It's a joy to watch Obama putting his vision together in a calm, rational way that attempts to bring everyone together. Read the about his latest initiative:
President-elect Barack Obama, in a message being emailed out on Wednesday, is calling on supporters, as well as those who likely didn't back him in the election, to use the day prior to his inauguration to volunteer en masse for local community causes.
The National Day of Service, as it is being called, will fall on Martin Luther King Day -- itself a federally designated day for community volunteerism. But it's easy to imagine how this upcoming January 19th will be historic in the scope of participation.
For starters, Obama is soliciting partnerships from both ideological allies and adversaries -- from MoveOn.org to Focus on the Family -- as well as groups regularly engaged in community service and others that have never done it before.
Moreover, the approach, an aide says, will be very much bottom up: prospective volunteers will be asked to sign up for the project of their choice, regardless of whether or not it directly corresponds to Obama's political agenda. Finally, the president-elect is bringing to the table the type of organizing tools that make these enterprises work; in addition to an email being blasted out to his massive email list on Wednesday, the inaugural committee is launching a website sometime after the New Year that will help visitors network and instruct them about opportunities in their local neighborhoods.
It is the type of social interaction that buoyed Obama's primary and presidential candidacies, only this time applied to service, not politics.
Read his letter here.
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