Year One of Organizing for America: The Permanent Field Campaign in a Digital Age (A Techpresident Special Report)

74 Pages Posted: 15 Jan 2010

See all articles by Ari Melber

Ari Melber

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Date Written: January 14, 2010

Abstract

Barack Obama came into the White House with the largest, most wired supporter network in American history. No President has ever managed the federal government while simultaneously attempting to lead a wired supporter network that can talk to itself, and organize itself, on a local and potentially national scale. While many Presidents do try to speak directly to the public by routing around Congress and the media, no President has possessed such a massive, interactive list of supporters. Furthermore, no President has ever converted a winning campaign’s volunteer network into an organization devoted to enacting a national agenda.

On January 17, 2009, the Obama for America Campaign was converted into Organizing for America (OFA), and incorporated as an arm of the DNC. This article focuses on OFA’s work during the first year of the Obama administration, assessing an unprecedented attempt by a President to build a “governance organizing” model, drawing on qualitative surveys with over 70 volunteers and activists, a range of Congressional staff, and former members of the Obama presidential campaign.

The first section reviews OFA’s activities in 2009, which have been covered and discussed only sporadically by most media and political observers. The second section features original reporting drawing on interviews with three salient stakeholder groups: Congressional staff, former staff for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, and members and volunteers of OFA. The third section provides a broader analysis of this new reporting on OFA, and explores areas for potential further debate and inquiry into OFA and its new organizing model.

Keywords: organizing, health care, obama, obama campaign, political parties, DNC, party building, netroots, blog, online organizing, political email, social capital, community maintanence, governance organizing, super activist, super volunteer

Suggested Citation

Melber, Ari, Year One of Organizing for America: The Permanent Field Campaign in a Digital Age (A Techpresident Special Report) (January 14, 2010). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1536351 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1536351

Ari Melber (Contact Author)

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

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