Back in January before the Virginia primary -- what seems like years ago now -- I posted a blog with translations of "Yes We Can". Since the primary, I have gotten a few additional translations. Now almost on the eve of this historic election, when we will all get to proudly cast our ballots for Barack Obama, it is time to post an updated version. I wish I also had translations of "Yes We Will" to add and then on Wednesday that I could add "Yes We Did!" translations, but we'll have to do that after November 4.
If you want to see the updated translations, here's the link --
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/kevinvincent/CjTS
I have been so proud to be part of this amazing movement for Change and Hope. And like you, I can't wait to see Barack in the White House.
Thank you so much for everything you all have done for the past two years, and for everything else I know you will do during the next three days, to make this dream for all of us come true. We still have much work to do, but I know that --
Yes We Can!
Yes We Will!
Kevin Vincent, Coordinator
Arlingtonians for Obama
Pat Haman (co-coordinator and co-founder of Arlingtonians for Obama, and also my wife), has formed a team to participate in this year's MS Walk to raise funds for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. We are joining our interest in finding a cure for multiple sclerosis with our grassroots efforts to elect Barack Obama. Pat is the Team Captain and she and I invite you to join "TeamObama: Walking for Change."
The team will be walking April 6 in Reston starting at 9:00 am. The walk is 3.5 miles in length and everyone is encouraged to wear their Obama sportswear, hats, and buttons to show their support for Team Obama! The Walk will conclude before noon.
We have met so many wonderful people campaigning for Barack at the grassroots level; this seems to be a fun way to continue our message of hope here in Northern Virginia. To join the team, you can sign up online at http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/TeamObama As some of you know, Michelle Obama's father suffered with MS and Senator Obama supports the work of the National MS Society. You can see Senator Obama's video urging support of the National MS Society at -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VB90yV17f0 Unless you are planning to go to Pennsylvania on the weekend of April 6 to campaign for Senator Obama, we think it is especially fitting that Obama volunteers in Northern Virginia support Barack Obama and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society by joining Team Obama: Walking for Change in the MS Walk on April 6. Please join Team Obama in Walking for Change!
If you are unable to join us, please consider making a small donation to help our effort. We, as well many other Obama supporters in Northern Virginia, have a number of people in our lives suffer from the devastating effects of MS. Every contribution to research brings us one step closer to helping people live symptom free for longer and longer periods of time.
UPDATE -- Now that the Virgnia primary is over, the Obama campaign offices in Northern Virginia at 400 N. Washington Street in the City of Falls Church and near Bailey's Crossroads on Leesburg Pike have both closed. We will reopen offices at other locations later after Barack wins the Democratic nomination. Please keep checking this website for announcements of Obama campaign activities until our offices reopen later in the year.
Yes, we can and yes we did! Thanks go to all Northern Virginia volunteers for your fantastic work winning the Virginia primary for Barack Obama in a landslide!
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Back in January before the Virginia primary -- what seems like years ago now, I posted the following blog. Now almost on the eve of this historic election, when we will all get to proudly cast our ballots for Barack Obama, it is time to post an updated version. I only wish I could post translations of "Yes We Will" and then on Wednesday "Yes We Did!"
I have been so proud to be part of this amazing movement for Change and Hope. And I can't wait to see Barack in the White House. Thank you so much for everything you all have done for the past two years, and for everything else I know you will do during the next three days to make this come true.
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We are all proud of the diversity of support for Senator Obama. Eachgrassroots Obama campaign group is a cross-section of America, withvolunteers coming from a wide variety of nationalities and ethnicbackgrounds, and speaking a multitude of tongues. In order to helpdemonstrate the breadth of support for Senator Obama here in NorthernVirginia, a few of our volunteers have begun translating the phrase"Yes, We Can!" from the Senator's New Hampshire speech into the otherlanguages that they speak.Please take a look at the list below. If you speak a language that isnot listed, please add your own translation to our list. It turns outthat "yes, we can" is not a simple phrase to translate into manylanguages, so don't worry if you can't provide a literal translation.In fact, the Spanish phrase "Si Se Puede" is the genesis of "Yes, WeCan!" but it does not translate literally to "yes, we can." But "sise puede" better captures the spirit of the phrase than a literaltranslation of "si nosotros podemos".If your native tongue is not included in the list below, please sharewith us the translation that you think best captures Senator Obama'smeaning when he reminds us all that Yes, We Can!
Si Se Puede -- SpanishHai! Dekiru yo! -- JapaneseSi puo' fare -- ItalianSim se pode -- PortugueseHum kar suktay henh -- UrduEvet! Yapalim!-- TurkishOui, c'est possible -- FrenchJa, das machen wir -- GermanDa, My mozhem! -- RussianYichalal -- AmharicBai, Ahal Dugu -- BasqueWo men zuo de dao! -- Mandarin ChineseTak, My mozhemo! -- UkrainianBid Chadnaaa -- MongolianAyo, menk karogh enk! -- Armenian
Ooba, kylalabyz! -- Kyrgyz
Ndio, tu ta weza! -- Swahili
Chven shegvidslia -- Georgian
Jes, ni povas -- Esperanto
Hami Garna Sakchaun -- Nepali
Oo-Lin Hal-Soo-It-Suh! -- Korean
Neh, boroomeh -- Greek
Na'am Nahnu Qadirun -- Arabic
Oui, On peut! -- Quebecois
Sim, pode-se -- Brazilian Portuguese
Ja, het kan! -- DutchA kan de! -- SrananSi por! -- Papiamento
Da, mi mozemo -- Croatian
Ja, Ons Kan! - Afrikaans
Kyllä. Me osaamme! -- Finnish
Haa, hum kar sakte hain! -- Hindi
Ha ji, Chak de! -- Punjabi
Au, Aame Shu! -- Gujrati
Beyachad yecholim -- Hebrew
Tak, my możemy -- Polish
Chu 4;g ta sẽ lām Đứợc -- Vietnamese
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"Yes We Can" in More Languages --
Kaya Na Tin Ito!! -- Tagalog
Kasaysayan at Pagbabago -- Tagalog (alternative)
Baleh, Ma Meetavaneem -- Farsi
Iyie Eelaa Naa -- Ogoni
Igen, meg tudjuk csinálni -- Hungarian
Ha, Amra O Pari! -- Bengali (Shadhubhasha) Oy, Amra Parmoo! -- Bengali (Sylheti)
Ian Martinez sent the following message last night to the DC for Obama group that he leads. I think it is worthwhile reading by all of us in Virginia so I'm posting it here with Ian's permission:
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Well, troops,As we go forward in this process to elect the next president, our next president, it is important to remember that no one is giving this thing away, and just as the Senator tells us, no change worth making was ever achieved without hard work. Remember when he so eloquently defined hope as the fuel that drives us to achieve the impossible, to do what we thought we couldn't? Hope exists for right now. The pundits -- and the apologists, even our own -- will talk about the power of the media to build someone up, to break someone down.I prefer instead to focus on the power of legions of volunteers delivering decisive victory in Iowa. Those very same pundits and partisans will talk about a reality check, about the fears of more traditional voters.I prefer to think forward, to eschew fear and to deliver an equally decisive victory in South Carolina. And there will be some who, finally feeling the sting of defeat, jump ship, or see their will flag in the face of a letdown -- to this I can testify because we saw a number of those other campaigns jumping onto our rolls in the past week. I prefer to see an opportunity to take victory back in the south and in the west -- and to add even more supporters hungry for change.We've tasted sweet victory in the freezing cold, and now we've tasted bitter defeat on what seemed the sunniest of days. To those who would make sense of this process, who would analyze or explain it, I say: this is life! Up and down. Back and forth. And the only way we win, the only way we achieve anything in this life, is to work for it. There may be some who signed on because it was the cool thing to do, or because it seemed, in the past week anyway, the expedient path. But I doubt there are too many like that. Because we've been working since we were 20 back in national polls, in third place in Iowa and off the radar elsewhere. We've worked when a narrow third quarter fundraising victory -- perhaps just about as narrow as tonight's -- allegedly sealed the race for the opposition. And now, we work. I know every single person on this list has something to give. Every one. Why else come out, why else sign up? Isn't this what you're in it for, to overcome? There are primaries in South Carolina, Nevada AND RIGHT HERE IN THE CHESAPEAKE that need our action and our attention. So now, I urge you to live the words Barack spoke tonight, graciously as ever, "Yes We Can." Can we bring victory to South Carolina? Yes we can, if we organize, cooperate, and sacrifice. Can we sweep the three states we're blessed to call our own? Yes we can, if we show discipline and tenacity. Can we?Yes we can, DC for Obama. Yes we can.Here's to the next one,
Since the fantastic victory in the Iowa caucus I have been bombarded with people contacting me wanting to know how they can get involved in the Obama campaign in Northern Virginia. The best way to volunteer for the campaign in the Northern Virginia region is to join the local grassroots Obama group in the jurisdiction where you live or work. There are many my.barackobama.com groups located in Northern Virginia such as this one where you can post messages or blogs, but the active local groups in the Northern Virginia that meet regularly and organize campaign activities for volunteers are the following -- Alexandria 4 Obama, Arlingtonians for Obama (which also includes volunteers from the City of Falls Church), Fairfax for Obama (including the City of Fairfax), and Prince William County Virginia group (including the Cities of Manassas and Manassas Park).
Volunteers with these groups are hard at work now making phone bank calls to voters in South Carolina and Virginia, organizing trips to South Carolina, conducting voter registration drives, organizing fundraisers, rallies and visibility events for the Obama campaign in our area, and working on getting as many votes as possible for Barack Obama in the upcoming Virginia primary on February 12. They can use your help. So please sign up now for one of these groups on my.barackobama.com if you have not done so already.
Kevin Vincent, Northern Virginia Regional Coordinator, VA State Grassroots, Virginia for Obama
On Sunday and Monday, I want to urge you to please help campaign for the local Democratic Party candidates in Virginia and then to make sure that you vote on Tuesday. Everyone who is a member of this group is committed to Barack Obama's candidacy. Many of you are also Democratic activists and already have been hard at work for our local Democratic candidates. On the other hand, I know that many of you are only interested in Democratic candidates in federal elections and that some of you consider yourself to be Independents or even Republicans even though you support Senator Obama's campaign. All of us should consider, however, how a victory for the Democratic Party in Virginia on Tuesday will benefit the Obama campaign.
First -- A Democratic victory in Virginia in Tuesday will definitely put Virginia "in play" in the 2008 general election. For more than 35 years, Virginia has been written off by both parties as a certain Republican "red state" in presidential elections. Neither party has spent any money, time or effort to campaign in Virginia because the outcome has always been considered certain. If the Republicans win enough seats next week to continue to dominate the Virginia legislature and local offices, the national campaigns, including our own Obama campaign, are likely to assume that Virginia will once again be a lock for the Republican candidate in November 2008. Virginia has been trending Democratic in recent state and federal elections, however, and if the Democratic trend continues next week, we can expect to see Barack Obama campaigning here in Virginia next year after he gets the Democratic nomination. Whether Barack ultimately wins or loses in Virginia in November 2008, we are still the winner if we can make the Republican candidate work to defend "red" states like Virginia.
Second -- Governor Tim Kaine has been an early and active supporter of Senator Obama's presidential candidacy. He was the first governor to endorse a candidate outside of his own state. The Governor's political staff are leading the Obama campaign effort in Virginia right now. Besides leading the Obama campaign in Virginia, Governor Kaine is also leading the 21/51 effort of the Democratic Party of Virginia to take back control of the Virginia legislature next week. We can reward Governor Kaine and his staff for their support of the Obama campaign by helping them achieve a victory next week.
Third -- A victory for the Democratic Party in the Virginia legislature next week will increase President Obama's ability to govern our Nation after he is elected President. How so? The Virginia legislature controls the congressional redistricting process that will occur in Virginia after the 2010 census, midway through President Obama's first term in office. For several years, the Republican Party has controlled both houses of the Virginia legislature, and as a result, they were able to "gerrymander" congressional district boundaries so that only three (3) of the eleven (11) members of Congress from Virginia are Democrats. If the Democratic Party wins control of one or both houses of the Virginia legislature next week, we will be able to redraw the congressional district lines so that the Virginia delegation in Congress better reflects the views of Virginians -- and so that Virginia's Representatives in Congress will be more inclined to support, rather than obstruct, President Obama's policies.
Fourth -- A victory for the Democratic Party in Virginia next week will help to signal the wave that is sweeping all of America now. That wave is rejecting the gridlock and obstructionism -- the politics as usual -- that is currently controlling both the White House and the Virginia legislature in Richmond. Senator Obama and the Obama campaign are on top of that wave, and plan to ride it to victory in November 2008. We can help swell the wave that will elect Barack in 2008 by supporting a Democratic victory in Virginia on Tuesday.
Fifth and most importantly -- Senator Obama likes to say that his campaign is about more than just electing Barack Obama. The Obama campaign is not just about Barack Obama, it is about all of us, all of us working together to bring Change to America. We can bring Change to Virginia on Tuesday by going out to support Democratic candidates. Then we can bring Change to the White House in November 2008.
Let's all work to support our Democratic candidates in Tuesday's election. We can bring Change to Virginia in the election next week.
If you are collecting signatures to get Barack Obama listed on the Virginia ballot it is now time to turn in your petitions. Please find a notary and get your forms notarized, even if they are incomplete. Then mail them to me --
Kevin Vincent, 3839 26th St. N., Arlington VA 22207
We want to have all petitions turned in by October 31.
Please let me know if you have any questions or are having trouble finding a notary. You can reach me at kevin.vincent62@gmail.com
Governor Kaine will be holding a "Gala Reception" at the Ritz Carlton in Crystal City in Arlington at 7:00 pm on Tuesday, September 25. Tickets start at $75. This is a great opportunity for visibility for the Obama campaign and to gather additional signatures for the petition drive.
Please let me know by reply post if you plan to attend and can help with the petition drive at this event.
Although our "lottery" for someone to attend the Arlington fundraiser with Barack on September 17 came up a little short, we shouldn't give up on the concept of group fundraising for the Obama campaign. The Obama staff has informed me that in order to boost the number of contributors before the end of this quarter and to promote the use of the new Group Fundraising function on my.barackobama.com, they are sponsoring a new contest. I was told that "The group that has the most people donate to their page by September 30th will get a chance to speak with Barack in a conference call!"
More importantly, with nine contributors already, I was told that our group fundraising page is ahead of most other Obama groups. So here's our chance -- if every member of Arlingtonians for Obama can make an online contribution -- no matter how small -- on the group fundraising page we will all be able to participate in our own conference call with Barack.
Remember the contest is for the largest number of contributors, so any amount will do -- $5, $10, whatever you want (of course the more you contribute the more funds for Barack's campaign).
So don't delay, make a contribution on the Arlingtonians for Obama group fundraising page now!
Most Obama groups in Virginia have members who are participating in the Petition Drive to make sure that Barack Obama is listed on the Democratic Primary ballot in Virginia on February 12. If you are not yet participating in the petition drive, we could use your help. And if you have not yet signed the petition, please make sure that you contact your local Obama petition drive group to find an event near you where you can sign the petition. Each congressional district in Virginia has its own petition drive group with a webpage on my.barackobama.com. Just search in Find a Group with the keyword "Congressional" in Virginia for links to the 11 Virginia congressional district petition drive groups.
Every Obama supporter who is registered to vote in Virginia needs to sign Barack's petition!
Unfortunately, we fell a little short of our minimum goal of $1000 for the fundraiser this evening in Arlington. Although we were unable to send anyone to the fundraiser because we fell short, we still raised a total of $730 for the Obama campaign, from ten different contributors. Thanks so much to everyone who contributed!
UPDATE -- If you have contributed in order to participate in the "lottery" to attend the September 17 fundraiser, please forward to me the "thank you" confirmation you have received for the contribution. Although the my.barackobama.com website allows us to track the amount of contributions and number of contributors for the "lottery", we are unable to identify who has contributed. So please let me know if you have contributed so we can put your name in the hat to select the winner. You can send me an email through the website or email me directly at kevin.vincent62@gmail.com.
The Arlingtonians for Obama group has stolen a page from the national Obama campaign and is giving contributors at our newly created Arlingtonians fundraising page a chance to meet Barack on September 17. To see the Arlingtonians group fundraising page and make a donation, click here:http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/maingroup/ArlingtoniansforObama
Your contribution not only gives you a chance to attend the fundraiser and meet Barack but it also helps the Obama campaign meet its twin goal of maximizing contributions and the number of people who contribute during the third quarter of the year which ends September 30.
Your group can use this idea for any upcoming Obama fundraisers in your area. At most fundraisers the Obama campaign unfortunately must charge contributors a very large sum ($1000 or more) to be sure that Barack has the funding he needs to get elected. By pooling our contributions we can make sure that some of the members of your group who can't afford to attend these very expensive fundraisers will have a chance to attend.
The Virginia Petition Drive is underway and we need YOUR help. There are lots of upcoming events where Obama volunteers from Northern Virginia plan to circulate petitions to Virginia voters to make sure that Barack Obama is listed on the Virginia primary ballot in February. The following events have been posted (or will be as soon as we work out the time and locations to meet) on the 8th District Petition Drive webpage of my.barackobama.com or on this webpage. Please sign up at one or more of these events to help us with the petition drive --
Arlington Farmers Markets (most Saturdays)
Alexandria Market Square (one or two Saturdays each month)
Falls Church Farmers Market (starting soon)
Metro Stop Afternoon Rush Hours (starting this week)
Countdown for Change Rally on September 18
Clarendon Day in Arlington on September 29
Vintage Crystal Wine & Jazz Festival in Arlington on September 30
National Folk Festival in Richmond Saturday, October 13 & Sunday, October 14
Plus any other events you can suggest where you think lots of Virginia voters will be gathering.
If you can't find an event posting where you can sign up on the Obama website to volunteer for one of these events, please send me a message and I will pass along your contact information to the volunteer coordinator for the event.
Please do your part to help put Barack on the ballot in Virginia so he can win in February!
Kevin Vincent, 8th District Coordinator for Obama
I apologize for the length of this post, but I thought it might be useful to post here the instructions we have put together for conducting the 8th Congressional District petition drive.You can find at the following link a one page set of instructions for gathering signatures
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df4tdnxh_2gfz2rz&btr=EmailImport
You can download the petition forms at the Virginia State Board of Elections website -- http://www.sbe.virginia.gov/cms/documents/08PVP_Pri_Pet.pdf (form for 2008 Petition of Qualified Voters for Presidential Primary). [Make sure you download that form and not one of the other petition forms on the SBE website that are similar].
When you print the form please make sure you follow the instructions precisely. It has to be on 8.5" by 14" paper (regular 11" paper is invalid) and the form has to be printed on front and back. If you print the petitions on regular size paper or if you print on only one side of the page, the petition forms are invalid and the signatures you gather will have to be discarded. Barack Obama's name is not already filled in so you need to do that. Fill it in as "Barack Obama" -- no middle name or initial.Also check the "Democratic Party" box at the top of the petitionNote that only one person can circulate each page, because that person has to affirm on the back of the form that he or she witnessed all of the signatures on the form.
If multiple volunteers are collecting signatures at an event each volunteer can circulate a petition, but volunteers cannot take shifts where one person gathers signatures on a form and then hands it off to the next person to complete. You do not have to fill out the congressional district number at the top of the petition form, but it is helpful to fill it in if you get signatures from voters from Fairfax County. Most voters don't know what district they live in but they do know their congressman's name. If you are at an event where you expect many voters from Fairfax County, ideally you should have four Fairfax forms -- one for the 10th Congressional District (Frank Wolf is the congressman), one for the 8th (Jim Moran), and one for the 11th (Tom Davis), and one with the congressional district left blank. If you run into voters from Fairfax who don't know who their congressman is, you can guess which district they live in or get their signature on the Fairfax form with the district number left blank.
You also need to keep some petition forms with the jurisdiction blank. In case anybody from other Virginia jurisdictions show up you can just write in the name of the jurisdiction. It is okay if we have petition forms with only one name on them.
I suggest acquiring a long 14" clipboard for the petitions. A clipboard is very helpful in getting signatures in a crowd.
When your petitions are complete, please let me know if you are having any trouble locating a notary to notarize your forms. Several notaries have volunteered to help the ballot petition drive, so if needed, we can organize a "notarization party" where a notary meet petitions drive volunteers to notarize your forms.
You can return your notarized petitions to me.
My address is: Kevin Vincent, 3839 26th St. N., Arlington, Virginia 22207
Most of the Virginia congressional districts are shooting towards the goal of 800 signatures in each district. In order to make sure that the statewide total for the Obama petitions well exceeds the minimim of 10,000 signatures required under Virginia law, however, our goal for the 8th District is much higher than the goals set for the other districts. We need to collect several thousand signatures in Northern Virginia to meet our goals that will make sure Barack Obama gets listed on the ballot, so Barack could really use your help!
Kevin Vincent
8th District Coordinator
