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Obama's Movement

Proposals for Post-election Activities

Recommendations to the National Office

As encouraging reports concerning plans for the post-campaign organization trickle out of Chicago, one central question remains unanswered. Will the Obama movement solidify its momentum by enabling a body of representatives duly elected by the membership to speak with a strong collective voice?

Various options are available for structuring a mechanism that would facilitate the grassroots expressing itself with authority. In my Dec. 5 “Memo to the Chicago Summit,” I presented one option that could be implemented quickly and over time modified. I argued:

That specific mechanism is not essential. But the key principle on which that proposal is based – the need for a national group of elected representatives that is small enough to enable thoughtful deliberation – is critical.

The proper balance between central leadership and grassroots empowerment is a delicate matter, especially if one wants the central office to make decisions that are quick and timely but also deliberate and rooted in face-to-face discussion, which strengthens the decision-making process. Internet-based instant polls alone could never achieve the reliable quality of careful, old-fashioned, real-time weighing of options.

My concern about these issues led me to propose to Nations for Change that they create the National House Meetings Network, a new MyBO group. The purpose of this group is “to help implement the goals of the Obama campaign by sharing the information obtained from house meetings in a collaborative fashion, engaging in thoughtful discussion, asking questions, providing encouragement, and identifying any trends that we believe should become formal recommendations to the Obama administration and/or the national office of the post-campaign organization.” MyBO house meetings with eight or more members that meet at least monthly are invited to join this Network. This project could serve as a model for the kind of horizontal and vertical communication that is needed to build a powerful movement.

Without a stamp of approval from the national office, and with limited ability to connect with MyBO house meetings, participation in the National House Meetings Network may prove to be minimal. But if enough house meetings select representatives to participate, we may iron out wrinkles and refine the model. And at some point, the national office could take it over and staff it, or create some new structure that would render it irrelevant.

Micah Sifry, a highly regarded analyst of technology and grassroots politics, has argued that the governing board of the new organization should be elected. Eventually, that approach will be called for. But initially, as the organization stabilizes itself and the members get to know one another, it is not necessary. A self-perpetuating board that initially fills vacancies itself would be acceptable – if a mechanism were established for the members to provide authoritative input into the decision-making process.

The most specific report from the Chicago-based planning process that I’ve seen was an email from the national office that Sifry posted. Originally sent to the few hundred participants in the early December three-day planning session, this message reports that the new organization will promote “civic engagement” and “two-way communication between the Administration and grassroots.” This language does not clarify whether there will be a commitment to the articulation of a unified voice by the membership.

Neither did Jeremy Bird from the Obama campaign clarify this matter when he spoke at a Dec. 10 public conference at Harvard that featured a public dialogue with Marshall Ganz, who affirmed the need for a “a collective entity capable of exercising agency.”

The pressure of the looming elections necessitated a certain style of operation. The situation now, however, is much different. As Bird said at the Harvard conference, “Governance is different than both campaign mobilizing and community organizing. It’s key for us to know how to set up the organization.”

Their caution is well justified. The decisions they face are no easy matter. Let’s hope they get it right. With Barack’s guidance, chances are good that they will.

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