I was all set to jump ship from this Obama stuff due to other time commitments and uncertainty surrounding the politics of the way my state seems to be developing. Then this Black college kid asked me how to help him spread Obama's message to the other black students in his circle who aren't really feeling Barack just yet. He expressed great passion and concern for the obstacles ahead.
Without much hesitation I told him...
"Rodney, my brother, I have faced excactly what you are up against. Check out my site www.atthatdrop.com and let me know if any of the materials there might be useful. I designed those shirts to get more African Americans involved in the process.
Also, you have to be willing to be a LEADER.
A leader is CURIOUS: he listens to people, and steps outside of his comfort zone.A leader is CREATIVE: he goes out on a limb & thinks outside of the box.A leader COMMUNICATES: he faces reality and tells the straight truth.A leader has CONVICTION: he has a fire in his belly to get things done.A leader has COURAGE: ballsA leader has CHARISMA: can make people follow himA leader has COMMON SENSE: the ability to reason.
I have been on the fence about how deep I can get into all this but this message from you makes it all worth it because I got into this to reach college students and African Americans.
I hope this helps you just as much as it has helped me."
Feel free to call ANYTIME if you want chat or something
www.atthatdrop.com "
And now I can go to bed confident that when the son rises, we will have another leader onboard.
Purpose of leadership is to create more leaders NOT more followers...
This reminded me why we got into all this in the first place & why we must forge ahead...
Sun was setting over Jersey when I slowed down long enough to digest the numbers: $33 million from 258,000 individuals. My pizza man thanked me for his Barack shirt www.atthatdrop.com/shirts . A previously skeptical neighbor gave me one of those nods I got in Little League after stepping up to the plate and actually managing to hit the ball. A guy from the Stanford Young Republicans even asked to be my friend on Facebook. Nice to be on a winning team. Ya know?
While Obama was becoming the Democratic heir apparent, our true opponent lay dormant. She watched quietly as we shook the trees and waved our Obama 08 signs. Break away from cyberspace long enough to give voter registration a shot and you will surely encounter our true adversary: apathy.
Till a few months ago, apathy had her claws securely clenched around my neck. I have never even voted in a presidential primary. Till a few months ago, a candidate who had not secured his party’s nomination was about as significant to me as a Publisher’s Clearing House letter. Till a few months ago, I believed I had little to no personal stake in presidential elections.
As February 5th juggernauts towards us, each sunset asks:
How do we get others to find a personal stake in the primaries?
We eat because we have a personal stake in satisfying our hunger.
We know they are hungry.
Giving people a personal stake in voting in the primaries means giving them a reason to believe they have something to gain by voting. Sounds simple enough. Right?
Granted more people vote for American Idol than for the President of the United States. I myself have proudly never voted for American Idol so I couldn’t tell you what people gain from voting. My apathy towards American Idol is not about feeling superior to the phenomenon. I’ve just never been invested in the outcome.
Few hours ago, a friend just asked me:
Silence.
I outwit the question by asking myself if I could be doing more to mobilize people. And now, I sit here deliberating. Brooding. Strategizing. Searching for answers to questions I used to care less about; till a few months ago…
So I’m walking back from the bank wearing my Barack shirt and reading Barack Obama In His Own Words while juggling a bunch of bags. Now I’m a pretty clumsy guy so, of course, I drop the book and it tumbles…into a sewer. Yup. I gather up some sticks I think may be strong enough and I lean over the curb to fish the book out. Cars are whizzing by and all when this black pick up truck putters by and puts on the brakes. I’m using a stick to nudge the book into a dry brown paper bag as the slightly southern voice of an older Black American Man chimes in, “You dead?”
I lift my head up and he frowns, “Nah. You’re just stupid.”
I smile as he tells me how dangerous trying to retrieve this book is. In his dirt smeared white T-shirt and black jeans that are a few sizes too big for him, the man asks me what is so important that I would reach into the sewer to get back. I think he was relieved that I was trying to get a book. He promises me he lives close by and drives off to get some tools. I listed to Rachel Portman’s theme song to Cider House Rules while I wait.
The pick up putters to the corner and the Man emerges with three rather large tools. He offers me a gardening hoe.
This man stands in the street while I use his gardening hoe to fish my book out of the sewer. We shake hands and I offer to give him one of my Barack shirts for free.
He releases a kinda cool smirk, mulls it over, then sighs that retired man sigh, “I’ma sign for him anyway. You give that to someone who ain’t. Cause I’ma sign for him anyway.”
And with that, he was gone.
So I’m walking back from the bank wearing my Barack shirt and reading Barack Obama In His Own Words while juggling a bunch of bags. As I’m a pretty clumsy guy, I drop the book and it tumbles…into a sewer.
Yup.
I gather up some sticks I think may be strong enough and I lean over the curb to fish the book out. Cars are whizzing by and all when this black pick up truck putters around me and puts on the brakes. I’m using a stick to nudge the book into a dry brown paper bag as the faintly southern voice of an older Black American Man chimes in, “You dead?”
I smile as he tells me how dangerous trying to retrieve this book is. In his dirt smeared white T-shirt and black jeans that are a few sizes too big for him, the Man asks me what is so important that I'm willing to reach into the sewer to get it back. I think he was relieved that I was trying to get a book.
After he makes me swear I will in fact read this book if I get it back, he drives off to get some tools. I listen to Rachel Portman’s theme song to Cider House Rules on my iPod while I wait.
He mulls it over, sighs that retired man sigh, then releases the proudest of proud smirks, “I’ma sign for'm anyway. You give that to someone who ain’t. Cause I’ma sign for'm anyway.”
So I’m listening to Joe Beats (www.joeybeats.com) as I drive down the Garden State Parkway to the April 26th Debate Party in Camden, New Jersey. I’m running late because I was adamant about uploading my latest grassroots video, Jersey plays for keeps (Link ), before leaving the house. I stressed about interrupting the group’s flow by sauntering late and got myself a bit lost. I called Kirsten and she skillfully directed me to her home. As I drove down Kirsten's street I found her on the front lawn waving me over with the ease of an air traffic controller guiding a first time pilot. Kirsten introduced me to her son, Christopher, and another local supporter, Rebecca. A comfortable couch and welcoming chairs surrounded a low coffee table filled with snacks. I was relieved to find that in spite of my tardiness, there was still a place for me at the table.
I fully admit to being another politically apathetic citizen prior to discovering Senator Obama. As we sat around munching away, I realized that another reason I love America is that it is a country where the goal is to always make room at the table.
Kirsten’s DVR recorded the debate while we shared our individual journeys to the grassroots effort and swapped gripes about our list serves full of emails that are often far removed from our Commander’s Intent. Many of these emails remind me of that line in Raiders of the Lost Ark where this guy asks Indy, “Why is it you seek the Ark of the Covenant? Is it for his glory, or yours?”Were we all on a battlefield together and our Commander ordered us to capture the flag atop a hill, we would have no need for superfluous communication because we would all be unified in that mad dash towards the flag. We would also have no time or energy to sacrifice on negatively infectious communication. We would not need to be micro-managed because we all know we are trying to capture that flag. This clear Commander's Intent "capture the flag" puts EVERYTHING in perspective and washes away the salty thorns.
At Selma, Senator Obama told us to get Cousin Pookey to vote. "Get Cousin Pookey to Vote" is our Commander's Intent. So before committing any superfluous emails to cyberspace or any negative sentiments about the competition or fellow supporters to the blogosphere, ask yourself, "Will this help get Cousin Pookey to vote?" If you even slightly suspect that said sentiments will not help get Cousin Pookey to vote, please print your sentiments out, read them aloud to yourself, post them on a cork-board somewhere, and go for a run.
Cousin Pookey is vital to our success. I know because I was a Cousin Pookey. I voted in every general election since I was old enough to, but have never voted in the primaries or any other election. I am however proud to say I have also never voted for American Idol. One of the reasons I got interested in the grassroots effort was the discovery that the powers-that-be have literally been banking on Cousin Pookeys choosing not to bother voting.
I have developed this habit of giving away free shirts to guys on basketball courts & in barbershops (www.atthatdrop.com/shirts). Last week I gave this 18-year-old playing hookey on a basketball court one of my shirts that say Barack on the front. He asked me, “What’s Barack?” That evening he sent me an email thanking me because he had googled Barack & was now bragging to his friends and family about Senator Obama. So this is the thing – Barack Obama has set a place at the table for Cousin Pookey.
When we finally got around to watching the DVR of the debate, it was clear that none of the other candidates were concerned with our country’s Cousin Pookeys. Still, I appreciated the camaraderie in the air amongst most of the candidates; particularly Obama, Clinton, & Edwards. It showed that the Democrats are becoming kinda cool. And this is vital. This is why we must be respectful of both the Clinton and Edwards camps. After we win the primaries, we are all going to be rather busy insuring that each registered voter from either camp can find him or herself a place at our table…
Anti-Clinton and Anti-Edwards merchandise is bothering me. Anti-Clinton and Anti-Edwards merchandise worn, created, or propagated by so-called-Obama-supporters is pissing me off. While malicious attacks have found fertile breeding ground in America’s political conversation, the whole point of Senator Obama’s message and the engine driving genuine supporters is a desire to redirect the conversation’s ethical compass. True supporters have got to think outside of the box.
Get outta the box and onto a memory stick.
I caught the live SEIU Health Care Forum in Las Vegas webcast on thinkprogress.org and I must admit that Clinton and Edwards were both quite impressive. I’m still full on pulling for Obama but I think all three of them are exceptional Americans. Everyone from exceptional Americans to ordinary folks from other countries deserves respect. I waited tables at a Mexican restaurant in Tribeca my first semester at Columbia, and contrary to popular belief, even waiters speaking sub par Spanish deserve respect. The candidates are claiming to be here to serve us. It is nearly impossible to effectively serve someone when respect has turned its back.
During the forum, Obama got hit with the toughest questions but it was a blessing because he came across as the most thoughtful and intelligent as a result. As I watched, I felt as though Obama was being attacked while other candidates were being handed silver platters on which to pontificate. Then I got excited: we all know that animals attack when they feel threatened. There was one young lady in particular who nervously critiqued Obama’s site before asking her question which was in truth a statement with a question mark added to the end. This nervous young lady was on the attack because her interests were threatened. And this is why we grassroots Obama supporters must not wear, create, or propagate any merchandise that is anti-anyone; first and foremost because we mustn’t let them see us sweat. There are some vile anti-Clinton shirts out there that in actuality do little more than admit fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Any Obama supporter wearing malicious merchandise is admitting fear, uncertainty, and doubt. We should sweat courage, confidence, and conviction. Secondly, our party must not arrive at the general election as a bloody mass of battered barracuda. We must arrive at the general election with the swagger of an NBA first-round draft pick.
I’m cutting and pasting an excerpt from a blogger named Sven on the Health Care Forum
Link
Who do you think would be the BEST president on the issue of health care?Hillary Clinton 34%John Edwards 16%Barack Obama 9%Bill Richardson 4%Dennis Kucinich 0%Chris Dodd 2%Joe Biden 0%Mike Gravel 0%Now, please note that they're just asking who would be best on health care. Clearly, Hillary has an edge here both because of name recognition and because of her work on health care during the Clinton presidency.What I found really disturbing about these numbers though, was that 50% of the respondents were 65 or older. How representative are numbers when you have a sample of only 5% below 40 years of age? And it really made me wonder how representative other poll numbers are that do not publish the age range of respondents.
One of my goals within the grassroots effort has been to get more Generation X & Generation Y voters out to the polls because this country’s political goliaths have been sleeping on us. We are the ones whose Social Security benefits are in the gravest danger. We are the one’s who will pay through the nose for this war (many of us with our lives). Remember that line in the movie Troy, “War is old men talking and young men dying”? Goliath has been sleeping on us because we have been sleeping on him.
It usually takes a massive shift in the global consciousness to move young voters to get out to the polls. Vietnam was a shift that gave rise to an increase in voter turnout amongst younger voters. So guess what? This is our shift. Anyone who has waited tables knows that if the shift before you had a rough time, you have got to be on top of your game. So guess what? This is our shift.
This is our shift.
Akin
www.atthatdrop.com
So people like to tell me stuff when I’m wearing my trusty Obama 08 button. After a most exciting Essex County Obama Meetup, I stayed up all night mapping out Initiative ideas and pricing shirts, buttons, posters, post cards, & buttons online. Anyone who’s ever seen the film Election, will understand why I actually root for Reese Whitherspoon (& it is not because she went to my alma mater).
SOFT DISSOLVE TO: Wednesday morning in Jersey. Neighbors are tickled pink by the sudden warm weather but I’m dragging my heels cause the coffee’s not workin’ on me anymore. I hit up my old high school to see about organizing a debate with another school in Jersey just before the primaries. As I’m coasting on empty, my spirits droop into my socks. Around lunch time I stop into a local convenience store and this Grey Haired Nurse Lady comes up to me in line to ask if I’ve considered Senator Clinton. So I tell her what this gorgeous Rutgers student told me, “A vote for Senator Clinton is a vote for the status quo. A vote for Senator Obama is a vote for possibility.”
DEAD SILENCE.
Surrender smirked at me.
Sleep called on me all day, but I stayed up for a NJ for Obama conference call where I’m sure I babbled incoherently like a Former-Child-Star-On-the-Skids. I finally went to bed resigned to this daunting marathon ahead of us all.
Now I have this T-shirt design on my wall, right? And I woke up to the word “Barack”. Eventually, I will mass produce enough shirts for all my BarackObama.com friends!
Somehow.
I climbed out of bed and went down to a local Printing Center in Jersey. I told this local small business owner that I was pricing merch for some grassroots Initiatives and the owner (who it turns out is probably the coolest small business owner in Jersey – if not the universe) tells me, “I like that guy.” And for the next hour, this guy and I talk about politics, his kids, Stanford, Columbia, Cornell, 9-11, the war, 911, Social Security, Giuliani, John Amos, NJ for Obama, Tempest Bledsoe, Keisha Knight Pulliam, Tribeca, Robert Deniro, Charles Dutton, the printing press, Rutgers Prep, computers, the future, crime, Barack the Youth Vote, Manhattan, the colors of the rainbow, Senator Clinton, Upper East Side socialites, and just about anything else you could expect to fit on the tip of a push pin.
After learning about some great deals in the name of possibility, the most Gentile Kat you could imagine from Louisiana saunters in with a map looking for directions to Costco. It turns out one of my Stanford roommates was a rather gentile Kat from Abbeville, Louisiana so I recognized a sort of kinship to this lost gentleman from Louisiana. A’ight, I was just getting my passion back, but the bottom line is I wanted to help the guy. And then this Jamaican American woman tip toes in and this itty bitty business in Central Jersey is turning into the bar from Cheers where everybody has some kind of positive reaction to thought of “Barack Obama”.
Then I get a message on my cell from a friend from high school who I haven’t seen in a decade who it turns out is dating a big Obama Supporter.
And then…now this is where surrender took a rain check…I went back to that same convenience store around lunch time. Pat Benatar’s “Invincible” is blasting from a car stereo and that SAME GREY HAIRED NURSE LADY pulls up in her Blue Car bopping to “Invincible.” I’ll admit an affinity for any 80s pop hits. And my Grey Haired Nurse Lady waved gleefully. And my spirits soared! Not out of some deluded notion that my Grey Haired Nurse Lady was going to vote my way. But because she was going to vote. And I was going to vote. And we were sorta bonded not by our candidate, but simply by our commitment to participate in the political conversation – the conversation about everything you could possibly fit on the tip of a push pin…
A thought, even a possibility, can shatter and transform us.
-Nietzsche
So the bigger more official Obama '08 button they gave me as a volunteer for the March 9th NYC event worked its magic for the entire night.
I found this poem online that embodies much of what's so fantastic about Michelle Obama:
a woman
there is a woman who careswhat i have to saythere is a woman who lovesme for who i amthere is a woman who sayswhat she wantsthere is a woman who doeswhat she feelsthere is a woman who createsart through lifethere is a woman who seeslife in artthere is a woman who singsfor those oppressedthere is a woman who actsto save all womenthere is a woman who cannotknow how we need her
In both of Michelle's introductions (which were not identical but exceptionally well tailored to the respective crowds) she said a leader is someone with the ability to "move us from passive indifference to active engagement."
Before moving forward, it is so very important to note that both Michelle & Barack addressed the two different crowds with equal passion, integrity, intelligence, & candor. One would expect to find greater investment in the people who gave more money, but as far as I could see - the two levels of contribution were equally appreciated and privy to the same capacity for empathy. That speaks so very well to the kind of future we are in for AFTER WE WIN THIS!
So I Assistant Directed this wildly successful benefit reading at The Gatehouse Theater in Harlem yesterday with my Obama button on my lapel. Not only did it draw the attention of scores of supporters who gave me their email addresses to keep them abreast of what's going on within the grassroots efforts, but there a few middle-of-the-road people searching for a reason to Support Senator Obama. Granted NYC artists are generally fairly liberal people but it is also New York (Senator Clinton's stomping ground).
At the reception following last night's Money & Politics panel many urged me to consider the other Democratic hopefuls. One of my goals with this campaign is to get involved in voter registration amongst people are not, to quote Michael Waldman, "the usual suspects". I'm also interested in helping get Senator Obama supporters voting in the primaries because it is THE FIRST OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE AN IMPACT.
If you vote in the primaries your voice is LOUD!!!
So few people vote in the primaries (in some states only a quarter of the registered voters hit the primaries) so if we can get folks to weigh in, we will have really accomplished something. Movie stars, athletes, & singers are perceived as having clout because of the way they are presented to the public. If people saw that primary voters have clout (albiet a different manner of clout), they would step up.
As many of us have a full year befre our primaries, I'm interested in developing a concrete 12 month strategy. We are so fortunate to have this site to organize ourselves. Lack of organization is the quickest way to burn out. Order and organization are continually the downfall of grassroots efforts. I have a few PR friends but I still need some people with marketing backgrounds & people all over the country - from Seattle to Miami - who are up for the marathon. The first step is to formulate a strategy & slogan. Soon as we have laid out a concrete strategy, I'll build out some web pages.
"No steam or gas drives anything until it is confined. No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated, disciplined." - Harry Emerson Fosdick D.D.
So my trusty button attracted a small legion of lovely ladies in the supermarket as I picked up the March 5th Newsweek with this cover story: "Failing Our Wounded". We got to discussing Senator Obama & the Vets. However, I was not actually comfortable using their suffering to plug our canditate. I mostly listened. I must say, no matter what party affiliation you have chosen or what candidate you support, you gotta support these men and women.
You just gotta.
Bout a decade ago I was paralyzed and I spent a few months in a physical rehab hospital with a bunch of other paralyzed guys. I can tell you the battle to regain your mobility is daunting, invogorating, isolating, ego strengthening, educational, and awe inspiring. I cannot heal these men and women, but I can urge all of you good people to hear their stories. Link must admit that the more I heard these supermarket ladies go on about their connections to soldiers overseas or soldiers at home, I was less & less concerned with persuading them. I left trusting that they were already armed with all they needed to come to their wn decision. Suppose I should thank them for the moment of reflection.
Only time you'll find success after work is in the dictionary.
www.atthatdrop.com/nycmarch9
www.atthatdrop.com/whybarack
So the trusty lil Obama button drew more questions as I searched about Jersey for Joe Trippi's book The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Democracy, the Internet, and the Overthrow of Everything. Link got asked lots of questions by people in bookstores today - some I didn't know the answers to - but there seemed to be a significant number of people out there with very basic questions about how we elect our presidents. Granted, I mostly got asked what I knew about David Geffen's comment but I had to explain the Electoral College & Florida a few times. I discovered that simply being someone who backs Senator Obama tells Joe-Down-The-Block that you might know a lil somethin' about this politics game. It got me thinking that WE COULD BE THE ONES.
Ya know?
We could be the ones who help those People-Down-The-Block claw their way outta the mud-pit-of-apathy. We've all been stuck down there at some point. In fact, somebody on this site told me that Senator Obama has gotten her excited about politics for the very first time in her adult life.
"Every generation needs a new revolution" - Thomas Jefferson
"No real social change has ever been brought about without a revolution - Revolution is but thought carried into action." - Emma Goldman
"Up there it's their time. But down here, it's our time. It's our time down here." - Mikey (the Goonies)
Let's be the ones.
And if anyone has read Trippi's book, I'd be very interested to know what you thought of it.
Swaggering about Jersey wearing my Obama 08 button, I've had my first 3 real interactions with oposition.
1. Last night, I hit a Central Jersey bar my sister tends bar at. A few 20somethings asked about my button and I started telling them reasons to support Senator Obama. Thanks to some of the reasons you good people on this site have contributed to www.atthatdrop.com/whybarack , guys in this lil' bar got a riled up. The War & the Vets were the big selling point. Eyes lit up as these Gen X & Gen Y guys spoke fondly of childhood friends who are still overseas. The hunger for hope of safe returns was infectious and each story led to someone else chiming in about the kid he used to play kickball with down the street. Then I asked who was registered to vote and the wind fell out of most of the sails in the place. The owner was open to a voter registration drive "on a slow night" but he didn't think it would be very successful. Nevertheless, it was actually exciting to witness how a bar full of guys who didn't think much of their ability to affect change got fired up about possibly getting their buddies home. As we move forward and learn more, I'm optomistic that we'll cultivate an effective strategy to harness that energy to our advantage.
2. This afternoon, a Checkout Lady at the local Stop & Shop told me she preferred the Republicans. I asked her why. She grimaced, "Just cause..." Again, that is to our advantage.
3. This evening, the cashier at an office supplies store volunteered that she was voting for Senator Clinton. I smiled politely, "Senator Clinton is a worthy opponent." The cashier giggled, "It's either gonna be a woman or a black guy. Such a shame though..." I just nodded. The cashier continued, "It's such a shame; such a shame - that poor Anna Nicole verdict." While we're all blogging and organizing, many people who sort-of-support-our-opposition are focusing on Britney Gone Wild. This is somehow to our advantage.
And lastly, all 3 of these interactions were with people who voluntarily inquired about our little blue button. And naive as it may sound, that is to our advantage. We just have to harness Senator Obama's curiosity factor.
You may not be interested in strategy, but strategy is interested in you.” - Leon Trotsky
Hey Everybody!
Last night's Brooklyn for Barack meeting was incredibly valuable!
After hearing Chuck articulate so passionately how important it is that we all educate ourselves so we'll be armed with answers when asked why we support Senator Obama, I decided to put up a very simple page on my very simple site that is printer friendly & hopefully useful.
The url is www.atthatdrop.com/whybarack
If you have any suggestions or want to add some reasons to the list, shoot an email over to whybarack@atthatdrop.com.
THANKS!
www.atthatdrop.com/akin
