Now that the 2008 presidential election is over, one might expect that the various groups of Obama supporters around the country would take a well-deserved vacation from political activism, but for the Tufts chapter of Students For Barack Obama (SFBO), the job is certainly far from over.
Ben Silver, one of the organizers of the club, explained that although the group's original goals have been met, it still has much to achieve.
"We've been coordinating with the Tufts Democrats on their activities," Silver, a junior, said. "There's been some discussion, especially among some of the enthusiastic freshmen, about having some form of action group, because there is definitely work to be done. Obama can't implement all the ideas he has without the support of Americans who want to make progress."
While SFBO has some plans in the discussion stage about supporting Obama's policies, it has not done anything as a group since the elections, according to Silver. For now, it is hoping to launch a campaign in which it will write to members of Congress about issues they want to see addressed.
The organization, which is only one chapter of a nationwide campaign group, was formed on campus when Obama announced his presidential campaign.
"In fall 2007, over a year ago, I started planning trips to canvass in New Hampshire, and with the help of a couple of students who have graduated, we put together an e-mail list and started getting more and more people involved," Silver said. "We ended up having hundreds of volunteers over the course of the election."
Many students who participated in the election efforts said that they had a good experience with the group and that their newly acquired awareness will likely inspire them to pursue further political activism.
Although SFBO has not been meeting separately from the Tufts Democrats since the election, they do not plan to simply become incorporated into the larger group.
"We worked with the Tufts Democrats during the election, but I think there's definitely an in-between there [in terms of identifying with the Democrats and being an independent group], because Obama definitely got people involved who would not necessarily consider themselves Democrats, or even liberals," Silver said. "There are moderates, independents [and] even Republicans who agree with a lot of his policies and positions and especially with the ways he wants to go about implementing them and having bipartisan leadership."
Many of the group's members would agree with Silver that Obama appeals to people of all different political orientations. SFBO, therefore, plans to appeal to all students, not just Democrats.
"I think it's possible to be an active Obama supporter without being exclusively a Democrat," freshman Joel Greenberg said. "Obama was a Democrat on paper, but he's not like any president we've ever seen before. He did not cater to any one specific group; he was an appealing candidate for many people, regardless of their political affiliation."
Silver hopes the group will pick up more momentum next year, around the time of the 2010 primaries.
"There has been discussion about some of the 2010 primary campaigns in New Hampshire," he said. "There will be close races for the Senate that people are going to want to be involved in."
When he graduates, Silver plans to pass leadership of SFBO along to younger students, but until then, he looks forward to staying involved with the group and with Obama-related issues.
"The next presidential election will be after I graduate, but the campaigns coming up in 2010 will be getting started before I graduate, and I plan on helping out there as much as I can," he said.
