The Obama campaign is unique in the amount of fresh energy and innovation that it has spawned on the web:  People like Farouk Olu Aregbe and Tamer Abouzeid who changed the way our political leaders think about the Facebook; Meredith Segal, who in 2006 founded the Facebook group that was to become the official student wing of Obama's campaign; citizen ad creators like lovingj; independent bloggers like sagereader of Think on These Things; assorted Kossacks and MyDD diarists; and, yes, Phillip de Vellis and Joe Anthony.  Independent activists, working at home, with little more than a computer, can change the way politics works.

But until now, all of these independent efforts have lacked a central meeting place.  There hasn't been a central blogroll or a place to recognize those efforts.

Today we're changing that.

And we're going to do it through a unique collaboration between a Facebook group and a group of like-minded bloggers on DailyKos and MyDD.  Sponsored by and affiliated with the Facebook group One Million Strong for Barack, the new community blog One Million Strong (www.onemillionstrong.us) was founded with three main goals in mind:

1.  To serve as a gathering place for Obama supporters in the blogosphere.

2.  To bridge the gap between the blogosphere and the energy for Obama on the Facebook.

3.  To provide a forum for discussion of progressive policy, politics, and activism.

Mapping the Obama Blogosphere

While there have been some previous efforts to set up blogrolls, we'd like to develop the most thorough and engaging --- the most useful --- blogroll of active Obama supporter blogs on the web.  I will also be doing regular round-ups of news and commentary on Obama's campaign around the blogosphere.

More than that, I hope to review and profile various bloggers and online grassroots efforts. 

If there are active blogs that we've missed, please feel free to add a comment in this thread or to send us an email at admin@onemillionstrong.us.

Feel free, of course, to crosspost your blog entries here in the diaries.  Let others know what you're working on.  Make yourself at home. 

Help Us Be Helpful 

Lastly, this is meant to be a community resource.  That means that if you have any suggestions about additional features, about our mission or about the direction of this blog, please feel free to leave your comments.  We want to know how we can be more helpful. 

Anyway, head over to One Million Strong! Come take a look, set up an account, bookmark the homepage, and subscribe to our RSS feed!

As mboehm reminded me a couple days ago:

"This is why this campaign can't only be about me.  It must be about us - it must be about what we do together.  This campaign must be the occasion, the vehicle, of your hopes, and your dreams.  It will take your energy, your advice - to push us forward when we're doing right, and to let us know when we're not.  This campaign has to be about reclaiming the meaning of citizenship, restoring our sense of common purpose, and realizing that few obstacles can withstand the power of millions calling for change."

- Barack Obama
February 7th, 2007 in Springfield, Illinois

Special thanks to Jeff Larson (known here as satya) for his work on the layout; to Jerome Armstrong, for agreeing to me making this announcement; and to Farouk and Lindsey of One Million Strong for Barack, for sponsoring this effort. Once more the web address: http://www.onemillionstrong.us