7/28/2008- 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 me, 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... when I place Obama's birthday card in the mail tomorrow, albeit one day late, will now have an even greater meaning to me.
-Nikki in VA
****UPDATE 9/2/2008****
My patient died peacefully at home a couple weeks ago and I didn't feel it was appropriate to ask his wife about it (his vote by absentee ballot), seeing as she was grieving the death of her husband. Anyway, I figured it was just going to remain a mystery... however, I was wrong! As it turns out, the pt.'s wife "knows someone" who is related to an Obama advisor. Apparently this person shared the story about the pt.'s profound support of Obama to him/his campaign. This afternoon I received a copy (from my patient's wife) of a personalized response from Barack that was sent to my patient. This is what the letter said: Dear *******, I heard from friends that you've been strongly supporting my candidacy, and I wanted to send you this brief letter to tell you how much I appreciate your support. Words cannot express how deeply honored I am that you would think of me, and be so focused on our country's future at this difficult time. Regardless of what happens between now and November, your vote is counted in my mind. We all look to the future in different time horizons, and you, perhaps more than most people, can step back from the day-to-day and take the long view of where we're headed as a nation and a people. Because if this, your support is all the more moving, and I will do my best to live up to the faith you have placed in me. Please know that you are in my prayers. Sincerely, Barack Obama My patient received this letter during the last lucid moment of his life, just before he died. His wife said it was the last conversation they had together... he held it in his hand, smiled, and simply said, "how nice".The absentee ballots had yet to be printed here in Virginia before he died, so he did not get to vote, but I just betcha' he's up in heaven right now guiding the election with a celestial campaign! I have a copy of the letter that his wife gave me... it will go in my campaign scrapbook. What a profoundly amazing campaign this has been.
Hi Northern VA! I just wanted to remind folks that there are congressional primaries on tuesday, June 10, 2008. I must admit I don't know if this is ALL of VA (I would guess it is), but I DO know Fairfax County is voting. Please remember to return the favor and vote... there were quite a few congressional incumbents that endorsed Obama before it was "cool". :-) One example is Jim Moran, who is being challenged by another democrat. Anyway, just wanted to send out this reminder. If you are not sure about your district, here is the link to Fairfax candidates. I think you can get to other districts from this site. The second link is for voting records. Thanks!
Nikki
http://www.sbe.virginia.gov/cms/Cidate_Information/Cidate_Lists/CidatesList-Results.asp?ED=6/10/2008&ET=Primary&LOC=059&OFF=ALL&PTY=Democrat
http://www.votesmart.org/index.htm
On saturday May 10th, I headed out once again to feed the monster affectionately known as
my "canvassing for Obama" addiction. :-) Unfortunately none of my local contacts could attend, but as good grassroots campaigners I was quickly matched up with two contacts of a contact's contact. lol! SERIOUSLY! could you get anymore "networky" than that?!?! What an amazing grassroots organization we have here in Obama-land!
Anyway, I left saturday morning after picking up my new friends, Chin (a high school french teacher) and Yong, a graduate student from abroad (China). Yong has been fascinated with U.S. politics and has been travelling around canvassing for Obama (I told him this year has been different than most for a primary season, and he picked the PERFECT year to be in the U.S.!!). :-)
We made our way to Martinsburg, WV and picked up our canvassing packets. We canvassed in the downtown area first. The responses were really positive. We had one man yell from down the street to come back. He said "there's a woman around the corner that wants to talk to you guys"... so back we went. She was so apologetic, saying "I'm so sorry I asked you guys to come all the way back here", of course we smiled and told her how important she was and that SHE is the REASON we were out canvassing. She then went on to ask some Obama policy questions. She stated that she is a republican, but would not be voting for Mccain. She further stated she would NEVER vote for Hillary, so if the choice was between Hillary and Mccain she'd have to vote for Mccain. We quickly gave her the answers to her questions then shared our reasons for supporting Barack Obama. She was really happy with our answers and kept thanking us for walking all the way back to talk with her. we felt really good about it... maybe a new Obamacan was born?? " :-)
We continued on our little journey, and were again summoned to walk a distance to speak to another woman who had questions. She was a young woman, standing outside with her husband and toddler. They were so nice! They had a few quick questions that we happily answered, then they shared that Barack was their guy... they were planning to vote for HIM!! Again, we were quite pleased! To paint a clearer picture for you, I must share the demographics of this particular area of WV. This downtown area was definitely hurting from the recent downturn in our economy. Both this young woman, as well as the republican woman were white Americans... you know... the exact kind of "hard working Americans... hard working WHITE Americans" that Hillary claims won't vote for Obama. I don't think anyone sent them the memo that they are supposed to be voting for Hillary! lol!
After that we ran into some dedicated Hillary supporters who were amazing! We stopped and talked with them for a few minutes. It was a very pleasant and respectful conversation. We commended them for their dedication to the political process, and they commended us as well. They then went on to say something that I must share with all of you.
They all smiled and said that we're all in this together, and that in the end they will work for WHOMEVER the democratic nominee turns out to be! They had nothing negative to say about Obama AT ALL!! When the conversation was over we had a "photo moment" and took a couple pictures together in the name of unity, us in our Obama gear, with them and their giant Hillary sign! They were even saying, "we should send this picture to the media to show them they've got us all wrong! We are all united and will win back the White House"!! I was really moved.
Moving along, we then spent a great deal of time lost in some EXTREMELY RURAL areas of WV... mostly woods... loooooooong gravel driveways that appeared to lead to nowhere! lol! Another area that was showing direct effects of our nations current economic hardship. Guess what?? We found Obama supporters there too!! Apparently, the memo for "hard working Americans, hard working WHITE Americans" hadn't made it to them EITHER! I suppose that's understandable... it was a very remote area therefore it WAS hard to find... perhaps the courier service dispatched to deliver the memo got lost like we did! lol!
After stopping for a quick bite to eat, we soldiered on. Our last neighborhood was a new housing development, quite suburban. Most of them were not home. Out of the few that were home, the tally was a couple Obama supporters, and one... ONE Hillary supporter who said he would gladly support (and volunteer!) for Obama, should he become the nominee!
After returning to the HQ to turn in our canvassing sheets, we stated that we had to get back home to Northern VA. A hard working campaign volunteer overheard us say that and asked if he could ride back with us, because he needed to get home. We said, "OF COURSE!!" and all piled into the car. We had a great ride back and talked about Obama and this amazing campaign. Upon arriving in VA, we all exchanged contact info and said our goodbyes. I now have 3 more new friends! It was another great experience of canvassing for Obama and this worthy cause, and my addiction to canvassing, once again fed, was successfully satiated... at least for the moment! :-)
What an experience!! I spent saturday May 3rd through wednesday May 7th in Raleigh, NC to canvass and volunteer and the electricity in the air was PALPABLE!! The downtown Raleigh office was a buzz with activity and excitement, everyone working as hard as they could to bring Barack a big win! When I walked into the office I was greeted immediately by a super nice lady named Ajuba. She is a local Raleigh resident. We hit it off right a way and paired up with two other ladies, Diane from DC and Shirley from Houston. We all became fast and furious friends, sister for Obama!! We went door to door... to door... to door......... to neighborhood after neighborhood... AD INFINITUM!! lol!! Never a dull moment, laughing all the way! I have canvassed now in several states (VA, PA, NC, WV) and though they were all a lot of fun, I must say that this was an experience above all others. The last couple of days we continued to canvass, but we took it one step further. We dediced to hit a Walmart parking lot in an area of town that was a bit more HRC friendly. We waited until folks were heading back to their car and struck up conversations with them about Barack Obama. We had some really great conversations with some undecided voters. There was also a bus stop located just beside the Walmart so whenever the bus stop would fill up with folks we would go talk to them as well! There was NO WAY to avoid us... we were EVERYWHERE!!! lol! After that we did some visibility with HUGE OBAMA SIGNS on all four corners of a busy intersection. The reception was PHENOMENAL!! Honking horns, waves and thumbs up's from nearly EVERY CAR that passed us by!! Very few negative responses (though there were a couple thumbs down and one woman even gave us "the finger"... she must have been having a really bad day considering it appeared she was SURROUNDED by a city FILLED with Obama-Love!! lol!) Many of you probably know Mia-NC from the blogs here. Well she was soooooo great!! She came and picked me and Diane up and treated us to dinner! It was so nice to meet her in person and spend some time together! She is AWESOME!! On voting day we continued to canvass door to door, sooooo many early voters for Obama and sooooo many people heading out to the polls when we knocked on their doors! There was such a sense of pride among everyone I talked to... white, black, young, old, rich, poor... they were ALL fired up and ready to go!! As the morning turned into afternoon, and voting time was a few hours from ending, Ajuba and I went out driving through neighborhoods in the "Obama-mobile". This was a pick up truck that was adorned with Obama posters, etc. and equipt with a megaphone hooked into a loud speaker. We were shouting to the crowds and the people walking down the street to "get out and vote today! Vote for Barack Obama! Every vote matters! Every vote counts! We only won Guam by 7 votes! Let your voice be heard!! You can make a difference! Come on out and vote for change!!" The response was amazing!! The HQ had a loud speaker outside of the office playing Obama speeches and the "Yes We Can" song all day. The HQ was located in the heart of downtown Raleigh so folks were walking by nonstop and they were all fired up and ready to go!! As the day was coming to a close we added another woman by the name of Kathleen to our group and went to the Obama rally and volunteered there. We got the results of NC just as folks were being seated so the coliseum was full of cheering! It was great! When the rally ended we went to a victory party with the other volunteers to celebrate and watch the Indiana returns come in. We were all on cloud nine! It was only during this party that Kathleen said, in passing, "Clinton News Network" referring to CNN. That caught my attention. So I asked her if, by chance, she hung out on the Obama blog. Turns out she DOES! We'd been hanging out together ALL DAY and had NO IDEA we already knew each other from cyber-world! How funny! When primary night came to a close and the party was over, we were faced with the reality that we all had to say goodbye. It was SOOOOOO SAD!! It was like back when we were kids at summer camp, having to leave each other, not knowing when our paths would cross again. We took pictures, had lots of group hugs, and vowed to keep in touch. Goodbyes are never easy, but we were all very proud of the work we had done and the bonds of friendship we had been blessed with through this process. Let me end this blog by sharing one of the moist poignant moments of my trip to NC. It was sunday night May 4th. We had been out in the field all day. We were all in the HQ office around 8:00 PM, where we received a conference call from none other than the man himself... BARACK OBAMA!! He called to encourage us and stress the importance of bringing in a win in NC. It was a very moving and emotional moment for all of us. Someone put together a youtube video with clips from our office and mixed it with clips from this phone call, so I will end this blog with a link to the video. ENJOY!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XddlE7k56hc
Recently there was a visitor on our message board who was undecided and asking why he should support Barack Obama. This is a copy of his post, followed by me response.
"By Sammy from Austin, TX 11 minutes ago i like obama..but can some realy tell me why i should vote for him?i want to make my mind.email me here taller201@yahoo.com"
Hello,
Thank you for your interest in the political process. Usually these issues for "why we support Obama" are addressed on the message board, but the board moves really fast and can be hard to keep up with. I am happy to take a moment to point out some of the reasons why I believe he is the best candidate for 2008. Healthcare is one area that I am very concerned about. I am a nurse and see this issue from both the providers angle as well as the consumers angle. There is a fundamental difference between Obama's plan and Hillary's plan. They BOTH plan to subsidize for those that can't afford to pay full price for it, so that is good. The problem with Hillary's plan is that she will MANDATE that EVERYONE purchase it. Even though getting a "discounted" price on something is always nice, think about this for a minute... have you ever found yourself being offered a discount on something you really need/want but due to your financial situation you still can't afford it? This is bound to happen in some cases. Therefore if you can't afford to buy healthcare under Hillary's mandate, you will be fined. She has stated ON THE RECORD that she would consider garnishing one's wages or add it to your income tax (which means you pay for it in the end with that income tax return your counting to, perhaps, catch up on your CURRENT debt). Mitt Romney, as governor of Massachussets, has implemented the same plan in his state and there is plenty of documentation to support the fact that is has been a huge failure. Even Mitt Romney himself has abandoned the plan. There are reports of people who not only couldn't afford to purchase healthcare insurance, but are less able to now, due to paying all these fines. See link from the Wall Street Journal and the Salt Lake Tribune below:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120173996744030445.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_8111338
Obama had suggested a mandate only for parents to insure their children. I think that is acceptable, and is a parents responsibility to advocate for the children they bring into this life. However, that is where the similarities end. Obama's fundamental difference is that he believes the TRUE reason folks don't have healthcare is because they can't afford it in the first place. His plan is voluntary for adults, offers subsidies as well, but also focuses on reforming the insurance companies and drug companies to lower their costs. Another issue is economy. There has been a lot of talk about NAFTA lately. The truth is that NAFTA resulted in a huge loss of jobs in our country. Hillary, although she denies it, has been a longtime supporter of NAFTA as recently as 2005 and is on the record DEFENDING outsourcing of US jobs to India in Oct 2005. Americans have been losing jobs and factories have been closing down LONG BEFORE Oct. 2005, which leads me to believe that her drastic change on her NAFTA position is either because she new she would be running for president and new Americans would not favor her longtime support regarding NAFTA, or perhaps (and even more disturbing)... that she (like her vote to give the Bush administration the permission to go to war with Iraq) once again displayed poor judgement in her ability to make sound decisions that have a profound and lasting effect on the American people. (I am including an excerpt regarding this issue and will place the link below it so you can research it in it's entirety):
Hillary Clinton on Free Trade
Supporting Link-----------> http://www.ontheissues.org/Hillary_Clinton.htm Lastly, I am a military wife who completely supported the war in Afghanistan (where my husband honorably served). It was obvious to most Americans that Iraq was a huge distraction and a terrible mistake from the beginning. Obama has ALWAYS been against Iraq, Hillary has not. She will not be able to argue any points against Iraq in November because her vote was the same as Mccains. Obama had the wisdom and the foresight to know it was a mistake. THAT is the kind of leader I want, not a leader who creates, votes for and supports so many mistakes... only to turn around and change her stance AFTER they have failed the American people. Once the mistake has been made, the damage is already done. I want a leader who won't make those poor choices to begin with. I hope this was helpful to you. I could go on and on (as I'm sure you can see), but this letter is long enough. :-) I will provide one more link at the close of this letter where you can compare Obama's stance/issues/voting record with Hillary's (located in the link two paragraphs up in this letter). Good luck with your decision! Sincerely, Nikki
