50 Ways You Can Help Obama Change America [Paperback]

Michael Huttner (Author), Jason Salzman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2009

Millions of Americans worked hard to elect Barack Obama. Now they're asking themselves, What's next? How do we keep the momentum going? 50 Simple Ways You Can Help Obama Change America describes actions citizens can take to clean up the mess, enact Obama's core campaign promises, and move the country forward.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Michael Huttner is the Executive director of ProgressNow and ProgressNowAction in Denver, Colorado. He is adjunct professor of law at the University of Denver, where he teaches legislation and lobbying. He has served as private political consultant and a policy advisor to Governor Roy Romer.

President of Effect Communications and board chairman of Rocky Mountain Media Watch, Jason Salzman is the former media critic for the Rocky Mountain News, author of Making the News: A Guide for Activists and Nonprofits and co-author of 50 Ways You Can Show George Bush the Door. He has written for the Christian Science Monitor, Harvard Journal on Press and Politics, Newsweek, Sierra, Utne Reader, and more.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Polipoint Press (September 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0981709176
• ISBN-13: 978-0981709178
• Product Dimensions: 0.6 x 5.4 x 8.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,237,754 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael Huttner
Founder and CEO, ProgressNow

Michael Huttner is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of ProgressNow a cutting-edge web-based advocacy organization with affiliates in California, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin. Huttner started ProgressNow with his list of 700 email addresses in 2003 and now the ProgressNow partner states combined membership exceeds 2.2 million individuals.

He is the author of the recently published book "50 Ways You Can Help Obama Change America."

As a private political consultant Huttner helped spearhead Colorado's legislative efforts in 2004. He has taught Legislation and Lobbying as an adjunct professor at the University of Denver College of Law.

Before going into private practice, Huttner worked as Policy Advisor to Governor Roy Romer and before returning to Denver he clerked at the White House for the Office of the Counsel to the President.

Huttner earned his law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of Law and his Bachelor of Arts from Brown University. Huttner was chosen by The Denver Business Journal as one of the "Forty under 40" Leaders of Denver and by Denver's 5280 magazine as the "Top Up-and-Comer to Keep Your Eye On."

Huttner is married to Debbie Huttner, a lawyer by training who founded The Wellness Initiative to teach yoga in low-income schools; they live in Boulder with their three year old son Lee and two year old daughter Evy.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 90 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Just got it! Inspiring! September 3, 2009

By Jacob F. Keller

Format:Paperback

Truly inspiring and helpful for the young political activist in your family. It kept both my sons engaged and interested in doing more in their school and community. It talks about a lot of the complicated issues without dumbing everything down nor does it champion a particular cause or ideology. It simply aims to make the average American more involved in the political arena and in their community just like the President did in the suburbs of Chicago.

If you enjoyed "Audacity of Hope" or "Dreams of my Father" this is another must have. The President needs our help and after working as a volunteer in 2008, I know the average Joe really can make a HUGE impact and can help continue putting this country back on track.

5.0 out of 5 stars Book worth reading if you are interested in seeing change in our country November 28, 2012

By Connie Hilsendager

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I am a true President Obama fan and I was very interested in his thoughts on how an average American can help change our great country. Some interesting ideas were discussed.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical informaation for the novice at political action October 5, 2009

By Robert C. Eff

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

A great book for people of convictions, but without prior experience in political action. Lots of simple choices for the person who is concerned about the control aof our country, and therefore our lives and how to change things to benefit the working people. Directions on hvow to take action and quit just frustrated complaining.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid information for those wishing to create change November 18, 2009

By Dragonfly

Format:Paperback

I found this to be an easy to read, well laid out directory of options for those seeking to better America through volunteerism. I gave it 4 stars because I felt the inclusion of Obama's name in the title made it unnecessarily partisan, as evidenced by the mental midgets who did nothing but post fake "reviews" just to try and bring down the book's overall rating. If they'd bothered to actually READ it, they would have seen that there are options for everyone, regardless of political ideology. If you're interested in working the political side of things, there are links to both the Democratic AND Republican parties. If you want to honor our veterans, there are links to the VA, USO and other organizations that focus on them. If you are concerned about the state of education, you can find information on ways to mentor or tutor young people, etc. This book would have been better titled, "50 Ways You Can Help Change America" because that's what it is, regardless of who you'd like to see running the country. If you are someone who actually wants to take action and make things better instead of sitting around whining and expecting everyone else to fix things, this book is for you.

Or you can just write fake book reviews.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book! Must have for our generation October 2, 2009

By C. Luna

Format:Paperback

Well written, better than I thought it was going to be. It offers concrete examples of how to help our nation. I loved reading every page of this book and I am excited to help our president get this country back on the right track!

8 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for activists September 16, 2009

By Aaron Silverstein

Format:Paperback

Michael Huttner and Jason Salzman weren't going for "timeless", they wanted "timely" and that is exactly what they produced.

New activists borne in with the Obama wave have wanted a way to get more involved, and Huttner's book focuses them on what can be done right now. Each of its chapters looks at a different element of the Obama agenda, starts with a quote from the President, provides the data that underpins the policy, breaks down the importance of the issue, and then points the reader towards hundreds of resources and organizations.

Its admirable specificity comes at the expense of its shelf life. Getting Sotomayor confirmed is already behind us, this iteration of the health care wars might be gone by October, and the landscape around the Employee Free Choice Act is likely to shift before long. But this book was not intended to sit on a shelf. Every good community organizer should have it in her backpack so she has a ready answer for, "How can I help?"

It is a book made for new media. The resources given are almost entirely in the form of well annotated URLs, and cover a fair range of voices. Readers interested in energy independence are directed towards eight different plans from Van Jones to the Sierra Club to T. Boone Pickens. While the viewpoint is clearly progressive, the book understands the breadth of Obama's coalition. The authors do not attempt to differentiate the plans, nor lobby for a particular approach, they just invite the reader to taste from each and follow their own passion. It is a very modern hypertext approach.

In a testament to the skills of the authors, the free electronic form has translated to the printed page in a way that never becomes overwhelming. Navigating the book is incredibly easy.... The chapters are arranged in clusters, beneath headings including, "become a community organizer", "volunteer in your community", and "harness the new media." It guides the activist in a very natural way to the topics that grab them. Some of the guidance takes you along roads I have happily traveled, such as blogging, campaigns, and non-profits. Some of the guidance points out pathways I had not yet tried, such as political art shows and recording the census, and there are even a few items whose inclusion caught me off guard, but had me nodding approval. (I won't ruin too many of those. One example; "Quit Smoking" is revealed as a profoundly progressive political act.)

There are a lot of good books out there for the big picture. There are a lot that patiently deconstruct the political history that brought us to this day. This book is a tool for this moment. Those other books will always be in my office and on my bedstand. With this book, I am going to quickly copy a few of the links into my bookmarks folder for my personal use, and then rush it into the hands of someone else who is also ready to get to work. It is a book that wants to be used and passed around while it is still hot. If Huttner wants to start taking pre-orders for "50 Ways, 2012" or "50 ways, 2014", count me in for the subscription. Read more ›

62 of 110 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars How to change this country August 23, 2009

By no deadline reviewer

Format:Paperback

I went door-to-door for Obama during the campaign, but I pretty much dropped out of the political process after he was elected. Partly, I didn't know what to do and partly I was burned out. Now, I'm ready to start being active again. It's just so infuriating to see our new President under such unwarrented and ignorant attack. But I'm not sure I want to get into the political fray right now directly. That's why this book was so good for me. It lays out the range of ways to start getting active, from volunteering to protesting. It's interesting to see the options grouped together, as they are in the book. It helped me understand how little excuse I have for hiding the last six months and not doing anything for Obama.