Organizing For America’s First Year

Organizing For America’s First Year

Organizing For America’s First Year

Ari Melber reviews OFA’s strengths and weaknesses on its first anniversary.

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Nation correspondent Ari Melber appears on MSNBC to
discuss the one-year anniversary of “Organizing for America.” Melber’s new report,“Year One of Organizing for
America”, excerpted in this Nation piece, includes interviews from 70 OFA activists, as well as
congressional officials and former members of OFA in Chicago. Formerly
Obama for America, the digitally-networked group was a boon for Obama’s
fundraising numbers, and today has sustained a high turnout of lobbying
efforts and activism.

But even with their characteristic enthusiasm, OFA’s current attempt to
move votes within the White House has been met with noted consequences.
“There is no doubt that many people who care about this say that the way
OFA has operated within the DNC has not had the same interactivity and
the same grassroots movement building style that really helped people
feel empowered during the campaign,” says Melber. “The White House was
not open to really tapping that innovation in this network of
volunteers.”

—Clarissa León

Check out more great Nation videos on our YouTube channel.

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