The Machinery of Hope : Rolling Stone - The Diigo Meta page

• 19 Mar 08
  

  Levy Rivers

  Endorsement leadership networking outreach social style

  • No group represents the campaign machine that Obama has built
    better than AlamObama. A year ago, the group was nothing more than
    eight people who attended an informal get-together at a Borders
    bookstore. Today, it's a 600-member grass-roots outfit — an
    all-volunteer field operation that hums with the energy and
    efficiency of a fully staffed campaign office. "In Iowa, the
    campaign was on the ground for six months," says Judy Hall, a
    college professor who co-founded the group. "They come here, and
    it's like they've already been on the ground for six months. Those
    of us in the grass roots, we simply minded the store.

  • As Hall's well-honed operation makes clear, the Obama campaign
    has succeeded not by attracting starry-eyed followers who place
    their faith in hope but by motivating committed activists who are
    answering a call to national service. They're pouring their
    lifeblood into this campaign, not because they are in thrall to a
    cult of personality but because they're invested in the idea that
    politics matter, and that their participation can turn the current
    political system on its ear.

    
    

    In reality, it already has. "We're seeing the last time a
    top-down campaign has a chance to win it," says Trippi. "There
    won't be another campaign that makes the same mistake the Clintons
    made of being dependent on big donors and insiders. It's not going
    to work ever again."

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