Like many of you, I was invited to take the Obama Post-Election Survey.
I didn't like it---and write here to share why.
There's no longer a reason for the "Obama Campaign" to exist. Sure, it has some money left over, and probably a corps of excellent employees and volunteers. But its very reason to exist, to support the election and re-election of President Barack Obama, is done. An organization built around the "person" of a single individual will die with his exit from the political arena.
Time to hang it up, guys.
Didn't work after the 2008 election when Democrats held both Houses by huge margins; probably won't work now.
Merge the Obama Campaign and its experience into the Democratic Party.
Return to Howard Dean's goal of a 50 state party. Recapture legislatures. Retake the House. Liberate those of us in reactionary states like my own Oklahoma where our Governor refuses to cover 635,000 uninsured with Federally subsidized Medicaid.
In fact, bring back Howard Dean. He did great work, and we would probably have fared far better with him at the helm in 2010.
We need a vision that extends through 2014, 2016, and beyond. We need a vision that will last much longer than Barack Obama's Presidency, and we need to start building an organization behind that vision now, while it can help implement the President's Agenda and prepare for 2014.
Remember 2010. Off year elections often turn against the President in office.