Training people to be political organizers is training that sticks: people learn skills that are not forgotten after the election and they think of themselves differently within their political world.  In particular, they think of themselves as having a kind of political agency that brings them into the political process.  Consequently, they cannot be de-mobilized easily.

Barack Obama knows this.  He was trained as a community organizer, he speaks as one (I once was an organizer and just as Bush speaks in religious code, Obama constantly uses terms familiar to community and labor organizers), and he knows exactly what he is doing.  In short, he is winning this election by building a powerful grassroots organization that will *not be in his control.*  Obama has consistently repeated the message of decentralizing political power.  His famous "Yes We Can" speech in New Hampshire after his primary loss there, for example, is a prime example of this message, as was his great speech on race in America.

What, then, are we to take from this?  

I think that one conclusion we can draw is that an Obama presidency will frequently face up to the very forces that put Obama into office.  I do not know how that will play out.  But, it will make for an interesting 4 - 8 years.  In particular, it will make for the exact opposite of what we have had in the past 8 years and, truth be told, what we had during the Clinton presidency, which was not a particularly democratic-with-a-small-d presidency.  

Regarding the Clinton presidency: That White House was famously disorganized and undisciplined.  Contrast that with the Obama candidacy.  This campaign is run beautifully and seamlessly.  What is amazing is that it is run so well *even as power is devolved from the top to the bottom.*  How is this possible?  I am not sure - it is something amazing and new.  Perhaps the fierce anger that so many people feel in response to the Bush administration and the Republicans in general have served as a unifying force.  I don't know.  But, it is unlikely that the organizational ties that have been forged in the Obama campaign will utterly fade if Obama wins  These ties will remain and at least some political causes will awaken them and bring these people together in politically potent ways.

So, it seems even that if Obama loses, whoever is our next president will have to face the forceful power of the organization that Obama has forged in his quest for the presidency. And, if Obama wins, his administration will be far different from any we ever seen - it will be one that owes its existence to, an administration whose strength and future depends upon a sprawling decentralized grassroots organization in a way that no other administration ever has.  I am cautiously hopeful that this will make the Obama administration an especially great one.