Organising Americans

After the election of Barack Obama, it was something of an open mystery what his organisation would do with itself, and I was told in the immediate aftermath that it was far too early to say and that it was being figured out. We\'ve seen the group Organising for Action emerge from the ashes and get involved in federal and state issues, it has expressed an interest in immigration and gun control.

Although it does not have at its fingertips the massed forces that it was able to draw together to fight the 2012 election it looks as though it is going to be ambitious. Its latest email to supporters, a few hours ago, stated: \"No one has ever done what we\'re trying to do: restore the balance of power to ordinary people by countering the special-interest groups with the most powerful grassroots movement ever built.\"

One of Mr Obama\'s legacies may be, then, to create the world\'s largest community action group in history--which is basically what he started out doing. For a youngish politician who has peaked rather early in life, one has to wonder what he will do next. Wouldn\'t it be ironic if he ended up back where he started--inside a grass roots activist organisation?