School Information System: DNC/Organizing for America playing role in Wisconsin protests

February 18, 2011

DNC/Organizing for America playing role in Wisconsin protests

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, as the campaign group is known, has been criticized at times for staying out of local issues like same-sex marriage, 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.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at February 18, 2011 10:39 AM
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Comments

This is really pathetic bullying.

The pres. is just trying to pay back Big Labor for his win, and he wants to keep their vote$ for 2012. The teachers need to wake up to the fact that they are simply being used by the union bosses who just want to keep taking their money and enriching their own coffers.

The teachers are being unprofessional, the democrats running away are unprofessional, and the doctors handing out fake sick notes are being unprofessional. Shame on them all!

Posted by: honestynow at February 20, 2011 4:36 PM

Aside from how uninformed some of those generalizations about teachers are (sorry, but I am just "being honest"), I did not think that the DNC OfA is under the "power" of the President at this point? It sounded to me like he is being drawn in because of the actions of the OfA, not the other way around? And if it were a conservative Republican action committee, and GW Bush were president, he would probably have ASKED them to do it, and he certainly would have been behind them if they had started without him. (Clearly, not in this case, because a conservative Republican group would never have stepped into this fight in the way OfA has - the tea Partiers tried, and could get only a couple thousand people - not over 50,000 in one place.)

Posted by: Millie at February 22, 2011 9:44 AM