President Obama Urges Democratic Group To "get organized at the state and local levels" PDF Print E-mail
The Campaign Trail
By Administrator   
Thursday, 12 November 2015 06:25

RALEIGH, (SGRToday.com) - President Obama revved up Democrats this week as he addressed the political action group Organizing for Action. The event was held at the St. Regis Hotel.

The president's full remarks can be found at https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/11/09/remarks-president-organizing-action-event.

A portion of the speech is below.

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"None of this unfinished business will be completed in the next 14, 15 months.  It’s not going to be completed within my presidency, or the next, or the presidency after that.  But that's the thing about America -- the task of perfecting our union is never complete.

But, OFA, understand this:  I may only hold this office for another 14 months, but I’m not going anywhere.  (Applause.)  I am -- I will still hold the most important office in our democracy, and that's the office of citizen.  (Applause.)  And the only that's going to be happening is, is that I’ll get a chance to visit you more often because I won’t have -- (applause) -- it won’t be such a hassle for me to move around.  (Laughter.)

The point is, when I ran for this office, I did not say, “Yes, I can.  Just leave it to me.”  What did I say?

AUDIENCE:  Yes, we can!

THE PRESIDENT:  Yes, we can.  Our unfinished business does not depend solely on me, or on a member of Congress, or the next President we elect.  It depends on all of us -- what we, the people, can do together.

And that's something that I’m going to be focusing on in my final year in office, the idea of an active, involved, engaged citizenship.  (Applause.)  That's what I’m going to be focused on after I leave office -- an engaged, active, focused citizenship.

So if you want to help me, OFA --

AUDIENCE:  Yes!

THE PRESIDENT:  -- I need you to stay involved.  I need you stay active.  I need you to recruit other citizens.  We got to keep organizing.  We got to keep mobilizing.  We got to lift up issues we care about.  We have to pursue referenda and ballot initiatives that can move this country forward.  We got to get organized at the state and local levels.  We got to inform people about the issues before they vote on them.  We got to make sure they turn out to vote.  We got to make sure they know where their leaders stand.  If their leaders don't stand in a tenable position, we need to get new leaders.  

We need to keep fighting to make sure that this country is one where it doesn't matter what you look like or where you come from, or who you love, you can make it if you try.  That's what you're all about.  I am so proud of all of you.  I’m so proud to be standing with you and marching with you.  And I’m going to keep on going as long as you’ll have me.  All right?  

Thank you, OFA.  God bless you.  (Applause.)


 It started eight years ago, when people of all different backgrounds and political beliefs came together with a simple conviction:  that people who love their country can change it.  And on that campaign, we tried something different.  We had to because you had a candidate named Barack Obama -- (laughter) -- who, when I look back at the pictures, I looked like I was 14 or something.  (Laughter.)  So clearly we weren’t going to be able to run a conventional campaign.  And because of my background, because of the work I had done as an organizer and helping put together voter registration drives, there was a bias on our part for grassroots action.  

And so we put power in your hands.  We organized.  We had offices in every great corner of this country.  It didn't matter whether it was a red state or a blue state.  Everywhere we went, we said if there’s just two volunteers, or one volunteer who gets another one, then we're game.  And we’ll work with you.

And we trusted our volunteers with a simple set of organizing principles:  Respect people.  Empower people.  Include people.  Listen to people.   Find out what’s on their minds.  Find out what’s moving them.  So that this wasn’t a top-down affair, but this was a bottom-up affair.  And people could come up with their own ideas about how to get people involved and what to emphasize and how to organize themselves.  And together, we created a movement for change that couldn’t be denied."

 
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