In today's L.A. Times, Peter Wallsten writes about the challenges confronting Organizing for America (OFA), the grassroots network spawned out of Obama's campaign apparatus that is gearing up to combat opponents of health-care reform. Obama's impressive campaign activism quickly became the stuff of political legend, so OFA already has some pretty big shoes to fill. But Wallsten touches on its biggest problems when he writes:
The network is powered by local volunteers who often have
left-leaning goals. But the president, now that he is in office, has in
many cases adopted a centrist approach that accommodates Republicans
and business groups. That means some activists are being asked to devote evenings and
weekends to build support for policies they may feel only lukewarm
about. Last year, "Obama's sexy, he was hot, and everybody wanted a piece
of that," said Candice Davies, a speech therapist in Cary who trained
canvassers for last year's campaign and is trying to organize support
for healthcare legislation. "Now, people are going to have to work for
something that is not quite as slick or sexy."
Many of those hardworking volunteers who propelled Obama to victory were enthused as much by the idea of him─a young, progressive (although the campaign would never use that word) African-American─as they were by his policies. They're simply not excited by the centrist tack of his health-care policy. Moreover, knocking on doors and calling strangers to sell a candidate (or a nebulous but stirring idea of change) is an entirely different proposition from being asked to discuss the nuances of a complex and as-yet-unfinished health-care proposal. And for many of the recent college grads and grad-school dropouts who devoted oodles of time to getting Obama elected, agitating for health-care reform doesn't have the same allure because it doesn't hold that glimmer of hope that they'll land a coveted White House job at the end of it. The West Wing never showed Josh Lyman and Sam Seaborn turning up at their local congressman's office to show support for a policy bill.
Perhaps the biggest difficulty for OFA is that its opponents have the luxury of a straw man, while it's stuck defending a bill that isn't even finalized. Largely unaccountable critics can throw any number of false claims into the mix─that the government wants to ration care, or a bureaucrat will choose your doctor─to get people excited, while OFA has to stick with what is already on paper. Its folks then have to split their resources between pouring cold water on wild accusations and the more important task of actually winning support for Obama's plan. Which brings us to the next problem: talking about a serious proposal just isn't as gripping as whipping up a frenzy of fear. Eyelids tend to get heavy when policy enthusiasts start talking about health-insurance exchanges, co-ops, and tax exemptions. But they snap wide open when someone mentions euthanasia. Simply put, it's easier to make people scared about health-care reform than it is to interest them in the dry details. Fortunately for OFA, the election provided the best boot camp it could hope for in combating the fringe elements of the conservative message machine. Whether that makes the task ahead any easier remains to be seen.
