Okay, one blog despite a raging sinus infection.
Ben Smith at Politico reports that OFA Wisconsin is helping organize the protesting public employees in Wisconsin:
The Democratic National Committee’s Organizing for America arm — the remnant of the 2008 Obama campaign — is playing an active role in organizing protests against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s attempt to strip most public employees of collective bargaining rights.OfA [sic], as the campaign group is known, has been criticized at times for staying out of local issues like same-sex marraige, but it’s riding to the aide of the public sector unions who hoping to persuade some Republican legislators to oppose Walker’s plan. And while Obama may have his difference with teachers unions, OfA’s engagement with the fight — and Obama’s own clear stance against Walker — mean that he’s remaining loyal to key Democratic Party allies at what is, for them, a very dangerous moment.
OfA Wisconsin’s field efforts include filling buses and building turnout for the rallies this week in Madison, organizing 15 rapid response phone banks urging supporters to call their state legislators, and working on planning and producing rallies, a Democratic Party official in Washington said.
The @OFA_WI twitter account has published 54 tweets promoting the rallies, which the group has also plugged on its blog.
If you are in Wisconsin, click HERE to see how you can get involved.
For those of us working on the ground at the grassroots level for OFA, their getting involved with local issues is a breath of fresh air. And this (along with so much else coming from the White House and the Democratic Party lately) should put to rest the absurd meme that President Obama and the Dems are corporatist sell-outs working against the better interests of workers, the poor, and the elderly. I’ll have more to say about that in the near future.
P.S., it’s happening in Indiana, too.
UPDATE: Fox News describes it somewhat differently: DNC caught organizing Wisconsin protests.
UPDATE 2: The Washington Post has more on President Obama’s involvement as well as that of OFA. This choice tidbit made me smile the most:
House Speaker John A. Boehner (Ohio) issued a stern rebuke of the White House, calling on Obama to wave off his political operation and stop criticizing the governor.“This is not the way you begin an ‘adult conversation’ in America about solutions to the fiscal challenges that are destroying jobs in our country,” Boehner said in a statement, alluding to the president’s call for civility in budget talks. “Rather than shouting down those in office who speak honestly about the challenges we face, the president and his advisers should lead.”
Like John Boehner knows anything about “adult conversation”…
I’m just sayin’…
