Just over two weeks ago, as we watched our new President-elect Barack Obama speak from Chicago, like everyone I was overwhelmed with a sense of pride, optimism, and hope for the future.
Obama has helped to usher in a new era in politics with a new mandate for change. But he also brings with him into office a new American ethos - as he put it, "a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice". Obama talked about the people who built our democracy "block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand".
That spirit reminds me, perhaps unsurprisingly, of the work of community organizers.
Obama has called Americans to action - asked them to step up for the good of their country and the good of their neighbors. He's asked us to look after "not only ourselves, but each other".
This is what it means to have a community organizer in the White House during a time of great upheaval in our nation.
I was fortunate enough to take a leave from Wellstone Action this past summer and fall and serve as the Obama campaign's Minnesota State Director. I know that this campaign was built with grassroots politics at its center - that the engine that drove it to victory was the strategic effort to have as many volunteers as possible talk to as many voters as possible about their hope for change. In Minnesota alone, 25,000 volunteers made phone calls, knocked on doors, and organized in rec centers and church basements throughout the state.
And this is what I believe we should take from Obama's words about our democracy being built block by block and brick by brick. I saw it in action as citizens took on the task of working for something bigger than themselves, sacrificing sleep and time with their families to build power in their communities.
What both Barack Obama and Paul Wellstone knew as organizers and leaders is that the keys to change can't be found in the status quo. Whether on the streets of Chicago's South Side, the farms of Rice County, Minnesota, or anywhere else - organizing happens when communities that have been under-represented or left out of the process contest for power against influential and well-funded interests and make their voices heard.
This kind of work doesn't just happen on campaigns, and it must not stop now that the election is over. Obama has called upon us to keep building our democracy block by block and brick by brick. We need a new generation of community organizers, campaign workers and progressive candidates to keep the movement for change going year-in and year-out.
Wellstone Action has trained over 20,000 people over the last five years to step up to this challenge. We continue to work in communities across the country, identifying and building leadership that will form the foundation of this new corps of service, sacrifice, and work for change.
Now what for the Obama movement?
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