Georgetown/On Faith blogger Jacques Berlinerblau of The God Vote counts down the top ten faith and values stories of 2008 before announcing he will be taking a break from “this whole, crazy professors-as-bloggers thing.” One highlight:
6. The Ground Game: The real, hot F and V action in 2008 happened out of sight. Ground operations are distinct in that: 1) they take place under the radar, 2) are played out over long periods of time, and, 3) are about building substantive relations in religious communities as opposed to dispensing sound bites and applause-getters. As I noted yesterday, this type of work is slow, expensive and more labor intensive than rice cultivation. But if I am not mistaken, it played a major role in Obama’s victory.
In 2008 the Democrats took a page from Karl Rove in 2004 and learned how to ingratiate themselves to religious constituencies by building face-to-face networks. In turn, they used those constituencies to mobilize voters and to counter threats. The Catholic ground operation, for example, repulsed dozens of potentially lethal “communion denial” stories and claims that the Democrats were at odds with Church teachings.
Ironic, is it not, that Obama’s F and V operatives helped answer the question the GOP asked at its convention about what a community organizer does?