Obama Campaign

Originally posted in August, 2008.
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We can take nothing for granted. Obama's hot and McCain's a stiff and the public is thoroughly fed up with the Republican agenda, but the campaign is going to be vicious and the vote count rigged in many places so we have to win by a landslide to win. And Bush has McCain's back and the power to force a change in the topic.

And the Media is not our friend. For example, last week Obama stated in an interview that as President he will sit down immediately and review all of Bush's executive orders, signing statements and other fiat laws and rescind any that violate the Constitution. That's important news. It was carried on Reuters and APF Wire and was widely reported in Europe. A regular reader of the London Telegraph or Moscow News or Le Monde got that story. /i/ But in the US only the Boston Globe, the Baltimore Sun and Yahoo News carried it. ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, FOX, CNN, AOL, msn, Detroit Free Press, the Chicago Tribune, Dallas Morning News, Los Angeles Times, Little Rock Democrat Gazette, Atlanta Constitution, San Francisco Chronicle, Miami Herald, St.Louis Post Dispatch, Denver Post, AP, UPI, or Bloomburg wire, to name a few, did not. Neither did the New York Times, NPR or PBS! /i/

An accident? Not! This kind of thought control is common, even routine. It is thorough, systematic and nearly invisible. It's really shocking, unbelievable, unimaginable, what the Media Barons are doing and getting away with! They are already using this to shape Obama's agenda and the agenda of the campaign. For example, on the story about rescinding Bush's laws, Obama needs the people behind him demanding that this be done. How can that happen when the people don't get the news?

To win we have to be a movement, even in Massachusetts. A people's movement cheering Obama on, raising money, demanding his agenda of the Congress and of him, and broadcasting good information through every channel we can lay our hands on.

How to get started: lets do some brainstorming.

ABOUT BRAINSTORMING:

Rules for brainstorming: just blurt out any idea you have, whether someone else has or not, without worrying about whether it is right or good or doable or impossible or whether it will look stupid or foolish,. Just get it out there and then we can talk about what will work and what we want to do and in what order things can happen.

I'll start:

BRAINSTORMING:

Obama bumper stickers are available now from Move-on.org; one free, 10 for $5, 100 for $25. Imagine the effect of thousands of Obama stickers showing up on cars all over Massachusetts, now.

Standouts. Imagine standouts at intersections all across Massachusetts for Obama, starting now! Collecting info on people who want to get involved. Passing out leaflets.

Organizing ourselves: imagine obama campaign clubs in every neighborhood and town in Massachusetts! How can we make that happen? House parties? Phone calls?

What organization do we have now? How do we activate it?

Leaders: who do we have out there to coordinate things and make them happen? Whatever it is, i've seen one election cycle after another go by with nothing much happening here that I could see. We can't wait for it to just happen.

Talk to local Move.on people, who may already be in action. Who?

Organizing others: visiting and speaking at neighborhood organizations, union local meetings, conservation and other issue group meetings, talking to local leaders, asking people to get involved, reminding them what the stakes are. First ourselves, though!

Leaflets. Yes, leaflets! Anybody old enough to remember those? Snappy, simple, easy to read leaflets, on busses, trains, street corners. Hand out 500 on a ride to Boston or a couple of walkthroughs on a red line train or at a shop gate in an hour. Imagine 1000 people doing that once a month!

Spreading news via email.

Trips to swing states like New Hampshire and Maine to campaign.

OK your turn!