Here is a simple (sounding) way Barack Obama can win Pennsylvania, win the nomination, win the Presidency, do something powerfully good and illustrate his theme of Change. It’s a follow up to my post of earlier today.
The opportunity is right in front of us, six weeks leading up to the Pennsylvania primary. And the mechanism is the old Dean Corps.
The Dean Corps was a clever idea concocted by Democracy for America, unfortunately just as the Dean campaign was folding in 2004. The ideawas that Dean supporters would volunteer to do work in communities that were about to hold primaries or caucuses — like Iowa.
Now imagine what the Obama campaign, with its enormous database, its volunteer army, its energy, and its message could do in Pennsylvania over the next six weeks, based on that simple idea?
Imagine seeing white folks in inner-city Philadelphia helping reclaim a park, or black folks doing something similar in, say, Lancaster. Imagine helping people at senior centers, in those "white ethnic" neighborhoods Chris Matthews keeps yammering about.
All you need to do is collect a lot of projects, organize teams based in those communities, create sign-up lists, pick leaders who live nearby, and have the campaign provide snacks. If Clinton people show up, give them a shovel, a sandwich, a kind word — draw them in. Same thing with McCain supporters. Same thing with the apathetic. It’s politics as not-politics.
Only the Barack Obama campaign has the scaled Internet-based computing systems needed to organize this, to make this happen. This is how you capitalize on it.
So become the change. Make the change happen. Demonstrate the power
that comes from people getting off their butts and working together to
improve things.
It would be a big mistake for Obama to point his army toward the
doors of Pennsylvania citizens, or their phones. That’s conventional
thinking. In a way it’s busywork. It’s what is expected.
Imagine if all the energy of Obama fans from around the country were
directed toward a goal of improving the lives of real people in real
Pennsylvania communities.
Imagine how much more powerful that would be than any advertisement.
Imagine the candidate coming by to help himself, taking off his
jacket, rolling up his sleeves, planting some trees or digging a fence
post?
Imagine him spending more than a half-hour there, long enough to guilt some reporters into joining in.
Imagine what that might look like.
Imagine the message that would send.
Imagine the story that would make.
The theme of Will.I.Am’s latest video is "we are the ones we have
been waiting for." Nice line.
What if we made that real, for a whole
month? Wouldn’t that demonstrate that change is possible?
Actually, I think you’ll find that the employees in most senior centers in PA are non-white. So, your volunteers may may not be as striking image as you’d imagine. As to black people specifically, there are many stretches of the Commonwealth where you don’t see many, but there are also many stretches where you don’t see any sort of people. In general, when it comes to black and white, PA is far better integrated than many states (including all of New England). When I first moved to Boston, from Harrisburg, I was shocked by how few black people I saw. Sure PA has more than its share of rednecks (and they often live surprisingly close to the cities), but you hardly need to win these people over to win the state. Obama’s big problem in PA is how can he win over the Democratic base who are all heavily in the Clinton camp. This is exactly the same problem he had in MA (where his best buddy is Governor and even the Kennedys were on his side) and RI. It seems to me that he needs some way to co-opt these people. Maybe PA is the one situation where Jesse Jackson could help him. Those Philly Jews who love Hillary so much all voted for Jesse when he ran for president.
Actually, I think you’ll find that the employees in most senior centers in PA are non-white. So, your volunteers may may not be as striking image as you’d imagine. As to black people specifically, there are many stretches of the Commonwealth where you don’t see many, but there are also many stretches where you don’t see any sort of people. In general, when it comes to black and white, PA is far better integrated than many states (including all of New England). When I first moved to Boston, from Harrisburg, I was shocked by how few black people I saw. Sure PA has more than its share of rednecks (and they often live surprisingly close to the cities), but you hardly need to win these people over to win the state. Obama’s big problem in PA is how can he win over the Democratic base who are all heavily in the Clinton camp. This is exactly the same problem he had in MA (where his best buddy is Governor and even the Kennedys were on his side) and RI. It seems to me that he needs some way to co-opt these people. Maybe PA is the one situation where Jesse Jackson could help him. Those Philly Jews who love Hillary so much all voted for Jesse when he ran for president.