaigns and strangely talks in military terms of "a grassroots program that aims to put boots on the ground and help foster a new generation of leaders -- not just to help win elections but to strengthen our democracy in communities across the country."
The same Obama campaign group was reported to be involved in stirring the ongoing Wisconsin protests against Gov. Scott Walker's budget plans.
The message about what it calls the "Summer Organizing Fellowship" adds: "Effective organizing doesn't happen in a vacuum. It takes commitment, time, and hard work to build a movement around a cause." It does not specify what the "cause" is, other than promoting Obama and his agenda.
News of the community organizer drive went out in an e-mail to millions of supporters and past donors Tuesday night by the ongoing arm of the Obama campaign, Organizing for America.
It appealed for workers of all ages to volunteer to undergo professional organizational training this summer for stationing in communities all over the nation to drive President Obama's social and political agenda.
The cadres "will be assigned to a specific community," the message informs, "where they'll work to organize supporters street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood."
Their job will involve recruiting additional Obama workers, running Obama-related events, knocking on doors to talk of Obama "and lay new groundwork to carry this movement forward for years to come."
"In the end," the Obama campaign appeal says of the community organizer corps, "their work will take our grassroots power to an impressive new level."
The appeal cites as one role model Nikki Giancola who underwent the training, then quit her middle school teacher's job to become a regional Obama field director and the satisfaction she felt "in helping millions of people."
Another community organizer, Paras Patel, tells of one unforgettable moment actually meeting the leader for whom they all labor, President Obama. "He shook my hand," Patel recounts, "and told me that he was proud of me."
No mention of an Obama organizer flag, uniform -- or salute.
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