Changing grassroots

Activists stood side by side with “Obama” painted across their chests. An older man proclaimed that when it came to Barack Obama’s campaign, “this is different.” Pictures of campaigners standing next to visiting politicians were intercut with Joe Biden talking about how “this may be the last chance to reclaim the America we love.”

There was even an awkward picture of John Edwards.

It was the day after Obama had signed the stimulus bill, and I was eager to see what would be said about it at the IU College Democrats call-out meeting.

Instead, students who turned out spent most of their time watching a montage video from the election campaign and discussing where they could volunteer.

The main issues brought up at the meeting were campus sustainability and establishing early voting statewide. With the University facing a tight budget, I wouldn’t expect much in the first area, though the recent hiring of the first IU director of sustainability offers hope.

The second issue was more interesting. The prevailing mood was that increased voter turnout would be good news for Democrats. The campaign video even featured a map of how the 2008 Electoral College would have looked if only 18- to 29-year-olds could vote. John McCain squeaked by with 57 electoral votes from states like Alaska, Idaho and Oklahoma.

There are plenty of reasons for Democrats to be cautious. Nearly 66 percent of the youth vote went to Obama in 2008, but Al Gore and George Bush split it almost evenly in 2000. IU College Democrats President Shawn Walter claimed that his group had helped register more than 10,700 students to vote, but incumbent Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels trailed his Democratic challenger Jill Long Thompson by less than 2,000 votes in Monroe County.

The Republican Party is disconnected from most voters right now. That can change.

The meeting suggested that Democrats will continue to emphasize grassroots activism. It isn’t hard to admire that activism when I hear talk of volunteering at Hoosier Hills food bank or when IU Students for Barack Obama, spent time writing letters to soldiers in Afghanistan. Yet that same activism has little to say about tensions within the Democratic Party itself.

Given divisions between traditional pro-union protectionists and more neo-liberal free traders its no surprise Democrats produced a stimulus that was riddled with contradictions.

In 2012 Obama will be running on his record. If Democrats don’t ask themselves hard questions that record might acquire its fair share of blemishes.

As Gov. Daniels clashes with Democrats in the Indiana House of Representatives, those same questions will have to be asked more locally. It was no coincidence that Obama traveled to Elkhart, Ind., to stump for the stimulus. He took Indiana by a little more than 25,000 votes.

Gallup.com found a preference for Democrats in Indiana by nine points, perhaps rebuking the idea that Indiana is a solidly conservative state temporarily shaken up by an economic recession.

But if I were an IU Democrat, I would be getting ready for some tough fights.