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.