Can President Obama Organize America?

Making News

Senate Works on Stimulus as Economy Sheds Jobs ()

The US lost almost 600,000 jobs last month, and unemployment rose to 7.6% of the labor force, the highest level in 16 years. With the Senate still debating the stimulus bill, President Obama used the numbers to call for action, and called it "inexcusable and irresponsible for any of us to get bogged down in distraction, delay or politics as usual while millions of Americans are being put out of work." Gail Russell Chaddock reports on Congress for the Christian Science Monitor.

Guests:

• Gail Russell Chaddock: Congressional Reporter, Christian Science Monitor

Main Topic

Can President Obama Organize America? ()

To demand action from Congress — on healthcare, energy independence and the stimulus package — the President's using the bully pulpit. That's business as usual.  But Obama's extraordinary campaign apparatus may give him a new kind of political weapon. With e-mail, social networking sites and text messaging, he can directly reach some 13 million Americans who supported his presidential campaign. The call has gone out for neighborhood meetings this weekend to discuss his agenda and how to get it approved on Capitol Hill. Will the "online army" that transformed campaigning change government too?  What's the risk of backlash from Congress and from the "army" itself?

Guests:

• Jim Rutenberg: Political Correspondent, New York Times, @jimrutenberg
• Roy Oldenkamp: Obama supporter, West Hollywood, CA
• Stacy Deck: Neighborhood Team Coordinator for the Obama Campaign, Southern Indiana
• Brian Faughnan: Writer, Redstate.com
• Adam Green: Co-founder, Progressive Change Campaign Committee

Links:

• Organizing for America
• David Plouffe and Mitch Stewart on the future of the grassroots movement

Reporter's Notebook

Unemployed Get Tangled in a Frayed Safety Net ()

President Bill Clinton signed a law he promised would "change welfare as we know it," partly with new emphasis on putting people to work. The idea was that, in times of crisis, states would still get families back on the rolls. But it's not working out that way. "Despite soaring unemployment and the worst economic crisis in decades, 18 states cut their welfare rolls last year." That was a lead sentence this week in the New York Times.  Jason DeParle wrote the story.

Guests:

• Jason DeParle: Reporter, New York Times