OBAMA MEETING IN NEWARK
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| Also listed in: Licking County Pro-Active Citizens (www.licopac.org) | Ohio 12th Congressional District | Ohio 18th Congressional District | Perry County Democratic Forum |
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Categories: Action Alerts, Economic Fairness and Security, Energy Policy, Front Page
Categories: Action Alerts, Economic Fairness and Security, Energy Policy, Front Page
As Barack Obama was conferring with military commanders in Iraq yesterday, his local campaign team was asking equally earnest questions of some two-dozen supporters in Newark.
What are your views, asked campaign volunteer Mark Johns, on energy independence, health care, the economy, the Iraq war and need for government ethics reform? Responses were to be wedged into a two-hour session last night at the Newark Public Library.
"There are a thousand topics we can talk about," Johns said, "but unfortunately the library closes at 9."
This month, according to the event invitation, "Sen. Obama's campaign is asking that people from all across American hold Platform Meetings to talk about what issues are most important to them and what should be at the heart of the Democratic platform for change."
Because of time constraints, the agenda last night was limited, following a quick show of hands, to the energy crisis and the economy.
It must be said that nothing remarkably new came out of the discussion. The consensus of the group appeared to be that all these issues are heavily intertwined, that energy issues, for example, cannot be isolated from environmental ones or the state of the economy.
Participants agreed the nation's economic turmoil results from a lack of government regulation, from greedy corporations and overpaid CEOs, from Bush's ill-conceived tax cuts and the resulting abandonment of the balanced budget. We're experiencing a period of "neo-Hooverism," said one speaker.
While these viewpoints were hardly surprising, the fact that a Presidential candidate is asking everyday citizens to contribute more than campaign cash is a new wrinkle in American politics, at least at the national level. People seem to like this "national town meeting" idea, and hope that it will become a permanent feature of the Obama presidency, assuming he's elected.
Of course, the election is now the first priority. Those attending last night included many volunteers already active in local Democratic politics, as well as a number of independents and even a few disenchanted Republicans.
Of course, local organizers stressed that local volunteers will be critical to Obama's success in November.
"Ohio is the tip of the spear," said Johns, who organized the first grassroots Obama group in Newark back in February. "And in Ohio, it's central Ohio that's the key. And it's not Franklin County (that will decide it), it's the counties surrounding Franklin County."
Johns, as well as staff field organizer Brian Clark and volunteer Chris Keck, are team leaders here under the direction of regional staff director Lauren Durham. The Obama team can be reached through the Licking County Democratic Headquarters (349-8273).
What are your views, asked campaign volunteer Mark Johns, on energy independence, health care, the economy, the Iraq war and need for government ethics reform? Responses were to be wedged into a two-hour session last night at the Newark Public Library.
"There are a thousand topics we can talk about," Johns said, "but unfortunately the library closes at 9."
This month, according to the event invitation, "Sen. Obama's campaign is asking that people from all across American hold Platform Meetings to talk about what issues are most important to them and what should be at the heart of the Democratic platform for change."
Because of time constraints, the agenda last night was limited, following a quick show of hands, to the energy crisis and the economy.
It must be said that nothing remarkably new came out of the discussion. The consensus of the group appeared to be that all these issues are heavily intertwined, that energy issues, for example, cannot be isolated from environmental ones or the state of the economy.
Participants agreed the nation's economic turmoil results from a lack of government regulation, from greedy corporations and overpaid CEOs, from Bush's ill-conceived tax cuts and the resulting abandonment of the balanced budget. We're experiencing a period of "neo-Hooverism," said one speaker.
While these viewpoints were hardly surprising, the fact that a Presidential candidate is asking everyday citizens to contribute more than campaign cash is a new wrinkle in American politics, at least at the national level. People seem to like this "national town meeting" idea, and hope that it will become a permanent feature of the Obama presidency, assuming he's elected.
Of course, the election is now the first priority. Those attending last night included many volunteers already active in local Democratic politics, as well as a number of independents and even a few disenchanted Republicans.
Of course, local organizers stressed that local volunteers will be critical to Obama's success in November.
"Ohio is the tip of the spear," said Johns, who organized the first grassroots Obama group in Newark back in February. "And in Ohio, it's central Ohio that's the key. And it's not Franklin County (that will decide it), it's the counties surrounding Franklin County."
Johns, as well as staff field organizer Brian Clark and volunteer Chris Keck, are team leaders here under the direction of regional staff director Lauren Durham. The Obama team can be reached through the Licking County Democratic Headquarters (349-8273).
