This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Obama as National Community-Organizer-in-Chief

President Obama may, at long last, be willing to draw upon his community organizer experience to translate legislative proposals to legislative enactments. Here's what you can do to make it happen.

Toward the end of President Obama's second inaugural address Monday, he said:

"You and I, as citizens, have the power to set this country’s course. You and I, as citizens, have the obligation to shape the debates of our time -- not only with the votes we cast, but with the voices we lift in defense of our most ancient values and enduring ideals."

President Barack Obama, Second Inaugural Address, January 21, 2103, whitehouse.gov

Since an early conversation with then-candidate Obama in April of 2007, I have been urging, and hoping, that he would draw upon his earlier experience as a community organizer in Chicago and see how that might be applied to a presidential role as "national community organizeri-in-chief."

Find out what's happening in Iowa Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

With the creation of "Organizing for Action," that day may have arrived.

President Roosevelt would tell advocates, "I agree with you. Now go out there and make me do it."

Find out what's happening in Iowa Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In some ways, it is appropriate in a democracy that legislative decisions should reflect special interest pressure -- what I describe as the "vector analysis of governmental decision making."

Now that Obama is in his second term, and following those two sentences from his inaugural address quoted at the top of this blog entry, it looks like he may be prepared to draw on that prior experience as a community organizer, and the wisdom of President Franklin Roosevelt's approach to change, and apply a little vector analysis to the congressional legislative process.

If you want to join in the effort to "go out there and make him do it," here at last is your chance:

Jon Carson, "Welcome to Organizing for Action," January 20, 2013.

For more, see "At Last, Action."

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Iowa City