I wanted to print this t-shirt four years ago. Well, not exactly this one, because the design I had ready then used Kerry's campaign font instead of Obama's, but you get the idea. I have to say my happiness has been a bit muted today by the passage of Prop 8 and the fact that voters in at least two states seem to be happy to re-elect criminals to represent them, but we still made a huge step forward and out of the darkness last night. I was at the Mark Warner victory party, and I have to tell you that I saw a couple thousand people from every imaginable walk of life who were sharing an amazing moment with each other.
I am so happy to have a president who is intelligent and thoughtful. I am so happy that my state of Virginia has made so much progress in the past few years.
Today our future looks so much brighter than it did yesterday. I may wear this shirt every day until the inauguration.
Also, a small bit of trivia I discovered while looking up the font Obama used for his campain. It turns out that it's the same typeface used on the cornerstone at the Ground Zero construction site. I wonder if the campaign were aware of this?
Polling trends the past two weeks have shown clearly that an initial fascination with the "fantasy" version of Sarah Palin that the McCain campaign tried to sell to the American people boosted his poll numbers, and that as people are learning the truth about Palin, her favourability ratings are going down, and taking McCain's poll numbers down with them. We need to make sure that we keep pressing back against the lies of the McCain campaign, even while Senators Obama and Biden push forward with their positive message of change.
To that end, I created palintruth.org. It's only been up for 10 days, but I've already posted a bunch of articles with links to many, many sources in print and video media that back them up. It's hard keeping up with how fast they lie, but I'm trying! Please use the links below to help send information to your independent or right-leaning friends who are still falling for the false Palin. Please also note, if you like any of the advertisers who pop up on the side, they help pay for my bandwidth but only if you visit their sites. (I can't help if sometimes pro-McCain ads sneak in, but feel free to ignore those).
If anyone has suggestions for the next stories I should be covering about McCain/Palin, I'd love to hear them.
Regardless of how today's votes go, I think that Barack Obama should use his time speaking tonight to remind people of the generosity that makes Americans great. Instead of asking people to go to his web site and support his campaign, tonight he should ask people to donate whatever they can to help those struck by the disaster. He can speak about how even when times are at their worst for us economically, we must always remember that there are those in the world whose troubles are even deeper. He could also use this time to remind people once again that our own great city of New Orleans still needs help as well.
I would like to see this tonight because I think it would truly remind people how Barack is trying to transcend our current politics. Especially if tonight's results finally make it clear that Senator Clinton is going to have to concede, if in that case--rather than a victory speech--Barack calls on people to do something other than just cheer him on, I think he will show all Americans--including many Republicans--what he is truly made of.
...I'm a social dork. I want some advice on how I can put my skills to use helping this campagin. Since I live in Virginia, I figure that would mean going to Pennsylvania for something, but I don't know what.
I have volunteered for local races in VA in 2003 and 2005, I went to Iowa for Dean in 2004, and I phonebanked for MoveOn from DC in 2006. And the one thing I have learned over all that time is that I will never, ever be good at butting into other people's lives and convincing them to do something. I cannot <i>stand</i> unsolicited phone calls or visitors to my home, and so even as many times as I have done it, I have never been comfortable at it, and I am no good at it.
However, I am smart, and I'm not afraid to work hard. I am a great problem solver and adapt to new situations quickly. In past volunteer work, I've enjoyed things like planning out driving/walking routes for those who were going to walk precincts. I've helped to produce and run A/V for appearances, and in my real-life experience, I have organized a great many large events (all-day concerts mostly) which required the coordination of dozens of different factors coming together at the same time.
I have tried both calling and emaiing the campagin, but I haven't gotten a response yet. I know everyone is very busy, but I also know that if I find the right place to go, that I can really help out.
So, does anyone have any suggestions for me?
