An interesting Atlantic Magazine article from 17 September 2007.

WASHINGTON, D.C -- A charged-up Sen. Barack Obama begged politically active members of the Service Employees union to join his "movement" to reform the Democratic Party.

"The question I ask SEIU members is, not "Who is talking about your agenda?" but "Who can change politics in Washington to make that a reality," Obama said. "Change starts by making sure a Democrat is in the White House. Change doesn't end just because a Democrat is in the White House. It's time to turn the page on the old way of doing business."

In many ways, it was the longest sustained encapsulation of Obama's complex, primary argument that a Washington, D.C. audience has heard. It was heavy on passion and sloganeering and comparatively free of the nuance that marks that Obama's regular stump speech.

SEIU's members are temperamentally suited to Obama; he is a longtime friend of Chicago's SEIU Local 880 and worked closely with the union as an organizer and later as a state legislator.

Obama entered the ballroom to cheers, but he left to a sustained chorus of chants: "Obama!, Obama!" The SEIU president, Andy Stern, had to calm his members: ""Everybody take your seats, please. We have other candidates."

Cross Posted at Power and Control