Pledge to support Obama - Organizing for America

I received a link to this video in an email and wasn't sure to make of it. It can be found on youtube, but a quick glance through the comments revealed some adult things that are against T&C's here so I've uploaded it to the media section.



So I went to barackobama.com to see what they had about it and found the pledge itself.

The Pledge

* I support President Obama's bold approach for renewing America's economy

* I will ask friends, family, and neighbors to pledge their support for this plan

And this video:



The purpose, according to this video, is "to map out and identify support" for Obama's policies. Am I the only one who wonders why they need a list of people who support Obama's policies? What better way to figure out who isn't a supporter than to just list the ones who are? If you aren't on that list and don't sign the pledge then you obviously aren't a supporter of the policies.

I'm typically not one to fall into believing in huge government conspiracies, but taken in light of the recent DHS report on "right-wing extremists" this is starting to smell a bit fishy to me.

So what do you all make of this?

You bring up a valid possibility (although I am not one to normally assume conspiracy), but two other possibilities are:

1. It is to build an email list (like during the campaign)
2. It is designed to counter all of the many signatures on multiple petitions against the programs and debt.

So, is this the organization that is going to spawn the legions of Brownshirts for Obama's private army?

I'm probably in the minority here, but I think that teaching people the skills that are vital for grassroots activism and community organizing is a very good thing for a President to try to do. Truth be told, it should have probably been taught in schools for the past 200 years. If everybody knew how to do these things, then our country wouldn't be in the situation it's currently in. This past election showed that most people have no friggin clue what a "community organizer" is, what the work entails, or how to go about doing it. Sad.

In fact, if there were some grand conspiracy here, then teaching people how to accomplish a common goal by grassroots organizing of their communities would be incredibly stupid and self-defeating. This is probably the number one reason to think that he has good intentions and doesn't plan on rounding everybody up in concentration camps.

And yes, I'd bet my last dollar that the point is to build an e-mail list. Notice that the video showed her asking people if they could jot down their e-mail address?

[edit on 18-4-2009 by theWCH]

reply to post by habu71


I usually don't either. But given the DHS report on "right-wing extremists", this just doesn't sit well with me. The people who likely won't be on this pledge list are going to be the same ones who fall under the "right-wing extremist" banner.

I see the Anti-Christ is working hard and fast at building his new SS. If you cant see the connection then your already brainwashed. I only kneel before Jesus and Obama sure isn't him.

Can we get our hands on the list so we know who to watch out for?

Keep buying the guns America because it looks like we will need lots more of them.

reply to post by Jenna


This isn't going to every citizen though. It's dependent on people actually getting out of their chair, going door to door, talking to people about why you're at their door, and urging them to sign.

I've actually worked as a community organizer. Once you get past the fact that you're just randomly knocking on doors, it's not easy to even catch people when they're at home. Then if you do catch them at home, to get them to listen to you, and sign something? 90% of the names on that list are going to be college kids because nobody else will listen to a stranger at their door and blindly sign a political-oriented list which will accomplish nothing (unless the person at the door is a skilled organizer).

This just isn't a viable way to get information on people, for any purpose other than keeping in touch with supporters (mostly college students, in this case) and teaching them skills which may be vital for future grass roots efforts. Really, I'd even encourage any 18 year old right-winger to do these organizing exercises, just to develop the skillset. If you think that bad things are on the political horizon, then those skills will come in handy.

[edit on 18-4-2009 by theWCH]

reply to post by theWCH

You've made some very good points, theWCH. It seems like a lot of folks have gotten politically lazy or were ignorant in the first place and don't know how to be politically active or understand how to raise money from small contributors or how to lawfully go through the process of petitioning and getting laws changed.
I see a lot of people throwing temper tantrums because they are used to winning with very little effort on their part. People who got President Obama elected worked very hard to do it - his money came mostly from small contributions and online organizing. People on the right are way behind the times as far as this goes.

reply to post by Jenna




What better way to fight them than to let them think you are on their team.

That is what has been going on for a while, already. IMO

Where do I sign on?

One has to know and understand the mind and workings of the opposition in order to defeat them. I have seen this over the last 40+ years, the systematic overtaking of of government from within... ala Bill Ayers, and his ilk.

reply to post by theWCH


Years ago I worked for a place that had us going door to door getting people to sign petitions and make donations. You'd be amazed how easy it was to get them to sign, not to mention how easy it was to get them to hand over a check for whatever they wanted to donate. It's not that difficult really as long as you are polite and friendly. (Being young and female may have helped though. I'm not really seen as a physical threat very often. )

Their goal is to get to every citizen. Part of it is standing outside grocery stores and at public transportation stops to catch people as they are walking by, which solves the problem of not catching people at home. At one point in the video he says that they want to get people to tell all the friends and family, paraphrasing there but that was the gist of it. So even if someone never comes to your door or stops you at Wal-mart they are hoping you'll know someone who has pledged and that person will get you to pledge too.

I just really don't get the point in asking people to pledge to support his policies and hand over their email addresses. What on earth could he possibly gain from that? The people don't vote yea or nay on his policies, our "representatives" do. Democrats control congress anyway so it's not like he isn't going to get whatever bills he wants pushed through for him to sign.

If it were just the pledge, I would have rolled my eyes and moved on. It's the combination of this with the DHS report that has me concerned.

Nothing but propaganda, the way our government is right now I will be darn to give support to anybody in the white house.

Nothing but dirty rats working for private interest right now that has taken over the peoples government.

I am not supporting anybody.

When Obama finally find those "balls" that he seem to had before he took office and lost right after the first briefing then only then I may think about supporting him.

Right now is just more of the same crap that got our nation in the mess is today.

i do not support the "Right" and i never will, just like i will never support democrats..

so does me who hates Obama, same as i hated bush, same as i hated all our other presidents make me a right wing extremist

reply to post by Darth_Prime


Yeah probably. But if it makes you feel any better it's worded perfectly so that most of us will fall under that category.

This is pretty scary to me, it's scary whenever someone worships an authority figure. Isn't our president just our employee? Isn't our government supposed to work for us? Barack Obama is a politician, just as Bush was, just as Clinton was, etc. This cult following that Obama has is very creepy, we are definitely in for some crazy times ahead.