YES WE DID!!! YES WE DID!!! YES WE DID!!!
And FLORIDA TOO!!!! All that sweating in the Orlando sun paid off!!! I'm still in shock.
But here is a beautiful story that happened just today.
It all began on Wednesday, July 30. I got an email from my team captain, Robert, saying that coming Friday there was going to be a HUGE phone-banking session from 4 – 7 PM, and could I come? I wrote back that, yes, I could but that I was working until 5 PM and I could zoom over there immediately afterwards. Where was the location?
Thursday afternoon I read a reply email from him: I'm sorry you have to be there at 4, this is very important. I really want you to be there because I appreciate the work you have done so far. I would get off if I were you.
Whaa? Who is he to tell me what hours to work? Luckily I had not yet entered my work hours into our payroll system; that’s usually done on Thursday. I picked up the phone and called him. I tried to explain without sounding silly that I needed to work the overtime to pay off the contribution I had just made to the Obama campaign! “TRUST ME,” Robert said. “By the end of the night, you’ll be really glad that you came.” By the end of the phone call I had agreed to arrive by 4 PM.
I was exhausted by mid-afternoon on Friday. I had spent most of the day struggling with large poster frames at work. I had even sliced my hand on the glass (although fortunately not too seriously). I really was not feeling well, but figured I could tough it out and make some calls. I was so tired that in driving to the high school where the event was, I took a wrong turn and had to circle back around. Whew. I found the high school and saw several cars pulling in to the lot. Hmm, I thought, following a car with an Obama sticker, are all these cars for the phone-banking? Robert has mentioned something about 200 people, but I didn’t expect to see a line for it. I decided to check out the line alongside the auditorium. Sure enough it was for the phone-banking, and I thought that maybe people were being organized according to their zone. I decided to go look for Robert instead. Walking along the line I noticed an old friend of mine, Karl, standing in line. I had no idea that he was an Obama fan! People later commented that he looks very Republican, with his suit, conservative hairstyle and Aryan looks. “Hey Karl, you’re here to phone-bank?” I asked him, greeting him warmly. “Well,” he replied. “I’m here to see Obama.” Puzzled, I replied, “No, he’s going to be at the NUL Conference tomorrow, not here tonight.” Karl answered, “Oh, he’s supposed to be here tonight.” Some people were nodding. A surprise visit. Hmmmm. I went to the head of the line to find Robert. He wasn’t there, but it was then that I saw the security and the metal detectors. Oh my God. It was true.
Right about then was when I should have started thinking about what profound words I would say to Barack in my 15 seconds of fame. Thank God I had brought my camera, as I had promised I would to record all our activities for posterity. Ultimately I made my way through the line and the security checkpoint – big studded belt and all! We had been assigned table numbers, written on our wristbands, so that we would sit with our neighbors in our zones. I had lucky number 3. I saw Mary, who I had met at Queen Bee’s at a table. The tables were all laid out with call sheets, tally sheets and scripts read to go. I spotted Robert carrying Gatorade to the refreshment table. “Are you going to dump that on Barack?” I said jokingly. “I should kill you, but I forgive you!” “I couldn’t tell you!” Robert insisted. “Well, some people seemed to find out, “ I countered. I went back to the table to start calls.
After an hour or so of phone calls, the leaders competitively tallied the different zones. Our group did not “win” but I was trying to figure out the ratio of support compared to the number of calls. Next on the agenda one of the regional directors for the campaign spoke to us. I could see the double glass doors at the other end of the auditorium where mysterious suited figures were lurking. Secret Service no doubt. Nothing secret looking about those guys! Could I spot Barack out there? Not many people in the world impress me, but I was starting to feel like one of those giddy girls at a rock concert. Now, I've met my share of celebrities, but not someone I admire as much as Barack. I recently read "Audacity of Hope" and was educated, inspired and very impressed. Then I spotted Barack outside through the narrow pane of glass. “Oooh!” I said to the lady next to me. “I see him!!” When was he going to come in? Was the Regional going to announce him?
Then suddenly he just opened the door, walked in and started shaking hands. Everyone started cheering and after a few moments he went to take the microphone from the Regional Director. We listened attentively, glued to his every word. After his speech he started walking around and greeting everyone that he could. As he got closer to where I was standing and positioning myself so that he would greet me, I was getting more nervous by the minute. I had had all this time to think and yet had not come up with anything profound! I am usually very calm and collected around "celebrities." Then before I knew it, he was standing in front of me, and I said: “The Birthday card is in the mail!” He laughed. (The card really was! Someone had organized an event to send him birthday cards for his August 4 birthday)
Unfortunately I am out of time this weekend to write a full blog about this weekend's events, but I will do that as soon as I can because I have A LOT TO REPORT!!!! For now I just have three little words to say:
HE HUGGED ME!
Yup - the man himself... here in Orlando on a surprise visit... I'm not washing that shirt... LOL!
To all my Friends - eat ya heart out! LOL!
Not sure if my feet are back on the ground yet.. oh yeah, well I was out canvassing today in 100 degree heat so I guess they were.
Don't forget to celebrate his birthday tomorrow! Do some campaigning!
I received an email yesterday from Marla, the Birthday Card coordinator, containing input from various people on what kind of card they had made and the story behind it. It doesn’t get any better than Nikki’s story. WARNING: This will make you cry!
Nikki’s Story:
Well... I didn't get to mail my card today, but the reason was quite ironic. I am a hospice nurse. Every Monday morning we meet at the office for a meeting and to gather information on our patients before hitting the road to visit them in their homes the rest of the week. I had every intention of mailing the card early this afternoon as I left the office, but that plan changed. There was a new admission that needed to be seen today. He was a 65 year old white male with a diagnosis of stomach cancer that has metastasized throughout his body. He has only been given about 2 to 10 weeks to live. The visit lasted much longer than I expected and ultimately I missed the last postal pick up for the day. That being said, here is the part that really gets me... He was trying to get into a comfortable position in bed, and asked me to stay a while because he was feeling scared. Of course I said yes. As he closed his eyes he started asking me questions about myself, my family, etc. Then he moved to politics. He asked me: "What do you think about Obama?" I tried to remain professional and said some positive things, but tried to keep my "Obama-love" from gushing out inappropriately. When I finished he looked at me and said, "I think he's the most exciting thing to come around in over 35 years, and I just hope I live long enough to cast an absentee ballot for him." He went on to say, "I just want my vote to count... I want it to really MEAN something for the first time." I held his hand and knew I was exactly where I should be at that moment...and I knew at that very moment that when I place Obama's birthday card in the mail tomorrow, albeit one day late, it will now have an even greater meaning to me.
Barack Obama turns 47 on this August 4. A member of one of the Groups, Marla, coordinated an event to have us send Barack birthday greeting cards and mail them by July 28. Some people had their kids color cards, other sent works of art. My creation was to make a photo greeting card from a photo taken this past weekend – the one I am using now for my Profile image. My t-shirt reads: “got hope?” with the barackobama.com address beneath it. Following is what I wrote on the card:
Dear Barack, In three months I HOPE to give you a belated birthday present – the state of Florida – BLUE! Please know that we are working hard here so you can be our President and leader for change.
I am one of the many who were never interested in politics, but now are making calls, canvassing the streets and wearing t-shirts. You inspire us and I personally admire you very much. (I just finished reading “Audacity of Hope.”)
God bless and protect you and your family always. We love you, Michelle and the girls!
“For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a HOPE and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
From your biggest fan on the South Side of Orlando, Florida - Gloria
P.S. This photo was taken at the July 26 Organizational Meeting for the South Side, held at Queen Bee’s Soul Food Restaurant!
A busy weekend for Barack and me!
On Friday evening, I joined a Democratic Platform Meeting being held at a downtown Orlando high-rise condo. It was ironic that when the hostess opened the door we recognized each other! We had met at the June 28 “Unite for Change” meeting that had been held in her neighborhood. This Platform Meeting was one of several being held from July 19 to July 27 to gather ideas that will be submitted to the DNC for the party platform. Our meeting was a small group, but a very vocal and opinionated one, not that the wonderful wine had anything to do with us voicing our opinions! As a thunderstorm swirled and lit up the sky outside the 9th floor windows, our conversations were as equally passionate. We were all basically concerned about the same issues, which in the end made it easy to summarize our thoughts on the issues of concern. Our final list consisted of: energy (oil dependency), environment and economy and how they all intertwine, health care, foreign policy and ethics/accountability in government. All in all, a wonderful dialogue. Thank you Marianne for your work summarizing all our thoughts! – P.S. Can’t shut me up – on my way out of the building, I spent a wonderful hour conversing with the Haitian lady who was the Lobby Concierge, who was pro-Obama, but now knew much more about the man and where she could help out in Orlando!
Saturday evening found me at an Organizational Meeting in quite a different neighborhood – but it was my OWN ‘hood! The meeting was held at a local soul-food restaurant, Queen Bee’s, and yes, refreshments were graciously provided – sweet tea and all! (Bee’s is also a bit of a museum as the walls are covered with fascinating historical photos and posters. Go check it out.) Several staff members from the Orlando Obama Office were in attendance. We were introduced to the man who had been put in charge of our section of town and would be organizing our activities from a local base office. Our community organizer, Robert Nnake is a dynamic young man from Houston, Texas – a first-generation American, born of Nigerian parents. (Yeah, someone said – a future “Obama!”) We had a fruitful evening as Robert explained the plans for the neighborhood, the activities that would be going on, and the plan of action from now until the election. We learned how to make canvassing phone calls and actually spent a half hour making actual calls right from our seats in the restaurant – the Obama staff provided the call sheets. I was already familiar with doing this and dove right in. As usual, many of the numbers were disconnected ones, but I did speak with a lady who lived right down the street and was ready to come join us that evening. She said that she and her husband were retired so they could work for Barack any time of day! The evening resulted in many connections made and ideas shared as attendees put their heads together to address the needs of our group as we moved forward. I designated myself as the official photographer for the group and if I can figure out how to post some photos from the event, I will! Robert has submitted them to Chicago, so maybe they will show up on the front page of Obama.com! Check me out wearing my new shirt in my updated Profile photo! Again, a very fruitful evening.
Sunday afternoon I was going about my planned activities for the day when my phone rang. It was Robert. Can you go out canvassing now? he asked. Hmmm, of course! 99 days until the election – any other tasks can wait. The luck of the draw gave me a very cute neighborhood. I am certainly learning about all the areas around me that I am not aware of, as they are tucked back off the main roads out of sight. This time I spoke to more people than I did last Saturday, which is always refreshing. All except one were pro-Obama and those also wanted to sign up as volunteers! Yay! I had an interesting conversation with the “undecided/leaning to the lesser of two evils” (McCain -HUH?) person, but we are told to be polite and not get into arguments, so I did my best to make my points politely and leave. Oh well, it was good practice, until a terribly severe thunderstorm cut my campaign short. Driving with near zero visibility and through streets that had become lakes, so ends this weekend!
99 days until the election… make your time count!
This past Saturday, July 19, marked my first foray into actually going out face-to-face with the public...on a mission for Barack! The Obama for America headquarters in Orlando partnered with Orlando 4 Obama to kick off their Orlando, Florida Canvassing. This is one organized machine!Many eager volunteers arrived as I did for the 3 PM training session, paired up, and then hit the streets. I chose to drive myself and my two teammates to our "turf zone" as I was familiar with the neighborhood. The luck of the draw had given us a large area to cover, so we split up - me by myself and Pete and Lindsay together. I guess they thought I was cool! It felt slightly intimidating as those residents who were out in the neighborhood viewed us with skeptical eyes. Who were these strange people and what did they want? Our job was to simply determine the level of support for Barack Obama and take advantage of any other opportunities, such as Voter Registration, as they arose.It became a bit frustrating as door after door remained unanswered, even those where I could obviously hear the TV playing inside. My team regrouped at the corner as Lindsay waved excitedly. "We got one Voter Registration!" Lindsay & Pete = 1, Glo = 0. Well, that's OK! We pressed on.I finally got to have a conversation with a middleaged woman who invited me in to her air-conditioned apartment. She was rather frustrated and cynical with the state of affairs in the U.S., and described to me her concerns: the economy, jobs, health care, opportunity. I assured her that I understood completely and that Obama was on her side. She felt as if politicians said one thing and then did another. I left her with some literature as she invited us to come back in a few weeks.The Florida summer rains came and put an end to our street canvassing, but we had covered most of the area. Back at Headquarters, we swapped pavement for telephones and computers as we logged into the Voter Phone Bank to make cold calls. Again, this was to determine support level and any opportunities to recruit volunteers. Once again I seemed to have "no one home" - phones remained unanswered - except for the one lady who was very curt and snappy and hung up on me! Rowrr! That's OK! To be expected. It's just the beginning and there's plenty of ground to cover.For those of you who may not know, here's where to show up to volunteer if you live in Orlando:Obama Headquarters, 231 East Colonial (corner of Highland and Colonial - turn onto Highland and parking is in the back). Saturdays: 10 AM and 3 PM, Sundays: Noon and 4 PM. That's when the Canvas waves go out.Simple as that. No need to sit and talk and wonder what to do, there's plenty to do here.The energy and passion are high. Let's take Florida!
Hello all - if you haven't seen the July 17 story on the Obama main page yet, you have to check this out: http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gGx7qF
Get on the bus! This is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen! Too bad we don't have more of these buses - and yes, it is powered by BIO-DIESEL.
Well, tomorrow will be using the shoe-leather hitting the streets of Orlando. Boy, would love to see this bus in FLORIDA! :-)
There are all kinds of sayings about preparation. Can never have enough of it I suppose. That’s why I’m reading Barack’s book to understand his thinking, and going grocery shopping wearing a “Vote for Change” t-shirt, hoping to strike up a conversation. :-) I felt restless today, but those tasks, plus making new contacts here and making new plans for next weekend’s outreach will have to do. I feel like the horse at the starting gate – ready to go.
Reading "The Audacity of Hope" today just keeps making me say “wow” about all the intricacies of our government and how Barack has been carefully picking his way through all the chaos, like stepping on stones crossing a brook. Considering the book was written in 2006, some of the writings are eerily prophetic. Even in his early days, he avoided contributions from lobbyists and PAC’s, and look how he has built his Presidential campaign on the financial support of the people that he wants to represent. It doesn’t get any better than that.
People also don’t realize how hard it is to affect change and the responsibility we will have to take in November to elect local politicians who will represent our desires. WE are the change we want to see. If we can get the right people into office, that’s a start. Or maybe we need to run for office ourselves? Hmmm.
This past Thursday night I was with a group of people at a Toastmasters International meeting (not a political gathering). I mentioned that I was going to be away from the meetings for a long time because I would be devoting my spare time to working with the Obama campaign. I had several people approach me afterwards indicating their support for Barack and offering help. Then a friend of mine walked up to me. In somber tones she proceeded to warn me about what I was getting into – that she had read that Obama was a Muslim, and he had actually written in his book that he would take the side of Islam against the US. Huh? And other things that I knew were lies and smears. I said, “Yeah, yeah, send me that link.” I received the link from her the next day. I was enraged to see the article and I could tell from the passage “quoted” what the real meaning was. Later that evening, after I purchased “The Audacity of Hope” I found the reference and the context it was in. I was not surprised to see that the conservative editorialist had removed sentences from the paragraph to further distort the meaning!
Obama was writing about immigration to America and the challenges that immigrants of all kinds face in being assimilated, feeling like they are safe, welcome and accepted in America. He wrote of how he attends meetings of newly sworn-in Americans and encourages them in their newfound citizenship. After 9/11, Arab and Pakistani Americans were afraid that the US would go down the same path as it did with the Japanese internment camps during World War II. He would stand with them for their civil rights. (“The Audacity of Hope,” page 261)
It is chilling to see that there are people out there who willfully sit there and chop up passages, twist them and then publish articles out on the internet trumpeting their propaganda, and leading gullible readers down a false path. Get informed – read his book – and be ready to counteract the smears!
See you later, I‘m on my way to another grassroots meeting…
To be an accurate journal, I should have begun this blog on June 28 - the day I attended a local "Unite for Change" event in Orlando, Florida - the day I created my "my.BO" profile - the day I guess I could say "officially joined" the ranks of millions who have gotten off their comfortable couches and joined Barack Obama in saying "Yes, We Can!" Who are we to complain about society if all we do is sit and do nothing?
I've posted in my Profile one of my favorite quotes I read many years ago by Edmund Burke, an Irish philosopher/politician who lived through the American, French and Industrial Revolutions - so he had much to comment on! “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”
In doing a little research today, I found another quote of his that is equally relevant to our current moment in time: “No one could make a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.”
Maybe some of us struggled with that thought – oh, what can I do? Not much. Maybe a little. One dollar is only One dollar. But have a million people give a dollar each = 1 Million Dollars. Oh, we’ve seen that already come into play with Barack’s amazing “people’s funding.” And it works! What amazing courage and proof that we CAN make a difference together.
That “Unite for Change” event was inspirational as we went around the room and spoke of who we were and why we were there – Democrats, people who filed to change their party to Democrat at the meeting, former Hillary supporters, a woman who was not even an American citizen but wanted to help elect the next American president, a Republican who wanted to support Barack, whites, blacks, Latinos – all led by a young man who will not turn 18 until 2 weeks after the election! He said he will vote for Barack’s second term of office! Wow!
One more thing, today I began reading "The Audacity of Hope." I'm not even out of the first chapter and already have learned more about the history of American politics in a beautifully clear "nutshell" than I have ever known. Ah - NOW I understand!... More to come on what prompted all this.
