Volunteering for Obama

June 22, 2008

Last week I met with a local organizer for the Obama campaign to talk about the opportunities out there for volunteering. At this meeting I also learned about an outdoor grill from 11-1 on Saturday at City Park here in Appleton.. which I made sure I attended. The tables themselves were decorated with small campaign images. There were about 25 people, including a number of young people who looked to be about college age or a little older. As I talked with some of these young people I learned that they were organizers sent here by the Obama campaign to get the campaign moving in Appleton.

I would not claim that this small corps of young people and the outdoor grill for volunteers was particularly electric or awesome. However, this kind of persistent local organizing is something that is going on all over the United States right about now. One of the organizers spoke wistfully of his work for Obama in the primaries and then mentioned that he was being sent to Alaska to start organizing up there. It is well known that Obama has a pretty decent campaign fund growing, but a large percentage of those funds come from small donors.. and Obama's grass-roots support bears a second fruit with this corps of young organizers and then the more extended network of volunteers.

One of the most surprising aspects of my experience talking with these organizers is how directly their methods line up with what I have experienced of evangelization. The goal is not to attack people with facts, but to share a personal story. during my first conversation with a campaign organizer, he began by telling a story about how the Obama campaign connected to him personally. Then the question to me was not what I thought about Obama.. but rather how supporting Obama made sense to me on a personal level. This was all quite reminiscent of the Evangelical attempt not to talk about doctrinal points, but to ask a more deeply personal question: What is your personal relationship to God? This is not to say that Obama and God are in any way equated by the campaign, but just to point out another in a long line of techniques that have crossed over from religion to politics. The goal in this case is to get people not only to express assent but to build a personal narrative that incorporates Obama. Such a narrative is one of the most effective tools for outreach and shaping the opinions of others.

Just to pursue this theme of narrative a little longer, I have a sample agenda for house meetings that the Obama campaign is seeking to host. The goal is to get 20 people to attend these meetings at the home of a volunteer. What will happen in this meeting? Here is the agenda:

0:00 Welcome & Introductions

0:05 Host's Story
Why did you take leadership in this campaign? Where do you come from, what one or two experiences in your life led you to decide to take responsibility?

Why are you hosting this meeting?

Introduction of Obama Organizing Fellow

0:10 Unite for Change Video

0:20 Organizing Fellow's Story

0:25 Group Discussion
Why are you involved in civic action? How have you been active in your community or our democracy? What inspired you to act and take responsibility?

0:50 Moving Forward, Taking Action
Help get more Americans to vote: register voters July 4th weekend

Host a house meeting

1:00 Close

That is the tight schedule for a home meeting. Note how the host is encouraged to develop a personal narrative about his/her involvement in the campaign. The Organizing Fellow also has an opportunity to tell a personal narrative. Finally the group has 25 minutes for expressing their own activity in the community. These house meetings are not about raising awareness about the facts related to specific issues, but about creating narratives and connecting people through those narratives.

This emphasis on building community and frames of meaning is something I appreciate about Barack Obama.. and something a candidate like Mitt Romney.. with his wealth and direct experience streamlining corporations.. could never really comprehend. It will be cool to have a community organizer as president of our country.