Change Happens

On September 11, 2008, Barack Obama and John McCain participated in a candidates forum on service. Host Judy Woodruff of PBS asked about Republican presidents who promoted service initiatives.

Mr. Obama noted that Teddy Roosevelt was his "hero" and that Roosevelt understood how to mobilize citizens.

"And that's why, you know, one of the premises of our campaign from the start has been that change happens from the bottom up. It doesn't happen from the top down. It happens because the American people look up and say, we imagine a world not as it is but as it should be, and we are willing to roll up our sleeves and put in the hard work to change this country, block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood, state by state," said candidate Obama.

As a candidate and as president, Mr. Obama has consistently and repeatedly made the case that change comes from people who stand up. He returned to the theme (and was mocked by some) in his convention speech last week: "You are the change," he said.

Interestingly, one of the most marked examples of bottom-up change is the development of the Tea Party in the years after Obama's election in 2008. A few people imagined a world as they think it should be, put in the hard work to run for office and get elected, and continue to promote their view of the world.