A belated good wishes to all on the anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns!

The 15-day celebration of the Chinese New Year starts today and if you didn’t already know it, this year is the Year of the Ox. The same birth sign of President Obama, the Chinese Zodiac and tradition states some of the characteristics of those born under the Year of the Ox are bright, patient, hardworking and unwavering. The Ox is also known to be inspiring to others.

Maybe the Ox is not the most electrifying sign in the Chinese Zodiac, but those traits seem perfectly matched for the challenging days we are all facing today.

There has been much political and media speculation about what will happen to the huge, diverse grassroots campaign machine President Obama and his team built and successfully employed during the Presidential Campaign. The extensive use of multiple electronic tools, coupled with old-fashioned neighbor-to-neighbor in person networking built the most active, committed campaign network, virtually unprecedented in American political campaign history.

The President’s campaign organization has been officially renamed, Organizing for America. Federal campaign finance rules and regulations restrict the use of campaign names, e-mails, and other apparatus by the White House. The new Organizing for America is housed within the DNC, (Democratic National Committee, the Party’s political operation). Since winning election, President Obama and his campaign team talked about the need to keep the huge network of very diverse, many first-time participants in politics active.



In an e-mail this weekend to supporters who are part of the network (full disclosure here, I was a contributor and supporter to the President’s campaign and yes, I did receive an e-mail), the campaign team is beginning the process of starting to link supporters together to rally and be active in upcoming policy initiatives that will come out of the White House.

There is little doubt the biggest battle to come will be the initiation of healthcare reform. Vested and very powerful interests have money and powerful relationships in both Houses of Congress to potentially alter, hijack or kill efforts to alter America’s very broken healthcare system. Lessons learned from President Clinton’s 1993 and 1994 attempts to implement healthcare reform, including the creation of universal health care, were killed off by multiple coalitions who poured money into lobbying Congressional members.

One of the biggest efforts used to defeat the President’s healthcare initiative was the creation of a national, public media campaign against healthcare reform – warning of the “dangers” of national healthcare and the nightmares it would bring with it. Those efforts included calls for citizens to directly contact their members of Congress to vote against any healthcare reform legislation. The campaign against reform, lead by coalitions of medical interests, health care insurers, and related interests and industries were very successful.

President Clinton was not the only person to face defeat in health care reform. Presidents Nixon and Truman were also thwarted in their attempts to implement healthcare reform.

The powerful grassroots coalition built for the election of President Obama would certainly play a key role and be a new, very powerful tool in any new attempt to move healthcare reform to the top of the domestic agenda. If the network can be activated and organized, it would make it difficult for other interests who oppose changes to healthcare to have the legislative playing field to themselves.

This evolving organization, and the role it will play in the President’s legislative initiatives, will be fascinating and might be a new lesson in the power of political organizing.

Congressional members have already expressed some concern about the napping giant, the President’s huge grassroots network, and how it will impact their ability to negotiate, make decisions and ultimately vote as they have to weigh their constituents and campaign supporters demands.

Can the Obama team really mobilize a huge group of citizens who think their work as citizens are now done?

Most Americans seem to believe their responsibility as citizens end at the ballot box. There is a harder job required, and it is holding elected officials at all levels of government responsible to be representatives of the voters. The Obama team is now going to try to use their campaign infrastructure to make this connection. And it is a hard sell as Americans switch their attention and focus to the Academy Awards, and other entertainment distractions.

So the challenge is there and now the first steps are being taken by Organizing for America to test this brave new world.