Obama's Call For National Service Takes Shape

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.

Below is the letter being sent out by the Obama team:

Every time our nation faces crisis, our national experience has shown Americans rise to the challenge. While government has an important role to play in helping rekindle our economy and addressing the problems of a distressed nation, President-elect Obama believes each of us, as Americans, have a responsibility to do what we can for our communities and fellow citizens. We are one nation.

The United States is once again at a crossroads and that is why the President-elect hopes to use the occasion of his Inauguration to rally our nation to commit to service in our communities. We are asking for your organization's participation in meeting this challenge.

In 1994, Congress transformed the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday into a national day of community service to further commemorate a man who lived his life in service to others. As a tribute to that legacy and the very real needs of our nation, the President-elect and Vice President-elect will launch a national organizing effort on the eve of their Inauguration to engage Americans in service. This national day of service will fall on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, January 19, 2009 and, unlike past calls to service, President-elect Obama will ask Americans to do more than just offer a single day of service to their cities, towns and neighborhoods. He will ask all of us to make an ongoing commitment to our communities. Never has it been more important to come together in shared purpose to tackle the common challenges we face.

The call will go to all Americans to organize service projects and join others at events in their communities. As the Co-chairs of the Presidential Inaugural Committee, we invite you and your organization to join other Americans to organize service projects in your communities. The Presidential Inaugural Committee will offer Americans a new website to help promote your events and for Americans to make their commitments, build communities, find opportunities to serve and share their results. These can be events that orient people to your organization's work, engage people in direct service, or bring people together to reflect on Dr. King's legacy and how they can commit to becoming more engaged citizens. Please see the attached information on how to get involved.

We have a great opportunity to set the tone for the next four years and I know you will rise to the challenge. Thank you for all your support.

Comments

[commonsensor]

This is a great idea! Everyone should volunteer to march on Washington in large numbers - maybe we can torch the White House and throw some dirty shoes and George Bush (hopefully with better ain)

Otherwise Obama is correct...­we should be taking care of each other because it is very clear the government could care less about all of us...until more uber-rich people need a hand-out.

[SammyGone]

Send a potroast to your best friend? I wonder if the Lincolnesque train ride will pass the homeless under the tressels? Maybe BO can throw them a crumb.

[edwarvir]

This is a fabulous idea. I love it. I will ask
the pastor at church what I can do to help.

[pjean]

oh great now his call for us to help one another is an issue. Gosh some people scare me. How in the heck would people volunterring cause others to lose their "jobs". BobSmith you are being selfish. You need to step outside of your selfish self and see this for the good that it is versus looking at it as if your niece will lose her job because there's too much help. Actually, show me the proof of what you claim is in fact true until then spare me.

[bobsmith]

I voted for O after supporting Dennis-K in the Iowa caucuses, and I worked with people who were "down-and-out" for my entire career (now retired). And while I can appreciate that this initiative is all warm and fuzzy, there appears to be a manipulative element that people should consider before jumping on the bandwagon.

When one really looks at all the desperate needs in our society, a shortage of local "volunteers" really isn't one of them. What such initiatives ultimately end up doing is replacing trained/paid professionals with untrained do-gooders and busybodies. In other words, it eliminates decent jobs AND dramatically reduces the quality of services. It is a way for politicians to pretend that they are addressing needs without actually doing the heavy lifting necessary to pay for important services. It also results in the PERMANENT elimination of jobs as all these volunteers drift away over time. This is very much along the same lines as Bush's attempts to transfer government jobs to religious institutions - just without the pay.

Example: my niece just graduated from college and has had a heck of a time finding work. She finally landed a job with the local school as a classroom aide. If a barrage of volunteers sign up to "help" at the school, how long do you think the school will keep her on? Not long.

The right-wing will love this initiative. The left will cheer it too - until they think it through.

[Freesia2]

I think the idea is that he's trying to make people aware of their surroundings and other people's needs. It's laying the groundwork for a new way of thinking about our responsibilities to each other as we head into whatever it is we may be facing in the next couple of years with this economy. He's trying to get us into a different way of looking at our country. Like a team.

He's trying to get people to start remembering we're all in this together. I think it's a nice idea. I don't think he's trying to do anyone out of a job.

[bwilder]

While you may have a point to some degree in some areas, the small Southern town
that I reside is not having the problem of too much help.

I've been a mentor to kids at risk for years and of the 30 or so kids in the
middle school where I volunteer, there are only about 10 volunteers and some
of those are not consistent with their involvement. it's meant to be a one-on-one
program.

I worked in a paid position as a "Volunteer Coordinator" for a church and again
while people would say yes to my face when I approached them after services,
they would then find numerous reasons to not follow through.

There are countless seniors who need rides to the grocery store or doctor or just someone to sit with them and visit away the loneliness, children who need an adult in their lives who will commit to a consistent relationship, and so much more that each of us can do in our communities to make a difference in the lives of others....­.

I hope your niece's aide position turns into something more, but it's a job for now and as the economy gets the attention it needs and education in this country gets the attention it has needed for years, perhaps there will be many positions opening up for new teachers. In the mean time it's not a reason for people to stop volunteering.

[SunnyT]

I've thought it through .... "When one really looks at all the desperate needs in our society, a shortage of local 'volunteers' really isn't one of them.'" I think an increase in volunteerism is *exactly* the boost our country needs. "Of the people, by the people, and for the people." We've relied on government - or investment bankers or the medical establishment - for much too long, and we've been sorely disappointed and disillusioned for much too long. I think it's time for average American citizens to take America into their own hands and shape the country from the bottom up, from the inside out. We voted for an activist government in Barack Obama, and he will do his part. But he's saying that he and his team can't do it alone, we are ALL responsible for creating the country we want to see, as in BE the change you want to see.... I love this initiative! I don't foresee jobs lost because of it, but the entire country strengthened by combining the ideas, hard work and talents of ordinary people. Bravo, Obama!

[Harmony1812]

So when a charitable organization can't hire someone because donations have dried up in this economy, the needy will go without help. Who will bring food to shut-ins? Who will distribute food at shelters? Who will talk to the abused? Who will read to the blind. By your thinking we should hire Big Brothers and Big Sisters. I don't think you really thought this out.

[Peter007]

When they are running for office they tell the voters all the benefits they will shell out.
Free health care, Free baby sitting.
Once elected, they begin to ask the voters for sacrifice.
It happens every time like clockwork.

[SunnyT]

It sounds like you won't be personally inconvenienced, Peter.

[MissKaren]

Great idea. I will mark it by keeping my klutzy self out of the way of people who are doing good.

[SunnyT]

Our next President is simply off the charts on the cool meter!

I *love* Barack Obama! And I'll be volunteering!

[tigs]

The best public service on Inauguration Day ,circle the wagons and keep the Obamas safe ,PLEASE!!!

[doctordoubt]

Amen!

[itmaybetoolate]

focus on the family?! Really? enager!That bunch of homophobic haters? I'll let my day of service be spent working against their message of hate.

[BaileyWo]

Barack, you're no John F. Kennedy. Give it up.

[DS3M]

Why don't you give him the chance to show you who he is instead of just telling him who he is not?

[Strywever]

He already IS showing us who he is. Doesn't matter -- some people refuse to see or believe that what we see is who he is . . . possibly because they are so used to "leadership" that lies, cheats, distracts, obscures, and otherwise betrays the people's trust.

[lioness39]

Hush your mouth.

[notthistime]

He never denied who he is. He is President Elect Barack Hussein Obama. Who are you and what do you intend to do to give back to your community?

[DS3M]

Bailey Wo, you're no DS3M. Give it up and leave the comments to people that read books.

[BarackstarObama]

True, he is going to far surpass JFK.

[rollingdivision]

“It only stands to reason that where there's sacrifice, there's someone collecting the sacrificial offerings. Where there's service, there is someone being served. The man who speaks to you of sacrifice is speaking of slaves and masters, and intends to be the master.”

[DS3M]

RollingDivision (appropriate name, you division roiler you) -
Your statement, or rather, your quote, is shortsighted, ignorant, selfish, and downright idiotic.

Service to a community or to an ideal (feeding/h­elping/edu­cating homeless, operating Pet Rescue Shelters, involvement in the US Govt or US Military branches) does not automatically dictate a subservient position for the person making the sacrifice.

Besides, when you do the right thing by others in addition to yourself, you make the world a little bit better for everyone. Sacrificial offerer, sacrificial offering collector, neighbor and neighbor alike.

[Peter007]

I agree. Its time the UAW and teachers Union started practicing a little community service. They have been picking our pocketbooks for too long. I'm glad they are about to give something ( high Salary's ) back.

[BLinCincinnati]

Since you seem to be a supporter of Ayn Rand....

"Upper classes are a nation's past; the middle class is its future."

oh and...

"Individual rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority; the political function of rights is precisely to protect minorities from oppression by majorities (and the smallest minority on earth is the individual). "

I guess you support the rights of the gay community to legally marry and are against ballot issues like Prop 8? Nice to know.

[Ariane]

good quotes BL. I just knew people were going to come up with something scary or terrible about asking people to volunteer at something besides going shopping.

I used to love Ayn Rand when i was a teenager. At age 13 it was the first time I had encountered arguments so different from my Baptist upbringing­ing...and it went well with my resentment for group school projects where I ended up doing most of the work and all the kids in the group got the grade. I went to the principal and said the social studies teacher was promoting communism by making us work in "collectives"!

But as I got older and less impressed with my own genius and the virtue of my own selfishnes­s..... somehow her ideas seemed less profound to me. I can't believe I read Atlas Shrugged like 3 times. even that interminable John Galt speech.

[LazarusLong]

Yeah, nobody needs to be served. Everyone is doing SO well !!

[AbyssinianLion]

sigh...I will serve ALL my brothers and sisters,my country and my God and pray they will serve me also.

[Peter007]

I agree, Truer words have yet to be spoken.

[vjoseph]

And the predictable right continue to spew their worthless opinions

[ThinkLiberal]

This is the kind of call to service that Boosh should have made after 9/11, but didn't. Obama is showing what real leadership means, without trying to jockey for political advantage. Looking in our collective rear-view mirror at the dark, utter catastrophe that had visited us for the past 8 years, then looking forward at the next 8 under an Obama administration, makes the future looks fully illuminated - there is HOPE, after all. I have just volunteered to work at my local shelter on Christmas day. Fired up and ready to go!

[PATina]

I was thinking that 9/11 would be a good day to make an Annual Day of Service for that very reason. I guess MLk, Jr. Day works as well, especially w/ the upcoming Inauguration.

[Harmony1812]

That would be a good day. We all came together then. It would be therapudic to use that day to remember the one good thing that happened.

[grf67]

Obama should not count on republicans for a day of service. They do not believe in the country or service; they only believe in money, power, and helping the rich.

[113]

word

[flexo]

Full disclosure: flexo is a left-leaning indivudual, probably more socialist than democrat. An Obama voter. That being said, posts such as the one above are poisonous. Like Rush Limbaugh from the left. If we are to make true social progress as a country, it will be by accepting our differences and working to find common ground, not name-calling and stereotyping those who think differently. Hate is hate, and it gets us nowhere. End rant.

[Ariane]

Exactly, flexo. I am another Obama voter who is sick of such generalizations from all sides. There are plenty of Republicans who believe in serving others and volunteer on a regular basis. And there are Democrats who talk a good game but do nothing to help others.
And vice versa.

[vjoseph]

Thank you flexo

[doctordoubt]

They do too believe in service. As long as it's us serving them.

[loveobamas]

THIS IS THE KIND OF STORY THAT NEED BE IN THE MEDIA MORE,THE CRAP THEY REPORTING IS NOT NEWS.

[claudiam]

What do you have against public service? This is exactly the type of news the media should be getting out there. Let's here something positive for a change. claudiatucsonaz

[AndThenOneDay]

He said this IS the kind of story that should be reported on.

[ifihadahammer]

That's what he said, very loudly and without good structure.

"THIS IS THE KIND OF STORY THAT NEED(S) (TO) BE IN THE MEDIA MORE"

[roblabrousse]

Pay attention claudiam he wasn't dumping on Obama he was saying it's what's needed. Don't jump down a person's throat before you're sure of what you're doing. Now apologize!!

[JPFranklin]

I think you misread the comment.

[Jamchinadian]

Claud: say you're sorry. You and loveobamas violently agree!