It was a raucous reception for the Senator as he greeted what seemed like close to a thousand people at H2O Restaurant and Lounge Wednesday in Washington D.C. The line to get in was long (see photos), but I had my e-ticket and was ready for anything.
The line started moving at around 7:30, and flowed quickly with most people filtering in by 8. Barack didn't speak 'til around 9:30, but I had a great time chatting with fellow supporters who were very quick to share their experiences of grass roots activism and what inspired them to support this man.
I also spied some Families for Obama members who had volunteered and responsible for "crowd control". The crowd wasn't much in need of control, of course until Barack came out to speak. He transfixed us all for close to 45 minutes before engaging the crowd afterwards (I got to shake his hand!)
His speech focused on several key topics, including the importance of education, our faltering health care system, the need for us to get out of Iraq, and the unique promise of the U.S. to be a true world leader once again. His call for the District to finally get an electoral vote was met with the loudest applause of the night, hitting a note that seemed to resonate very strongly with the young hip urban crowd.
Like any time I have watched him speak, he seemed to take the audience to that place, about 15 minutes in, where you realize the rhetoric has been stripped away and all you have is the absolute sincerity of his conviction. The place where our cynicism has fallen away and we have allowed ourselves to hope that what he speaks of can become true. And the best of all is that it starts with us, not with Barack. Getting to that point never gets old to me, and last night was no different.
Driving out of the city that night, due to my unfamiliarity with the city (I am recent transplant) I drove past the Washington Monument and the Lincoln, Jefferson and FDR memorials on my way back to Arlington. All of sudden they seemed like more than mere monuments to me. Instead, cast in the light of the energy of Barack’s speech, they seemed like beacons of hope for the future, a future that I could help create, and not just for myself, but for my young son and others of the coming generation.
I feel Barack Obama is the next cornerstone of that great Amercan legacy, and we are all lucky to witness it, as well as foster and enable it. It’s a very exciting time to be an American.
See my pics here:
Link
And a video I took here:
Justin Trawick headlined the first Jammin’ for Obama event at Jammin’ Java in Vienna, VA on Monday. I got there around 6:30, attempting to do my best impression of Cameron Crowe in Almost Famous. Sadly, Kate Hudson was not on hand, but Lindsey Brooks from Families for Obama was which was just as good.
The opening act was a young trio called either Empty-J or NPJ - I couldn’t quite hear over the din of the room. They were playing their first gig and earned extra points for the Obama stickers they attached to various body parts (see photos.)
By 7:30 or so there were close to 40 people in the room with a strong family presence and lots of cute little ones running around. Justin played acoustic guitar and sang his own songs, accompanied by a friend on the string bass. If I had to categorize the style, I’d call it a little like David Gray but with the rapid-fire lyrical delivery of Barenaked Ladies. A good time was had by all.
I posted pictures here:
To hear some of Justin’s music, check out his website at:
-Jason
Around 20 people showed up on Saturday to sport their colors and signs for Obama '08 in Clarendon, a townlet in Arlington, VA. At least one supporter was of the canine persuasion (see link for pictures.) Jaime Mulligan did a good job of leading us all in Obama cheers and the crowd was very receptive. I got the feeling that there was a lot of positive sentiment out there, because once onlookers saw the Obama signs, there were usually cheers, especially closer to the more bohemian coffee joints along the route. Indeed, before we even set foot on the parade route, there were many requests for Obama stickers from both fellow paraders and onlookers.
Several of our crew kept themselves busy canvassing the crowd getting volunteer sign-ups and distributing stickers. The rain that had been forecasted held out, giving us instead a reprieve from the unseasonally warm weather with generous cloud cover.
All in, I would call the outing a success and yet another shining example of how grassroots organization combined with the power of the internet can bring about change. We could tell the crowd was hungry for something new, and if everything goes well in the coming months, I feel we can deliver on that promise of change.
To everyone in the NoVa area we would love to see you at the “Jammin’ for Obama” event at Jammin’ Java in Vienna on Monday, May 14. It will be great music and a chance to network with others who care much about ONP Barack Obama.
Click below for pictures of the parade:
Hello everyone, my name is Jason Gunnink, and I would like to introduce myself as the Families for Obama administrator for Northern Virginia.
I live in Arlington with my wife Susan and son Jack. This is my first time volunteering for anything political, but Barack Obama has made me excited about the political process again. At the kickoff party my wife and I held I was happy to meet many others who feel the same way.
I am going to be helping both Families for Obama and Arlingtonians for Obama in their regional grass roots efforts. I am hoping to set up some kind of regularly occurring events for NoVa in particular as well as helping the other groups.
Given that it is a bit of challenge to be logging into all of these different sites, I prefer to manage this region from the main Obama site. My username is jgunnink and my zip code is 22204. If you live in NoVa and would like to stay connected on events near you, please send me your email address.
This site has been shown to be a better indicator of support than opinion polls.
With the announcement that Barack raised 25 MM, trading on his shares increased 4.4%.
~2% came from Hillary, with 2% coming from Edwards and Gore, but still, this is marvelous news.
A couple more months and they'll be neck and neck.
Susan and I were shocked by the sign-up for our party given that we didn't post until the Monday before the webcast. Perhaps it was the promise of wine and cheese, but we had over 20 attendees, some excited about the Senator and his platform and some just curious.
One theme resounded in the conversations that took place, however, and that is that many are tired of feeling excluded from the political process and were ready to engage it in seriously, some for the first time in their lives (including myself.)
The party started at 3 with the webcast starting at 4. We had some technical difficulties initially but after a while it was running more smoothly. We didn’t catch the final 10 minutes or so as the signal was dropped, but we heard most of what people were concerned about, and that seems to be health care, campaign reform, and the war in Iraq.
I asked the people at our party to list what were the most important issues to them, and themes seemed to support what people in that little library in Iowa (and I’m sure all over the country) were thinking. I tried to summarize the themes into more general categories and then sorted them by descending number of mentions. Here are the results:
Issue/#Mentions
Health Care 8Environment 7War 6Leadership 3Human Rights 2National Debt 1Church and State 1Engage Electorate 1Campaign Finance 1Technology 1National Security 1Immigration 1
So it was pretty clear that health care, the environment, and the war are all weighing heavily on people's mind. Personally I feel that Barack Obama is the candidate who will best be able to help on these fronts.
I also made a pitch on fundraising, and am proud to annouce that $575 was raised at the party! This puts me more than halfway to my goal of $1000.
I want to thank everyone who attended so much for making this a real event. I had feared that only a few people would show up at best, but the turnout just proves to me that Americans haven’t given up on the political process. When a candidate like Barack Obama comes along, one with honesty, integrity, and intelligence, people are willing to listen. Thanks again.
Here is a link to the photos. If it doesn’t work, don’t worry, I’ll be sending out an email as well.
Looking forward to seeing you all at future events!
Met a lot of great people at this meeting, which happened on 2/27 in Burke, VA.
There was tremendous amount of enthusiasm in the room, which was filled with people from all walks of life. The host, Kulia Petzoldt, who is one of the founding members of "Families for Obama" gave a keynote speech of sorts in which she emphasized the importance of strong leadership in America if our children are to have a country worth inheriting. She said she believes Barack Obama is the type of leader who can provide this leadership. Everyone in the room agreed.
There were two film crews on hand, one from Japanese public television, and the other an independent filmographer who was inspired by Barack's message and wanted to capture people's enthusiasm on film. The Japanese crew interviewed lots of people asking how it was that each of us came to support Barack.
One strong theme emerged - most people felt truly invested in the political process for the first time in their lives. Many also said that for them supporting Barack wasn't just a partisan charade to win the White House, but a true belief in his ability to transform the country, that is, of course with the help of each and every one of us.
At one point we broke off into groups to do some brainstorming on how to get the word out. The group I was in, which was mostly Arlingtonians and some people from D.C. proper, came up with two good ideas, one of which was for us each to send personal snail mail letters to friends and loved ones educating them on Barack's platform and asking to contribute. We felt these would be harder to ignore than email, and also show a strong personal commitment to the cause.
The second was the idea of a Progressive Social Party, where each of three or four households host and send invites to everyone in the neighborhood. The goal is to get 50 people to attend, many of whom have not yet made a solid choice as to who they will vote for.
After agreeing to an interview from the independent filmographer and some spirited discussion with other attendees, I left the meeting very energized about my decision to join the campaign. It was shortly thereafter that I came up with the idea of posting Barack's speeches in a searchable wiki website called Barackipedia. I'm hoping to use my computer skills in other ways to help get the word out.
I've posted this before, but here is the link to Barackipedia again:
All in all, I'd really recommend to anyone new to the campaign to attend an organizing meeting. The internet grass roots movement is wonderful, but it also gives one a greater sense of community to meet the faces behind the screen names.
There's a powerful buzz building, and it's exciting to be a part of it.
If you have been wanting to get to know candidates but are not sure about who in the media to trust, how about the candidate's own words?
To facilitate people getting to know my candidate of choice, Barack Obama, I have created a wiki website that is a searchable archive of every speech transcript posted on his web site. I've called it Barackipedia.
The site contains close to 50 speeches spanning from October 26, 2002, all the way up to his campaign announcement speech February 10, 2007.
How can you use Barackipedia? Just type terms in the search box in the upper right hand corner of the homepage, and you will get a listing of every speech that mentions that term, and well as the snippet of the speech where the term is mentioned.
E.g., interested in his stance on health care? Type "health care" to see your results. You can then click on the link for any speech that pops up and read it in it's entirety or do a page search (CTRL-F) to bring you to the exact spot where the term occurs. Want to know when and where Barack used the phrase "audacity of hope". Just type in the box to find out.
My goals for this page are:
I encourage any Barack supporters maintaining their own blog or contributing to a community blog to post this as a new resource for every one in the extended campaign network.-Jason
Barackipedia: Link
View my donation page directly: Link
Got this great link from my sister-in-law:
I found this photographer's account of life in two medical units in Iraq to be quite moving:
Sweet, I must live in the most enlightened state in the union! Timothy Kaine, the Governor of Virginia, will support Barack. It turns out Kaine, Barack, and Senator Jim Webb (D-Virginia) are all friends who have helped each other in the past.
After Webb's brilliant rebuttal of the State of the Union, how about an Obama/Webb ticket?
I particularly love this quote from the article:
"Sen. Obama is just in a completely different category than anybody I've ever stood on a stage with," Kaine said in the Jan. 31 interview. "There is just a feeling of, you know, kind of a projection of hope on him from an audience that is just unreal. It's unreal."
I don't know if this country will allow Barack to lead it, and quite frankly I am fearful about his safety, but he could bring back the feelings many of us had for John and Bobby Kennedy. Very hopeful. You go! One of my dear friends feels the same as you and is signing up to volunteer as well.
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Susan and I have some of the same reservations about his safety. Barack was on 60 minutes the other day with his wife Michelle. They asked her this question point blank and her reply was that as a black man he could be shot on his way to the gas station. She went on to say that you can't live your life in fear.
That made us feel a little better, but still. I joked with Susan that we should hope for a Clinton/Obama ticket for Pres./VP, because killing a woman would be considered an act of cowardice, and if they had the audacity to do that, then the bigots would get a black man as president. :>)
This is the answer I wrote in reply to a friend who asked me this question. Here is his question with my reply:
------------------------------
Jason,
Since I am so apathetic and jaded about American politics, do you mind providing me with one or two paragraphs on why I should consider BO as the Democratic contender?
Honestly, my biggest concern is his race. I'm ready. I'm just not sure the rest of America is ready.
Do you think he has a legitimate chance to win the White House or are you primarily interested in him spreading his message during the primary / election?
Actually, I'm very jaded myself. In the last two elections I have voted "against" Bush instead of voting "for" anyone else. I'm tired of casting my vote for candidates I don't believe in. On the other hand I don't believe in voting for someone just to make a statement, like many did for Nader in the last two elections.
I believe in Barack Obama. I didn't know anything about him until I read his book "The Audacity of Hope". That book has restored my faith in politics, that we can change this ridiculous state of our government, which he says is tainted by the "smallness of bipartisan politics". I had never seen his keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2004, so I watched in on YouTube. I was blown away by his conviction, his integrity, his abilty to move people with his words. And he has a definite plan on all of the issues in his platform. He lays it out in his books, his speeches, his website. It's all there for people to decide if he is the right man for the job.
And that's just what I'm willing to do. If the Democrats don't nominate him then I will vote for the frontrunner. But I believe that his candidacy is strong enough to transcend race or any other divisive aspect of our culture. That when you hear him speak, you will think that maybe somebody like this doesn't come around too often. I'm hoping you'll feel like I feel and what I imagine people felt when JFK was running, that this is the chance to be part of something magical.
So this was more than two paragraphs, and I hope you won't think I'm crazy, but that's the way I feel about it. I've never felt this way about a politician before. It really is hope that inspires me - the hope that he can transform this country and bring us back from the precipice. And make us all feel like Americans again, instead of just two sides of the Jerry Springer show.
I guess the biggest concern most people have with Obama is the impression that he is a centrist who will compromise the core values of the Democratic party. In his book "The Audacity of Hope" he does describe certain moments that could give people that impression, for instance at the welcoming ceremony for new senators. Obama chatted cordially with Bush and even subconciously put his arm over his shoulder at one point when they were talking about both of them having had to debate Alan Keyes.
On the other hand, Jim Webb (D-Virginia) whose son is in Iraq, refused to be photographed with Bush and when Bush asked him how his son was doing, he said "I wished we would withrdraw the troops." To which Bush responded "That's not what I asked. I asked 'how is your son'?" To which Webb responded "That's between me and my son." Now I don't blame Jim Webb for being adversarial in this situation, he obviously has a lot more personal stake in Iraq than a lot of people. I absolutely loved his reply to the State of the Union and I think he too represents the future of Democratic party leadership.
What comes out in the book, however, is not that Obama is apt to shy away from contentious issues, it's just that the adversarial nature of the currrent system is something that was specifically created by the Republicans (starting in the 80s and worsening greatly in the 90s with the likes of Gingrich et. al.) and not organic to our system as imagined by the founding fathers. Furthermore, he feels that when democrats play the same game (strict party-line voting, threatening the careers of senators who won't fall in line, negative campaign ads, etc.) then we cheapen the values of the Democratic party, which he feels are much more evolved that those of the Republicans.
Such overt disregard for the checks and balances of the system always leads to a backlash, and it did against Gingrich's cronies in the 90's or with the last Congressional election. We have control again, but we should not not remake ourselves in the image of the Republican party out of spite. Getting more of a consensus in Congress by the merit of the issues themselves can go a long way in terms of getting things done.
There's an interesting anecdote he has in the book about a democratic senator with a lot of clout whom Karl Rove and other's tried to bully into a position on a certain bill. The senator said that if the Republicans gave them an amendment to the bill that he could guarantee 70 aye votes in the Senate, two which Karl Rove replied "but we only need 51." Basically, he was saying if we can't get your support then we'll find it somewhere else.
According to Obama, this is what is wrong in the current environment, and would never have happened in decades past, when political adversaries could have great respect for one another and even be friends outside of the arena of politics. In the end, he is saying that the core values of being an American override those of party. I think he said it best in the 2004 DNC:
"The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I've got news for them too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents poking around in our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and yes, we've got some gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported the war in Iraq. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America."
I'm serious here. If nothing else, pop over to Borders and read the prologue to the book. I've had to reread several paragraphs 6 or 7 times, not because I didn't understand them, but because I marveled at the profundity, concision, and humility present in each of them.
The following paragraph is but one example, and something which my fellow Grinnellians should much appreciate:
"Eventually, my rejection of authority spilled into self-indulgence and self-destructiveness, and by the time I enrolled in college, I'd begun to see how any challenge to convention harbored within it the possibility of its own excesses and its own orthodoxy. I started to reexamine my assumptions, and recalled the values my mother and grandparents had taught me. In this slow, fitful process of sorting out what I believed, I began silently registering the point in dorm-room conversations when my college friends and I stopped thinking and slipped into cant: the point at which the denunciations of capitalism or American imperialism came too easily, and the freedom from the constraints of monogamy or religion was proclaimed without fully undrestanding the value of such constraints, and the role of victim was too readily embraced as a means of shedding responsibility, or asserting entitlement, or claiming moral superiority over those not so victimized."
Here's another, but basically the entire book is quotable:
"And sometimes our ideological predispositions are just so fixed that we have trouble seeing the obvious. Once, while still in the Illinois Senate, I listened to a Republican colleague work himself into a lather over a proposed plan to provide school breakfasts to preschoolers. Such a plan, he insisted, would crush their spirit of self-reliance. I had to point out that not too many five-year-olds I knew were self-reliant, but children who spent their formative years too hungry to learn could very well end up being charges of the state. Despite my best efforts, the bill still went down in defeat; Illinois preschoolers were temporarily saved from the debilitating effects of cereal and milk (a version of the bill would later pass). But my fellow legislator's speech helps underscore one of the differences between ideology and values: Values are faithfully applied to the facts before us, while ideology overrides whatever facts call theory into question."
