My goal - between now and election day: I will do at least one activity at least once a week, between now and election day, such as:
I am using the goal-setting website, 43 Things (http://www.43things.com). If you would like to join me in this goal, please forward me your email address, and I will send you an invitation to the team. If you accept the invitation, then you will be a team member. As a team member, you have the option of receiving a notice every time anyone else on the team posts an entry to the goal. This may give you ideas about what you can do. You can also set the goal on the website to send you a weekly reminder. You can cheer on other people's entries, and other people will cheer you. If you have questions about 43things, or would like an invitation, please email me.
Made by an Obama supporter, every jersey sold donates $5 to the campaign
Obama believehttp://www.bikingthings.com/obbebijedecy.htmlObama Hope short sleeveshttp://www.bikingthings.com/obhobijebaob.html
Obama hope Long sleeveshttp://www.bikingthings.com/obhobijelosl.html
Dear Jewish friends and family:
I am inviting you join the Washington State Obama Jewish Community Leadership Committee. I figure I can safely invite you, because I didn't see you at the kick-off event at the JCC earlier this week, so maybe you don't even know about it.
So, what does membership mean? If you're on the JCLC, if nothing else, it means you are counted as Jewish and actively supporting Obama.
You have the facts and materials and are willing to speak out, on a personal level, with your friends and family on Obama and his message for hope and change. Scurrilous emails about Obama have spread fear, especially among members of the Jewish community, about Obama. As a trusted member of our community, you can clarify Obama's position on matters that are important to Jewish Americans. Many members of our community think that McCain is still a maverick, an independent thinker - we need to educate people why we need a Democrat in the White House, and why Obama is the best man for the job.
You can get updates by email periodically to let you know of upcoming meetings and events, as well as to inform you of additional ways to help. Yes, probably eventually they'll be asking for money, but right now, what we need are people - people who are willing to stand up and speak out.
The National JCLC recently launched the "Jewish Americans for Obama" page on the official campaign website. This page contains information about Senator Obama’s policies and background, and it provides useful information to those of you who will be conducting grassroots advocacy for the Senator in our community. There is also a special section called "Learn the Truth", with quick answers to rebut the most common attacks targeting the Jewish community. Please encourage your friends and family, as well as anyone who expresses doubts about Senator Obama’s record, to visit JewishAmericans.barackobama.com. The site will be updated regularly with the latest information.
The work ahead of us in the next few months will be challenging, especially with the continued attempt to distort Senator Obama's record with Jewish voters.
So - if you're interested, what do you do next? You can email me back to find out more, or you can contact the JCLC directly, at: JewishOutreach@barackobama.com.
Thank you for your patience with my unsolicited political invitation here. I hope you join the cause.
I got an email invitation to hear Rahm Emmanuel at the local JCC from the local Obama Jewish Community Leadership Committee. So I went. My older daughter thinks seeing prominent politicians is more exciting that seeing rock stars, so she was all over coming with me.
I was surprised, really, that the crowd was relatively small. A hundred or so? And the only press was the JT News.
I thought Emmanuel was intelligent and articulate. After hearing him speak, my daughters and I made the goal of converting at least one convertible Jewish person we know who is currently supporting McCain over to the side of Obama. Our easiest target’s first: David’s Aunt Debby, who after all is a Democrat at heart. All we need to do is convince her that Obama isn’t a secret enemy of Israel, and I think we’re on board.
One thing I thought was funny: Emmanuel said that the breakdown was on generational lines. When you’re looking at whites and Asians (of any ethnic or religious group, not just Jews), the young people are overwhelmingly on board with Obama; the 35 – 50 year olds are generally OK with him; but those between 50 and 70 really are suspicious. Then, and I think this is interesting – the 80 year olds are like the 18 year olds in terms of their support. What do you think that’s about?
A nice write-up is over here:
http://www.calnan-web.com/weblog/2008/06/10/obama-rides/
I would like to share some thoughts with you about how to approach people who did not support Obama in the primaries and caucuses, but are likely to support a Democratic candidate for president.
Listen to the person.
Find things in common. You don’t need to now convince the person that Obama would be better than the other Democratic candidates; nor do they need to convince you that their candidate would have been better than Obama. Similarly, this is not the time to get into criticisms of how the other candidate ran his or her campaign. If someone attacks how Obama ran his campaign, resist the desire to defend or deny it.
So do the first thing I listed first: listen. If you can at all say things that are nice about the candidate that they supported, do so. Barack came up with them, so you can too.
Then, you do need to do instead is find the things that you both agree on compared to McCain. It’s not that your friend thinks that Edwards did a better job of addressing the issue of poverty and inequality of wealth – it’s that Obama is going to do a better job of addressing the issue than McCain. It’s not that Clinton represented a historic opportunity for women, it’s that Obama is going defend reproductive freedoms in a way that McCain will not. That we can not afford another conservative Supreme Court justice appointed. That we can not afford 100 more years in Iraq.
You can also probably agree that all the Democrats this year were pretty darn good. This goes back to saying something nice about that person’s original candidate. You could try also say something like, “I hope Hillary becomes Senate Majority Leader, because we could use a real scrappy fighter like her compared to Reid” or “I think Richardson’s impressive resume means that he’d make a great Secretary of State”. But be careful with this, because you don’t want it to sound condescending. Your friend wanted Clinton to be president, not majority leader, and you don’t want to be rubbing the defeat in your friend’s face.
Now, what do you do about people who supported another candidate, and they have a lot of lingering doubts about Obama still in their minds?
I find the Yes We Can rhetoric inspiring, but other people find it vague. If your friend was a Clinton supporter, remind her that Clinton and Obama have nearly identical positions on issues. Now that we have a candidate, it’s important to join together in getting what just about was Clinton’s platform elected so it can be implemented.
If they like that Clinton is a fighter, and they’re worried that Obama’s going to compromise too much, or he’ll be naively eaten alive by Republicans, I think it’s important to stress the positives about Obama and how he’s come out strong for the party (like, here, he worked hard on Sen. Cantwell’s re-election campaign two years ago, and she still is a superdelegate for Hillary :-p). Going on about how you hate partisan bickering is just going to make these people think you’re as naive as Obama is.
I’ll summarize:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnhmByYxEIo
I feel like, even if he was addressing that room full of workers there, he's really addressing all of us, out here. All of us who have worked for him in our precincts and neighborhoods, calling people on the phone, registering voters.
Yes, we have a lot of work ahead for us all now - he's counting on us, the nation is counting on us - together, we can make a difference. Yes, we can!
If you are a Precinct Committee Officer (PCO) now - or you'd like to be one:
The 2008 Declaration of Candidacy for PCOs Filing Week is June 2-6, 2008
This is an important deadline! It's time to file for (re-)election as a Democratic Precinct Committee Officer. This is an exciting and pivotal year for Democrats, and we want all PCO slots to be filled - ideally with Obama supporters like you! A link to the PCO Candidacy form is available below.
Forms *must* be received by the King County Elections Office no later than Friday, June 6th at 4:30pm. (Forms received after that time, regardless of postmark, will not be accepted). A filing fee of $1.00 must accompany your form.
Need assistance? If you live in the 48th Legislative District, Becky Lewis has offered to collect forms and deliver them in person to the King County Elections office. Please make sure to get your form to Becky no later than Thursday, June 5th.
Here's how to mail it to her:
Becky Lewis
16552 SE 19th Street
Bellevue, 98008
Let's have all our PCOs be PCOs (People Campaigning for Obama)!
Clinton supporters chant, "yes she can" while Obama supporters chant, "yes we can". This is the essential differences between the campaigns. The Clinton campaign is about Clinton, and bringing her to power. The Obama campaign is about empowering we, the people.
Which is more inspiring? Which is more democratic? Which is more American?
Well, as I was leafing through our family haggadah last night, I was thinking about we are right now, in the midst of plagues.
A friend of mine who is a union organizer told me once that the plagues weren't to punish the Egyptians - they were demonstrate to the Israelites their own personal power. She said that the workers she would organize would be unable to believe their own ability to make change happen, even after it was demonstrated to them repeatedly. She said 12 plagues were about what it would take for people to finally realize that they could rise up and leave their place of bondage.
The Bush administration has done all it can to try to make us feel powerless, by ignoring hundreds of thousands of us marching against the war, by pitting us against each other, by shredding our constitution, and by urinating on values that we hold dear.
Obama and the campaign has told us repeatedly, "Yes we can". We find this message inspirational. At the same time, we have these nagging feelings of, "oh dear, maybe it really isn't possible". Every time this campaign gets dragged into the mud, we have another pang of discouragement. Certain pharaonic elements would like us to continue to accept politics as usual, to regard the election as a circus and not a serious means of the people engaged in an exercise of power.
We are going to continue to live through plagues, my friends. Eventually, though, we will come to their end. The election in November will be like the parting of the Reed Sea - a moment of both trembling fear and excitement. I hope, though, that we will make it to the other side. I personally plan to sing and dance like Miriam's women when we get there. And of course we need to remember - just because you make it across the waters doesn't mean you're in the Promised Land - we're going to have a lot of hard work, years of wandering in the wilderness, first.
So, for now - as frogs fall on our heads - let's see these as tests of our own courage and belief in our abilities to prevail. Together - I believe -
YES WE CAN!
Let's hear it for the awesometabulous Becky Lewis, who organized our 48th LD caucus! It was the best managed Democratic event I have ever attended.
Huzzah!Huzzah!Huzzah!
Huzzah!
While in Washington DC, I went to Zion Baptist Church this last Sunday, to hear my boss, Paul Edwards, preach at the church where his father was pastor many years ago.
I thought it was very interesting that the regular pastor of the church addressed the congregation on the Reverend Wright issue. He said that too often in the US, pulpits have been silent when it comes to injustices in our country. But the African American church has traditionally called out against injustice. That prophetic preaching is the hallmark of the African American church. He also said that prophetic words can not be silenced. The powers that be may want to silence these words, but ultimately, it can not be done.
He never once mentioned the candidate, Barack Obama, but it was clear where he was coming from in this sermon.
The whole thing was pretty interesting to me. The church has been in existence since 1864. I was the only white person in the pews. I wondered how often a similiar message has been given in various black churches around the country.
Check it out:
http://48thdems.org/index.php
As we all know, a heavy turn out is anticipated at the 48th Legislative District caucus. Let's reduce our carbon footprint, free up parking for others, and bike to the LD caucus! Depending on where you live, it might even be faster to ride your bike than to drive. And considering how many hours you're going to have to sit in a folding chair, you might appreciate having some fresh air and exercise before and after the caucus.
If any Obama delegate - OK, any delegate, I'd even help a Clinton one, too - needs bicycling directions, I can help you figure out how to get to Interlake High School (the 48th LD Caucus location) by bicycle. Please let me know your starting point, and which you'd like to minimize: hills, traffic, or distance - I can probably minimize two of these, but all three can difficult. I can also help people with other Eastside LD caucus locations with routing.
If you'd like to bike there with me, let me know too - I'd be willing to swing a couple of miles out of my way to join you, if you'd feel safer riding with someone else. I'm a certified Cascade ride leader, mostly doing kid and family rides, so I'm happy to ride with the less experienced rider so you can bicycle with greater confidence.
No matter if you drive, bike, walk, or take the bus, see you there!
If you are a delegate or an alternate at the Legislative District level caucus, please note the following important information:
It was total chaos, but we got hundreds of people in the room and at their caucus tables. I spoke to the assembled throng on the behalf of Obama. There were actually a speaker for Edwards another for Kucinch. I didn’t hear the Clinton speaker – I was busy with something else.
I referred people to the Obama website who wanted to donate, and got additional names of people who want to volunteer. There was a lot of enthusiasm there in the room.
Clinton supporters passed out a multi-page trash sheet on Obama. I thought this was reprehensible.
In 2004 we had about 12 people show up for our precinct. This year – 37. The breakdown for our caucus was about 75% Obama, 25% Clinton.
My daughter's vlog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ifu8o8FSTbI
Article in the Seattle Times: http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=danny10&date=20080210&query=petersky
My mom was really freaked out because there were so many people racing around – she is really afraid of being knocked down. I hung on to her hand while she steadied herself with her cane. We got in at the handicapped entrance, and she took the last seat in the handicapped section. I managed to snag a folding chair to sit behind her.
We sat there for two hours in the packed stadium waiting for Obama. There were 18,000 inside, and thousands more (3,000, I heard) on the grounds who stood in the icy cold rain.
Governor Gregoire announced her support of Obama at the rally, and gave a fiery, inspirational speech of her own.
Finally he came out, and did his hour-long stump speech. It was just great. People just ate it up. I came out inspired, but exhausted from too much cheering. I’m already on the edge of coming down with something, so this was probably not the best.
