The Ground We Stand On (Redux)

David Waldstreicher’s invocation of Larry Goodwyn’s — and Faulkner Fox’s — role in Durham for Obama reminded your editor to re-up on Goodwyn’s essential First piece on the 2008 campaign…

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The Ground We Stand On

I had studied social movements most of my academic life, so when some kind of rhythmic popular mobilization put in an appearance in American presidential politics in 2008, I paid attention. By February, when it arrived in my neck of the woods, the Research Triangle of North Carolina, the pundits were calling it “the Obama ground game.” I signed up so I could get a close look.

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The Democratic Revolution

I’ve been studying social movements for about 35 years and the more I study, the more I feel a distance between what I think I know and what is generally thought to be the essence of politics in this culture. And that distance keeps growing.

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