Obama recruits army of community organizers to ensure his reelection

By ANDREW MALCOLM
Posted 04/24/2012 08:14 AM ET
Investors.com
President Obama's election campaign is recruiting an army of determined community organizers to walk the streets of the nation's cities this summer and autumn in the footsteps of a young Chicago community organizer named Barack Obama.

Recruits would gather other volunteers, register new voters, run phone banks and campaign events and knock on millions of doors to track voters' preferences and encourage supporters of the president's reelection.

The massive, cross-country organization is called Obama Fellowships. It involves many thousands of unpaid volunteers, both full- and part-time with separate fellowships for the summer and the fall leading up to the Nov. 6 presidential election.

The fellows' duties will include recruiting and training thousands of other volunteers to penetrate neighborhoods, run phone banks, organize and monitor campaign events and go door-to-door talking with voters, soliciting support for the Democrat and noting residents' political sympathies.

In a recent plea sent to millions of existing Obama supporters, Michelle Obama says: "I'm writing because Barack needs you out there this summer."

She warns that "there will be difficult days" as they "fight for progress" and "help more people make their voices heard."

The first lady says: "It's an amazing experience -- one that could change your life while shaping this country for decades to come."

She assures the would-be Obama legions that they will inherit the mantle of movement leadership from her husband. "The people who take on this challenge," Obama says, "will not only help move this country forward -- they'll also become the next generation of leaders."

An attached link takes potential foot-soldiers to a lengthy application form that seeks standard location information, language, computer and online communication skills such as Facebook and Twitter.

It also asks their comfort levels with telephone and door-to-door solicitations, first, second and third choice for assignment states and a series of mini-essays on such topics as working with diverse groups, overcoming adversities in life and what the word "organizing" means to them.

There is a box suggesting students ask their colleges if they could obtain course credits for their unpaid summer- and fall-long political organizing for the Democrat.

Another resume box hints that some kind of unspecified paid employment might be available for Obama volunteers after their fellowship is completed.

Also sought is voluntary information on their military experience, ethnicity and sexual orientation.