[Please feel welcome to forward this wherever you think it might be useful.]
September 6, 2008
Dear Kids,
I get to call you that because I turned 60 this year. I don’t know how that happened, but it did. I feel “still crazy after all these years.” I came of age in the 60s, and I’m happy about that; it was an exhilarating time. The music was fabulous and the overarching attitude was that love would heal the world and bring it peace. We were empowered by art and hope. It was a lot like now.
Unfortunately, things didn’t quite turn out the way we wanted. Well, I guess some things did. A lot of us still feel the excitement of our youth, and we’ve carried our ideals and our rebelliousness into our lives and tried to communicate them to others. But I think too many of us failed to realize that there’s one thing you’ve absolutely got to do no matter how rebellious, no matter how disillusioned, no matter how “anti-establishment,” no matter how weary you are.
You’ve got to vote.
If I were your age again I would be wild with excitement about the upcoming election. Change is actually possible this year. I’m not talking about the fake change promised by John McCain—I’m talking about the real change championed by Barack Obama, the change that’s been planted deep in our minds and hearts and that just can’t wait to bloom.
The primaries were exciting, and the current campaigns are exciting too. The news is full of fascinating stuff every day, and there are blogs to participate in and buttons to wear and posters to make and debates to look forward to and watch parties to attend. Many of you—and many of my generation—are doing all those things, and more.
But did you register to vote? And are you helping all your friends and family members to remember to do the same? Nothing could be easier; this year you can even go to a website (www.voteforchange.com) and find out everything you need to know about your own individual situation.
And, if you have registered, there’s one more thing I need to say to you.
Don’t be fooled.
Don’t be fooled by all the press and all the excitement and the intensity of all the dreams we share into thinking that one little vote (yours) won’t make a difference. Promise yourself that no matter what’s happening in your life on November 4th, YOU WON’T DO ANYTHING ELSE BEFORE YOU GO OUT AND VOTE FOR BARACK OBAMA.
Well, okay, you can shower, get dressed, and have a quick bite to eat, but that’s all!
Because this is life or death.
Do you want to wake up on November 5th and feel suicidal because John McCain is going to the White House?
I’m sorry if what I’m saying sounds bossy or wicked or unconventional or too difficult, but I mean it exactly this way: VOTE FIRST. Do you have a class that starts the same time the polls open? Just doesn’t matter. VOTE FIRST. Do you have a headache, a cold, a hangover, PMS, a sprained elbow? By all means take care of yourself, but, yes, VOTE FIRST. Is it hard to get to your polling place? Think ahead. Find a way to get there. There are lots of ways, and you’re smart.
And don’t wait until after your class, your job, your dental appointment, your favorite TV morning program, or your morning jog. For all of our sakes, that day of all days, VOTE FIRST. You know as well as I do that a day can get away from you. If you put voting off, stuff happens, and then it’s too late.
And we only get this one chance. VOTE FIRST.
I’m telling you this…..I’m begging this of you…..because I fully believe in my golden heart of hearts that THERE IS NO WAY THIS ELECTION WILL BE WON WITHOUT YOU YOUNG VOTERS. It’s all in your hands. The future of America and all Americans is in your hands. In fact, the future of the earth itself is in your hands.
I won’t go on and on about Barack’s qualifications and ideas and character—you already know about all that, I’m sure—or you know where to find out (www.barackobama.com). But I am humbly, humbly begging you to vote. We’re all reading now about record numbers of young voters who are registering this year. I am overjoyed. I am also worried. Because we only get this one chance.
Please vote. Make it the one thing you WILL DO this year no matter what happens. Don’t let anything get in your way. Don’t assume that your state is already a sure thing; even if it is, you’re part of the larger effort! Don’t let any excuse be good enough. Don’t wake up sorry on November 5th.
Please.
You’re the ones who can make this happen. And America will thank you forever.
Peace,
Diane Wald
Dedham, Massachusetts
MY PRIMARY FATIGUE
by Diane Wald
I can’t swear to it, but I think I may have fallen victim to a brand new and debilitating syndrome: Primary Fatigue. Primary not as in “first” but as in “primary election.” I’m having just a little trouble in recovery.
A bit of background: I am a 60-year-old female resident of New England, brought up in the greater NYC area, a half-Irish-ex-Catholic-at-least-third-generation Democrat who has also embraced such folks as Ralph Nader and Dennis Kucinich, heaven bless ‘em. I’ve run with draft dodgers, musicians, artists, writers, and quite a few people with very gifted minds who have passed on from this earth. I’m (these characteristics are listed in no particular order of importance) a published poet, an animal lover, married, something of a loner, and a person who probably isn’t certifiably depressed, but who takes a rather pessimistic a lot of the time. I have no religion, but I think we need to behave compassionately in this life since it seems to me highly probable we’ll be doing it all again.
So four years ago, when he spoke at the last Democratic convention, I first became aware of Barack Obama. I was for Kerry. I loved (love) John Kerry. But this guy Barack Obama just plain radiated. He gave what my generation would call a mind-blowing speech. I remembered it—as well as his preposterously euphonious name—for four years. Last fall I had a heated conversation over lunch with two former colleagues, and one of them, a Clinton supporter, said, when I blanched at the mention of HRC, “But who else is there?” I was amazed that my memory allowed me to say instantly, “Barack Obama.” My friend said, “Oh yeah. Him. No experience.”
Barack Obama had a website; I love websites. I registered, I blogged, I had my own fundraising page. I went to that site many, many, many times and became a regular participant. I donated what is for me a lot of money to the campaign. I wrote numerous letters-to-the-editor and even made phone calls to voters in my own and other states on behalf of my candidate—an astonishing thing, considering how I loathe the telephone. I convinced my very supportive husband to wait with me for four hours on a freezing February night to see Barack speak in Boston. The truly amazing thing, though, was that I didn’t feel—as I have with every candidate I’ve supported since the days of George McGovern—already defeated. At the beginning it didn’t seem as if Obama had much of a chance, and yet my heart kept assuring me he did.
Obama is a phenomenon, and, as far as I can tell (I have very good radar for fakes), an authentically decent person, a person with stellar smarts, and a candidate who’d gathered around him some very original and forward-looking minds.
But not only was I passionately for Obama; I was just as passionately against Hillary Clinton. I was aghast that this was the best woman presidential candidate this country had come up with. Sorry; I know we’re all supposed to be friends with Hillary now. I just can’t forget the collective Clinton bilge of so many years past, and I can’t forget the callous, creepy, crass-backwards way she ran her campaign. So I got even more involved in the campaign. Some primary nights I’d actually get up at 3 a.m. to check the results on my computer. I might not have actually lost any friends over the primaries, but I certainly saw a side of some folks I wish I hadn’t seen. They’re probably saying the same about me.
The point is, once Obama’s nomination was in the bag, I didn’t quite know what to do. I mean I obviously did KNOW what to do, and I’ve been trying to do it, but I feel as if I first (and very quickly) need to definitively spit out the primary and cleanse my brain-palate. Then, if you’ll forgive the shift of metaphors, I’ll be able to take up even a sharper sword against McCandyCane than I did against Mrs. Bill Clinton.
this is in response to HQ's recent change in the way you can send a friend request:
just as a test: here is my email address (in a format that i think cannot be picked up by phishers), so if you like, please send me a friend request -- thanks!
sleeperina at gmail dot com
let's see how this works.....
It’s quite warm here in MA today and I was out in the back yard this morning weeding and cleaning around the densely wooded picnic table area when I noticed a heavy infestation of flying, biting insects swarming around. At first I thought they were just those pesky mosquitoes, but after I’d been bitten a few times I looked at one closely and – OH NO ! – all of these little flying monsters were wearing tiny pantsuits! And they seemed to be talking, talking, talking, although I couldn’t understand them at all. I started swatting wildly at the creepy bugs but – OH NO ! – it was like Night of the Living Dead – they simply would not die!!!
Someone told me the entire colony of these pests dies out early in June. I sure hope that’s true.
If you’ve experienced a similar infestation, please consider my fundraising page, and/or a friend request!
Have a lovely holiday, everyone!
All the talk about the Kennedy brothers lately, plus the fact that it promises to be a bit of a slow news weekend, made me think it was a good time to share a personal story (just like someone did above on this thread; thank you for that!). I have shared it before, but it’s been many months since then and there are so many new people on the blogs! Maybe it will take our minds off That Other Person Who Is Running if we all tell our stories.
I am proud to be part of this movement to bring our country back to its senses, and I applaud all of Barack's supporters for the very hard work they are doing! Having hope again is a wonderful feeling.
link to story about Kennedy/Mboya:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/106240
Please consider my fundraising page, and/or send a friend request! Blessings on everyone this important holiday weekend. Go out in your yard and plant the 2008 version of an OBAMA VICTORY GARDEN! J
http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/Obamacats
My Vote's for Obama (if I could vote) ...by Michael Moore
April 21st, 2008
Friends,
I don't get to vote for President this primary season. I live in Michigan. The party leaders (both here and in D.C.) couldn't get their act together, and thus our votes will not be counted.
So, if you live in Pennsylvania, can you do me a favor? Will you please cast my vote -- and yours -- on Tuesday for Senator Barack Obama?
I haven't spoken publicly 'til now as to who I would vote for, primarily for two reasons: 1) Who cares?; and 2) I (and most people I know) don't give a rat's ass whose name is on the ballot in November, as long as there's a picture of JFK and FDR riding a donkey at the top of the ballot, and the word "Democratic" next to the candidate's name.
Seriously, I know so many people who don't care if the name under the Big "D" is Dancer, Prancer, Clinton or Blitzen. It can be Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Barry Obama or the Dalai Lama.
Well, that sounded good last year, but over the past two months, the actions and words of Hillary Clinton have gone from being merely disappointing to downright disgusting. I guess the debate last week was the final straw. I've watched Senator Clinton and her husband play this game of appealing to the worst side of white people, but last Wednesday, when she hurled the name "Farrakhan" out of nowhere, well that's when the silly season came to an early end for me. She said the "F" word to scare white people, pure and simple. Of course, Obama has no connection to Farrakhan. But, according to Senator Clinton, Obama's pastor does -- AND the "church bulletin" once included a Los Angeles Times op-ed from some guy with Hamas! No, not the church bulletin!
This sleazy attempt to smear Obama was brilliantly explained the following night by Stephen Colbert. He pointed out that if Obama is supported by Ted Kennedy, who is Catholic, and the Catholic Church is led by a Pope who was in the Hitler Youth, that can mean only one thing: OBAMA LOVES HITLER!
Yes, Senator Clinton, that's how you sounded. Like you were nuts. Like you were a bigot stoking the fires of stupidity. How sad that I would ever have to write those words about you. You have devoted your life to good causes and good deeds. And now to throw it all away for an office you can't win unless you smear the black man so much that the superdelegates cry "Uncle (Tom)" and give it all to you.
But that can't happen. You cast your die when you voted to start this bloody war. When you did that you were like Moses who lost it for a moment and, because of that, was prohibited from entering the Promised Land.
How sad for a country that wanted to see the first woman elected to the White House. That day will come -- but it won't be you. We'll have to wait for the current Democratic governor of Kansas to run in 2016 (you read it here first!).
There are those who say Obama isn't ready, or he's voted wrong on this or that. But that's looking at the trees and not the forest. What we are witnessing is not just a candidate but a profound, massive public movement for change. My endorsement is more for Obama The Movement than it is for Obama the candidate.
That is not to take anything away from this exceptional man. But what's going on is bigger than him at this point, and that's a good thing for the country. Because, when he wins in November, that Obama Movement is going to have to stay alert and active. Corporate America is not going to give up their hold on our government just because we say so. President Obama is going to need a nation of millions to stand behind him.
I know some of you will say, 'Mike, what have the Democrats done to deserve our vote?' That's a damn good question. In November of '06, the country loudly sent a message that we wanted the war to end. Yet the Democrats have done nothing. So why should we be so eager to line up happily behind them?
I'll tell you why. Because I can't stand one more friggin' minute of this administration and the permanent, irreversible damage it has done to our people and to this world. I'm almost at the point where I don't care if the Democrats don't have a backbone or a kneebone or a thought in their dizzy little heads. Just as long as their name ain't "Bush" and the word "Republican" is not beside theirs on the ballot, then that's good enough for me.
I, like the majority of Americans, have been pummeled senseless for 8 long years. That's why I will join millions of citizens and stagger into the voting booth come November, like a boxer in the 12th round, all bloodied and bruised with one eye swollen shut, looking for the only thing that matters -- that big "D" on the ballot.
Don't get me wrong. I lost my rose-colored glasses a long time ago.
It's foolish to see the Democrats as anything but a nicer version of a party that exists to do the bidding of the corporate elite in this country. Any endorsement of a Democrat must be done with this acknowledgement and a hope that one day we will have a party that'll represent the people first, and laws that allow that party an equal voice.
Finally, I want to say a word about the basic decency I have seen in Mr. Obama. Mrs. Clinton continues to throw the Rev. Wright up in his face as part of her mission to keep stoking the fears of White America. Every time she does this I shout at the TV, "Say it, Obama! Say that when she and her husband were having marital difficulties regarding Monica Lewinsky, who did she and Bill bring to the White House for 'spiritual counseling?' THE REVEREND JEREMIAH WRIGHT!"
But no, Obama won't throw that at her. It wouldn't be right. It wouldn't be decent. She's been through enough hurt. And so he remains silent and takes the mud she throws in his face.
That's why the crowds who come to see him are so large. That's why he'll take us down a more decent path. That's why I would vote for him if Michigan were allowed to have an election.
But the question I keep hearing is... 'can he win? Can he win in November?' In the distance we hear the siren of the death train called the Straight Talk Express. We know it's possible to hear the words "President McCain" on January 20th. We know there are still many Americans who will never vote for a black man. Hillary knows it, too. She's counting on it.
Pennsylvania, the state that gave birth to this great country, has a chance to set things right. It has not had a moment to shine like this since 1787 when our Constitution was written there. In that Constitution, they wrote that a black man or woman was only "three fifths" human. On Tuesday, the good people of Pennsylvania have a chance for redemption.
Yours,Michael MooreMichaelMoore.comMMFlint@aol.com
sending this out to newspapers in states with primaries:
Dear Voters,
According to the demographics, I should be voting for Hillary Clinton: I’m a white, 60-year-old, highly educated woman from the Northeast. But I’m voting for Obama. I’ve waited all my life for a viable woman candidate for the presidency, but this is not the right woman. I want a woman of the highest ability and virtue, who would serve as a glorious role model to all young women. Hillary Clinton is not that woman.
She rode into power with her husband, and together they have a long and seriously flawed history of self-serving and secretive financial and political dealings. The most cursory research will prove that true. She started out her political life supporting the racist Barry Goldwater. She is as comfortable with deception and trickery as George Bush. When I hear woman saying, “Oh, but that’s how you get things done in Washington,” I literally cringe.
I am passionately supporting Barack Obama. He can beat the Republicans; she cannot. Obama has attracted Independents and even Republicans to his camp, and in a general election they would vote for him, but not for Clinton. Clinton voted for the war, and has never apologized for it. Obama has spoken out against it from the beginning. Obama brings us hope—and not just that. Take a serious look at his ideas and experience.
Please, I beg of you, Sisters young and old: wait for the right woman. Then we can be proud.
January 29, 2008
Dear Family & Friends,
I hope you won’t mind too much that I’m pushing the usual boundaries of “polite conversation” and giving you a few of my thoughts on the upcoming presidential primary. Those of you who know me best know that although I’m prone to strong (and often radical) opinions, I’m not usually one to proselytize. Generally speaking, I’m more likely to offer a friendly nudge than an actual shove.
But this upcoming election is different. I realize that many of you might have already decided on your candidate, but please bear with me.
I truly believe Barack Obama is the person this country needs to start hauling it out of the sticky, deadly, morally poisonous swamp created by the Bush administration. You might have seen or read many of the recent endorsements Obama’s gathered. In each of them you will notice that beyond the facts and figures that support Obama’s policies and beliefs, there is an unusual passion—an increasingly bright flicker of hope not seen for some time in American politics—that underlies each endorsement. I feel it too.
I won’t make this overly long by offering a long list of Obama’s policies (you can get everything you need at www.barackobama.com), but I would suggest that if you have doubts about him based on the campaigning of other candidates that you go to the “fact check” section of that website to learn the truth. He does have more than enough experience to qualify him for the job he is seeking. He does have solid policies on all of the important issues. In the words of Ted Kennedy:
“… I'm not only supporting Barack because of what he has done. What counts in our leadership is not the length of years in Washington, but the reach of our vision, the strength of our beliefs, and that rare quality of mind and spirit that can call forth the best in our country and our people…. As president, Barack Obama will break the Washington gridlock to finally make health care what it should be in America. He will turn the page on the old politics of misrepresentation and distortion and bridge the divisions of race, gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation that plague our country. He will end a war in Iraq that he has always stood against, that has cost us the lives of thousands of our sons and daughters, and that America never should have fought. He will close the door on the old economics that has written off the poor and left the middle class poorer and less secure. He will make the United States the great leader and not the great roadblock in the fateful fight against global warming. When Barack Obama raises his hand on Inauguration Day a new generation of American leadership will take charge and restore the hope, peace, and prosperity the country so desperately needs.”
A lot has been said about Obama’s own eloquence, passion, charisma, and how those things are “not enough.” Of course not. But the last time I looked, they do mean something. Wouldn’t it be magnificent to have a president who not only had inspiration, ideals, integrity, and intelligence, but who could also express those qualities in a manner that would awaken the apathetic, the disillusioned, the hopeless, and the very weary people of this country? Wouldn’t it just cheer you up immensely?
I’m sticking my neck out for Obama because he’s made me get excited about politics again—and not just in the usual “I’m AGAINST this or that” way that I’ve been excited about politics in the recent past. This man is different. Probably some of you are wondering if I couldn’t be excited about a woman candidate—I certainly could, but not this time. I’m not interested in going backwards. In Obama’s own words, “… the choice in this election is not between regions or religions or genders. It's not about rich versus poor; young versus old; and it is not about black versus white. It's about the past versus the future.”
Most of you who are getting this letter live in “Super Tuesday” states. Please don’t forget to vote! And please think about what I’ve said….and vote for Barack Obama. We might not get a chance like this again.
Thanks for listening!
Diane
P.S. For all you animal lovers, a little news item from January 16th:
"What about animal rights?" a woman shouted out during the candidate's town hall meeting outside Las Vegas…. Obama responded that he cares about animal rights very much….He said he sponsored a bill to prevent horse slaughter in the Illinois state Senate and has been repeatedly endorsed by the Humane Society. "I think how we treat our animals reflects how we treat each other," he said. "And it's very important that we have a president who is mindful of the cruelty that is perpetrated on animals."
P.P.S. Please feel free to send this along to your own contacts.
