We know that Barack Obama on Nov. 4 became the leader of the party.
The question now is whether that's the Democratic Party, the Obama Party or some cobbled-together combination of the two.
The new President-elect is still more than a month away from taking possession of the White House, and already such winds of discord are swirling, from Chicago to Washington and -- yes -- into even Licking County, Ohio.
On Thursday, for example, about 30 Obama supporters met at Licking County Democratic headquarters in Newark to explore what change means in their futures. Everyone in the room vowed to remain politically active for progressive causes after Jan. 20. The questions now are what to do and how to do it.
The meeting, which reached no conclusions, proved to be somewhat premature.
In this morning's email, for example, there was a Democratic Party alert from Obama campaign manager David Plouffe to an upcoming nationwide series of house parties to address just these kind of issues:
"On December 13th and 14th, supporters are coming together in every part of the country to reflect on what we've accomplished and plan the future of this movement. Your ideas and feedback will be collected and used to guide this movement in the months and years ahead," it said.
And, in this morning's Dispatch, an AP story recounted that "Obama aides are weighing whether to keep the ($30 million campaign surplus) to build a massive grass-roots program to support his agenda or to cycle that money to the party apparatus."
True, Plouffe's memo was circulated by the national Democratic Party. But at both the national and local level, it's hard to see right now where all this will go.
There are certainly more important problems facing the nation and its incoming president than how to spend that $30 million left over from Barack's $745 million campaign. What is significant, however, is whether Democrats and the sort of independent progressive activists who flocked to Obama can find common cause on the local level in the years ahead.
Here, discussions have just begun as to whether Obama volunteers not previously active in local Democratic politics would now join the local party or affiliate with existing independent groups (such as LICOPAC or the Licking County Women's Democratic Caucus) or maybe form a new organization or organizations to pursue different goals.
Can those local activists who were so enthused about Obama's run for the White House become equally engaged now in trying to elect Democrats running for county offices, the state legislature and the Congress? Or should these Obama warriors now focus on promoting specific issues, such as universal health care, or spread the word by lending their weight to community service projects?
Some answers may emerge before Obama ever takes office. Local volunteers agreed to meet again once more information is received from Washington and/or Chicago as to just what this reported "massive grass-roots program" might involve.
In addition, a number of Obama volunteers said they intend to stop by this Tuesday evening when the Licking County Democratic Club holds its regular monthly meeting (7 p.m., at the county administration building, 20 S. Second St., Newark).
http://www.lickingcountydemocraticparty.com/
There is precedent for this, of course.
After the 2004 election, a number of previously uncommitted Kerry campaign volunteers were faced with the same sort of choices. Many joined the county Democratic Club, revitalizing the local party which had struggled for years from a lack of manpower and resources.
And at the same time, some of us decided not only to stick with the party but to also develop new local political action organizations -- LICOPAC and more recently the women's Democratic caucus -- to focus on specific issues and the congressional campaigns.
(Since early 2005, LICOPAC has worked on behalf of Democratic congressional candidates in the 12th and 18th Districts while promoting voter education, redistricting reform, the preservation of Social Security and sick-leave benefits for all Ohio workers. We have also been active in networking with progressives in neighboring counties and developing regional action through the Central Ohio Coalition of Democratic and Progressive Organizations.
It's called evolution, and it ain't easy. But it's a sign of health that we, as progressives and Democrats, can adapt to change as it happens in our lives and not just talk about "change" as a campaign buzz word.
(Gray Hunter)
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Too bad the Obama volunteers are too late. Too little, too late.
The local party has been decimated. What county elections do they plan to help with now? Who is left to run? What local Ds do you know who have ten thousand or more dollars to throw away on a campaign?
The Rs are going to come at the Ds hard next year, and the year after. Look at the local R website. They are planning 2 candidate trainings next year.
Where did they have their election overview? The only precinct where they lost everything - Granville Village D. They had their meeting at Swasey Chapel on Denison's campus. They have declared war on Dems.
Posted by: Shameless Agitator | Sunday, December 07, 2008 at 05:14 PM