So you want to know how it all went, the juicy details, the tidbits and stories picked up while traveling to our nation's capital to witness the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States.
Well, most of the story you already know. A movement was born 23 months ago, the hard work of millions led to the most important election of our lifetimes, and our side won! And before us lies the daunting task of rebuilding our economy, our esteem abroad and our confidence in ourselves.
We little know the big picture of what lies ahead. All we can surmise at this point is the first impression our new president gave to America and the world, and it was a mighty strong one.
Getting there, on my part, involved getting on one of Walt Dixie's two buses in the parking lot of a grocery store on Syracuse's East Side. We left just after 8 p.m., driving through the chilly night in good spirits and great fellowship, even in the wee hours.
Walt was quite right in saying that the easy part was getting to Washington. Though you had lines in the New Carrollton Metro station, we got on board quite easily, with special tickets featuring the picture of our new president, and arrived at L'Enfant Square before 6 a.m.
What followed, on my part, was a whole lot of walking in a feeble attempt to get to the security checkpoint on Constitution Avenue. Turns out, having a purple ticket wasn't all it was supposed to be, as the numerous stories have filtered out about waiting in lines and never even getting into the viewing venue near the Capitol.
The walking part consumed two hours as the sun rose over the gathering masses. Quickly, I had to decide - battle the security, or just surrender. As it turned out, the choice was quite easy.
Around 8:30 a.m., the ticket quest ended and I waded into the gathering vigil of hundreds of thousands of my fellow citizens in the National Mall, wedged in cardboard-covered grass between the Capitol and the Washington Monument. They were of all ages, all races, and every background imaginable. And every person I talked to seemed to come from a different state, welled up with pride about what they were about to witness.
Never mind that the ground we occupied stood a solid distance from the nearest Jumbotron, or that the audio from the speakers took some time to get cranked up, or that...well, it was quite cold (thank God for the sunshine). Everyone waited with anticipation, armed with the vast army of hand-held Stars and Stripes handed out by volunteers.
As the dignitaries came out to the podium, they got varied responses. Colin Powell got a nice cheer. The Carters and Clintons were warmly greeted. Dick Cheney, wheelchair-bound in his best Mr. Potter imitation, was not. And any sighting of the outgoing president triggered boos and a lot of "Na na na na Hey hey hey goodbye" singing. They were still doing it when Michelle Obama was being introduced! Not that classy, in my book.
But when it culminated with Barack Obama, splendidly attired in a dark suit and red tie, walking out to the stage, the roar was unleashed - and so were the flags. What a sight for the whole world to see - Americans, even in this down time, proud of their country and proud of their soon-to-be president. It was moving stuff, and no one had said a word yet.
Much of the ceremony itself passed like a blur. Dianne Feinstein said some great words. Rick Warren's prayer fit the moment. Aretha was..well, Aretha. Joe Biden got through his oath just fine, and yes the other musical number was mimed....but it was also 20 degrees outside.
Then, at 12:05, the moment....Barack Obama on one side, Chief Justice John Roberts on the other, Michelle, Malia and Sasha between them, Obama's left hand on the same Bible Lincoln used on March 4, 1861....and Roberts screws up the words! I knew so, and flinched a bit, but few around me likely noticed that the exact oath put in the Constitution 222 years ago was not said.
No matter, though - when Obama said, "So Help Me God", the roar was deafening, the flags waved again, and the wondrous act, perfected in our country, of a peaceful transfer of power from one president to the next had renewed itself once more. But it had never, ever meant as much as it did right now.
If you read Obama's inaugural address, it is quite beautiful. Mentions of scripture, an honest assessment of our many crises, a firm resolve to meet them, both here and abroad, a call for shared sacrifice and service from all of us, and a final evocation not of Lincoln, FDR or JFK, but the words of George Washington himself in the midst of the Revolutionary War. They faced long odds and prevailed. And YES WE CAN do the same.
The poem was nice, and Joseph Lowery's benediction was awesome. But the end part really got me. As the Navy Sea Chanters sang "The Star-Spangled Banner", I found myself singing it, too, loudly, like never before, and almost coming to tears. Never had that song, heard thousands of times before, meant so much. Never had I felt so proud to be an American than on this glorious day.
After a couple of hours drinking in the moment, it was time to head out. Getting back to Maryland, for my part, wasn't too hard (though quite cold), but it took a few hours for everyone on our buses to get back....so the drive home was mostly a lot of sleep, but we got back safely, just after 2 a.m. Wednesday morning. No parade, no inaugural ball...but we had experienced so much anyway.
When my parents called later, I recalled some of the hang-ups with the purple ticket, but Mom was right - at least I was there. I wished every American who wanted to could have been there. It felt like a pep rally for our entire nation, and when I read about how people around the world stopped what they were doing to watch this, it only made the moment more special.
Now back home, all of us, as citizens, have to live up to our part of the bargain. President Obama (it feels so good just to type those words) will do all he can, but we must do the same in our own communities - by being active in our communities, by volunteering, by doing anything we can to help our fellow man. Only by doing this can we pull through this trying time.
And there will be lots of time to hash out the issues. But if nothing else, we all got a chance to share in one of the landmark events in America's history, an event we all helped to make possible.
It's no longer a matter of months, or weeks, or even days. Now it is just hours before Barack Obama raises his right hand and solemnly swears, upon the same Bible Abraham Lincoln used in 1861, to faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and to preserve, protect and defend our Constitution.
And in that moment, America will be reborn.
You can see the rebirth happening already. The immense crowds are already gathering in Washington, and anyone who watched that HBO concert today must have found their soul stirred and their eyes moved to tears. Just the picture of Obama, at the Lincoln Memorial, speaking to the masses under the watchful gaze of our greatest of presidents...the torch passed again.
By an immense stroke of good fortune, I will be among those masses Tuesday, just a proud citizen witnessing one of the most breathtaking events in American history. It's impossible to express the emotions I will feel going there, because there's nothing in life that can compare to being at an event of this prestige.
Through 23 months of being part of this movement, what has been so beautiful to see, especially in these days leading up to the inauguration, is the sense of support and good wishes that people of all persuasions are giving Barack Obama.
To me, that goes beyond common courtesy, and even goes beyond the fact that Obama is following the disastrous presidency of George W. Bush. It relates to a theme common throughout our history - our need for a hero in tough times.
Usually, it's the kind of impulse with its roots in military struggles. It's what drove Americans to support Washington and make him our first president, and helped push men like Jackson, Taylor, Grant and Eisenhower to the White House. Immense success on one field of battle translated into votes and the Oval Office.
Obviously, the military question doesn't apply here. Instead, it's the historic oddity of having seen, twice in our nation's annals, the specatcle of a failed presidency followed by the glory of another.
James Buchanan did nothing while seeing America ripped apart by slavery, yet it set the stage for Lincoln and his incomparable achievements. Herbert Hoover did little for three years while the Great Depression worsened, but out of those ashes came FDR, arguably the best president of the 20th century.
Sound familiar? Well I believe, and surely all of you do as well, that our trying times gives Barack Obama a chance to be one of our great presidents. Look at the way he has already inspired millions to improve their own lives, and made people around the world look at the United States in a more positive light.
The work to change America only began with Obama's election and his inauguration. We know the burden he faces, but he cannot do it alone. We must, in the months and years ahead, work and strive and volunteer in our communities in the same positive, YES WE CAN spirit that made our campaign so special and successful.
First, though, comes that pep talk on Tuesday, with the whole world watching. We are all ready for it, too.
They went through the formal procedure of the Electoral College in the 50 states and District of Columbia, the next step toward making Barack Obama the President of the United States. They will confirm it in Congress Jan. 6, and two weeks later, Mr. President-Elect raises his right hand, swears on the Bible, and becomes Mr. President with the whole world watching.
How wonderful, how refreshing it will be to see an American president respected and loved again. As we all saw in Iraq Sunday, they don't exactly feel that way about Obama's predecessor, and that's a big reason why Obama's presidency will be so transformative.
If we have learned anything in 2008, it's the fact that America can change, that our people can take charge of their nation's destiny if properly motivated by an inspiring leader. You have to give them hope - a phrase we've heard before.
Tonight, I went to see "Milk", the brilliant Gus Van Sant film about Harvey Milk, the man who became America's first openly gay elected official when selected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977, only to be murdered a year later by a fellow supervisor who also shot and killed Mayor George Moscone.
Aside from the quality and the majesty of Sean Penn's performance in the title role, what kept striking me was the eerie timeliness of this film, coming in the year where California voters approved Prop 8, banning gay marriage - in other words, taking away the right for gay couples to be as happy and protected by the law as straight couples. A step back, to be sure.
Oh, and there was another reason it was all timely. Harvey Milk built his political power from a single neighborhood, San Francisco's Castro District. It was a genuine grass-roots movement of people fighting for their right to exist and be full human beings, challenging a status quo that frightened them, intimidated them and put them in the closet.
The overriding theme was that, to build a movement, as Milk said himself numerous times, "You gotta give them hope", that even if you take away all the material possessions of life, you can never snuff out the human desire to hope.
Sound familiar? Oh yes, for it was the very same foundation of our movement, the very words that Barack Obama lived by as he pursued what, at first, seemed like an impossible dream. He gave us hope, and we converted that hope into a powerful political force that overwhelmed all the attempts to take us down.
Just as Harvey Milk became a pioneer by giving millions a champion and a role model 30 years ago, Barack Obama has done the same for us. Now I pray that we carry the lessons we have learned in this movement into changing our communities, our country and the world for the better.
YES WE CAN!!
Five weeks after the great tension and great joy that was Nov. 4, 2008, let it be recorded that Syracuse For Obama was born again, with a new purpose - to serve our community with the same passion, drive and determination that helped us elect Barack Obama to be our next president.
Crowding into a cozy room at DeWitt Community Library, the members of our group - many of them familiar, but a few ones as well - avidly discussed our next steps. Most of the talk centered around how we can best utilize our talent to serve those in need.
The wonderful centerpiece of our meeting was the presentation by Angela Douglas. On her own, she is already making a difference in Syracuse with her group called the CNY Circles Campaign, or "Bridges Out of Poverty". To date, without any funds, they have started to lift 44 familes out of poverty, with the goal of eventually reaching 100 families. And they are looking for new leaders. Email them at cnycircles@contactsyracuse.org, or call (315) 251-1400.
In the meantime, it's been suggested that our group participate in one community outreach event prior to the Jan. 20 inauguration. Many great ideas came up, from food drives to clothing drives, something that can be done after the holidays, when giving is not in the spotlight.
All that is good - but that is not enough. We must, long-term, devote ourselves to community action and lifting the status of our fellow citizens. It is what Barack Obama did in young adulthood, when he could have made a lot of money looking out for himself. It is our calling, too.
The best thing I heard tonight, other than Angela's presentation, was when Andrea Audi brought up the Literacy Volunteers of Amercia, founded here in Syracuse. While health care, economy and education are all fundamental issues we must deal with, none has as large an impact, both societal and psychological, as the inability to read.
Just think about what teaching a child, or adult, to read can do. It opens every door in society, from understanding job applications to educational opportunities. It is imperative that we promote literacy - a nonpartisan issue if ever there was one.
Of course, we will also advocate for the issues that mean so much to us. Combined, the millions of volunteers and contributors that made up the Obama movement can make for one powerful interest group, but only if we stay involved, stay active and hold our leaders, especially our new president, accountable for their behavior.
As we all saw with the disgraceful acts of the governor of Illinois, it's so crucial that citizens are aware of what is going on with the people they elected. Lack of awareness can lead to the sort of corruption and arrogance Rob Blagoevich has displayed.
We know Barack Obama is a special leader, but that only gets us a few steps toward change. For certain, we cannot go back to the apathy, cynicism and ignorance that marked recent years of our political history. We need to supply the President-Elect with the support he needs to lift our country out of our rough spot - and we need to affect change here, too.
And, well, YES WE CAN!! Felt good to say that again....
Just to get the personal stuff out of the way....yes, it's been way too long since I've written in this blog. The election withdrawal was intense, I needed some respite from it all, and the transition news flew so quickly that it was, at times, difficult to keep everything straightened out.
That being said, 26 days of silence was long enough. Time to start the next chapter, for the election was, as so many others well put it, "the end of the beginning". The real change starts on Jan. 20, and Barack Obama is showing that he is quite ready to get to work with the best team he could possibly assemble.
This is merely a summary of the transition news. By far, the best place to go is www.change.gov, so you can find out about Obama's team and hear his great weekly messages about where we are going, and what we will need to do.
First of all, Mr. President-Elect (it will feel so good to get rid of the "elect" part in 50 days' time) has his priorities straight. Given the deep economic crisis, he made that aspect of the new administration his first assignment in the transition, and found a superb group ready to serve.
From Tim Geithner as the new Treasury Secretary, to Larry Summers running the National Economic Council, Christina Romer as chief economic advisor and Melody Barnes as director of the Domestic Policy Council, Obama has put together an experienced, energetic and thoughtful group of leaders that will tackle both long-term and short-term economic recovery.
Plus, the wisdom of former Fed chairman Paul Volcker, heading a new Economic Recovery Advisory Board, cannot be underestimated. It's not enough to set an agenda, then force everyone around you to follow marching orders. It's important to have wise counsel at all times as the agenda takes shape, good people giving valuable input that also bring accountability back to government, something that's been sorely lacking the last eight years.
Even more impressive is the National Security team Barack Obama has put together. Instead of blind loyalty to ideology, Obama has displayed here the importance of having the best people at each post with a wide range of backgrounds and divergent points of view, all working together toward the same common goal - an America that's safer at home, but also stronger and more respected abroad.
The drama kings and queens in the media harped upon the choice of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State from the get-go, as if the primaries were still going on. They wonder, every one of them, whether the new president and his one-time campaign rival can possibly co-exist, and whether Mrs. Clinton can truly be a good soldier in the Obama administration.
There is nothing to worry about here. Hillary carries her own prestige into the diplomatic realm and has the respect of the world community, which is half the battle. In the end, her views match those of the president-elect, and it's a great leap forward from the my-way-or-the-highway days of George W. Bush, which is refreshing enough. Obama made the best possible choice here.
He also got it exactly right with keeping Robert Gates at Defense. Above everything else, Gates is a loyal patriot, and he's done a terrific job with the mess in Iraq he inherited from Don Rumsfeld. There's simply no way a smooth transition could take place to a new Secretary of Defense with two wars going on. Gates will have a new directive as he helps Obama end the Iraq war in a responsible manner before a new man takes charge at the Pentagon.
Everyone else, from James Jones as National Security Advisor to Susan Rice as U.N. Ambassador to Arizona governor Janet Napolitano at Homeland Security, shows Obama's deep belief in the notion that strong leadership is what is needed, not just cheap rewards for campaign loyalty. And how nice to have an attorney general in Eric Holder that actually will put the "Justice" back in the Justice Department following the Ashcroft-Gonzalez abuse of the Constitution.
At this early stage, Barack Obama is setting the table for a great presidency, showing himself to be a leader unafraid of the vast challenges our nation and the world face in 2009 and beyond.
Now, to our local concerns. Ever since the election, I have really missed being part of the amazing group of volunteers that, in Syracuse and all over this land, helped make change possible. Also, I prayed that we could find a way to maintain this spirit of service beyond the election, so that all our communities can benefit from the fire we have started.
If you are in Central New York, and believe that our work needs to continue (and I'm sure you do), join us at DeWitt Community Library inside Shoppingtown Mall on Dec. 9 at 7 p.m., and bring your great ideas. All will be needed.
Electing Barack Obama was, perhaps, the most important thing any of us have done for our nation. What follows - our renewed commitment to take the spirit of YES WE CAN and translate it into good deeds for our fellow human beings - is just as important.
The night of Nov. 4, 2008, at 11 p.m. It's safe to assume that every single person reading this blog, or involved in Barack Obama's positive movement for change, will remember that single moment for the rest of their lives.
Everywhere, when Barack went above the magic number of 270 electoral votes, millions of believers, in America and all over the world, screamed in joy, climbed over each other to hug and kiss each other, and share smiles and so many tears.
In this amazing moment, America has redeemed itself - not just for the leadership sins of the last eight years, but for an entire history of separating people for all the wrong and inhuman reasons. Those divisions are melting away, hopefully forever.
This Election Day was one inspiring moment after another. It started in the morning, when 1,000 students at Penn State gathered to stand in line when the polls opened at 7 a.m. So much for the notion that the youth vote woud not turn out - they did, big, and went 2-to-1 for Barack.
Then it continued through the day, with lines stretched out for hours in every single state in our great land. Sure, there were some machine problems in some spots, but for the most part people stayed in the lines, had unique fellowship, and shared in the amazing exercise of our democracy, one that never fails to inspire no matter who is running for president.
Here in Syracuse, we gave voters rides to the polls, went out in visibility displays all over Central New York, and did even more work on phone banks, all the way to the end. It helped to elect local Democrats - and most importantly, sent Dan Maffei to Congress. Congratulations to him.
Then the night, which started with immense nerves on all our parts - admit it, you felt them too. But once we saw that Indiana, of all places, could be close, then things began to brighten. And when Pennsylvania was called early - my, that was sweet.
By far, the night's crucial moment came when Ohio came to our way before 10 p.m. This was where John Kerry had been denied four years earlier - some thought with funny business. Winning that assured that it was just a matter of time.
So the next hour was spent building up the suspense, as we all knew that the West Coast primaries closed at 11 p.m. Getting Virginia just seconds before that decisive hour was particularly nice, a sign that the South was changing.
Then.....well, it's impossible to put into adequate words the happiness that cascaded down upon us. People of all backgrounds, all economic standings, all races and religions shared pure ecstasy.
When we look back on the moments of history that stick out, those where we know exactly where we were when they took place, it usually involved something sad and tragic, from Pearl Harbor to John F. Kennedy's murder to 9/11.
But this was the exact opposite. By the power of a movement as unlikely as any ever seen in the United States, Barack Obama has risen to the highest office in our land, with Joe Biden as a worthy and wonderful vice president.
What heartens us so much on this night is seeing the reaction in so many cities across this country, and in so many other nations, too. For in reality, it wasn't just Barack that won this election. It was all of us, as people and as citizens, for we reclaimed our country.
John McCain was superb and gracious in the concession speech he gave. Above all, he is a patriot who has bravely served our country, and the better angels of his nature were not served by the campaign his party chose to run, or the running mate he chose in Sarah Palin. But he could not have been a better man on this night.
Meanwhile, the scene in Chicago's Grant Park - literally hundreds of thousands gathered in celebration - will linger in our collective memories forever. And the speech Barack gave was simply magnificent, the voice of our next president telling us that the extraordinary work done here must continue in the months and years ahead.
Plenty of work will need to be done. But now, it's just time to rest a bit, relax a bit, and savor one of the defining moments of American history, one that we helped to bring about through our hard work and total dedication to Barack Obama - and the promise of a new America, and a better world.
WE DID IT!!!
At last, our moment has arrived. The time where the United States of America turns the page, writes a new chapter and wins back the world's love the respect. The time for all of us to bring about change. The time for parties and people to unite, to hope again, to believe again, and to elect Barack Obama the next President of the United States.
So much has been written, and analyzed, and studied, and pondered about this contest, but it's for good reason - it's the most important election of our lives. Next to that obvious fact, a 21-month campaign, long and difficult and tiring though it may be, is a small consideration.
And then, as if this epic tale needed one more chapter, it got written late Sunday night in Hawaii, when Madelyn Payne Dunham passed away at the age of 86. She lived a life full of success and accomplishment, working on a bomber assembly line in World War II and building a solid career with her husband - all the while raising a grandson that, God willing, will soon be president.
We all obviously mourn Toot's loss, but we also celebrate her life, and thank her for the strong and steady example she set for Barack throughout her life. We know she is up in heaven, looking down on what we are doing, and is proud. We must win this for her, if nothing else.
At least in Syracuse, we have watched with a bit of envy as millions have lined up in lines hours long so that they could vote early in the states that allow it, including pivotal ones like Virginia, Florida and Ohio. And we have marveled at the crowds, including the 100,000 gathered right now in Manassas - which, I can assure you, is part of real Virginia. And how fitting that he brings up the FIRED UP and READY TO GO story one more time, to remind us what this is all about.
Tomorrow, at long last, we get our turn to go to the polls. And whether we vote early in the day or late in the day, we'll likely be spending most of Election Day hard at work, making sure that every single person that can vote and wants to vote will be able to do so. Nothing, absolutely nothing, that we do is as important as this service.
So much of our lives, so much of American history, has led up to this moment. In the face of a struggling economy, two wars, crises in health care, education and the environment, we can choose to go down the same negative, destructive and divisive path we have taken in recent decades, or we can choose to do something different.
What began, officially, on a chilly winter Saturday 21 months ago, in Springfield, in the shadow of the old State House where Lincoln said a house divided against itself could not stand, climaxes(hopefully) Tuesday night in front of tens of thousands at Grant Park in Chicago.
So get out there and vote for Barack Obama - then spend the rest of Election Day working hard to make sure people get out to the polls all over this wonderful country of ours to also vote for Barack. It is time for our country to unite, to be FIRED UP and READY TO GO, to bring about a new day. Tomorrow, we make history.
We have now reached the point where the countdown is in hours, not days. As in, maybe 48 hours from now, the world will find out that Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States.
Of course, should it happen, it would be, to so many, the ultimate example of the American Dream come true - the idea that any person, from any background or race, even with a funny name and a funny look, can rise as far as talent can take them.
And it would be a story designed to inspire any child, in this country or in any country, really. Some variation of "hey, if Barack Obama could become president, you could do anything, too!" It's been so wonderful and inspiring to see children far too young to vote get caught up in our movement because they love Barack, too.
The work our staff and volunteers have done in Syracuse and all over this country this weekend is overwhelming to ponder. Hundreds of thousands of calls, untold amounts of literature passed out from door to door, or at churches, or just about any public place where a few people could gather, all for a candidate that has inspired all of us to seek something better.
Really, that's what it all comes back to. As human beings, we always seek self-improvement of some kind, but usually that comes through diets or financial schemes or plastic surgery or all the artificial means by which society measures us.
However, the improvement of a community, of a society, of a nation, is something far more ambitious, and far less likely to happen. Since the probability is low, most Americans don't bother treading down that path. Better to be comfortable in one's own setting, never challenged or inspired - and in the end, caught in a rut of life that's impossible to escape.
At some point two years ago, though, a brave group of Americans, most of them young folks inspired by what they heard on a night in Boston in 2004, began to seek that better America by pleading with Barack Obama to run for president. Sensing Dr. King's "fierce urgency of now" that he frequently speaks about, Barack agreed - and changed all of our lives.
Everyone who joined this movement had their own reasons, some of them having to do with specific issues, others just drawn to this charismatic man and his wonderful, positive message of change. But all of us had common bonds that united us, then and now.
We have never been in this strictly for ourselves. We are here because we love this country, and want to see the best for it, and perhaps some of us remember a time when the United States served as a beacon of light, of hope, and of opportunity for all those who sought to carry out their individual dreams. And we were determined to see that happen again, with a leader like Barack Obama serving as our source of hope and inspiration.
An ordinary politician running for president would not have understood this basic, fundamental premise of our movement. Sure, they might have proclaimed their love for America in every speech and at every town-hall meeting, but in the end it would still be about what they were going to do for us- no heavy lifting on our parts, just a lot of promises guaranteed to be broken.
That wasn't the case here. Right from the moment he joined the presidential race, Barack made it very clear that, if the impossible dream was to become a reality, it had to be up to us, a citizen army of determined, dedicated volunteers, to raise the banner for ourselves, and for our country. We have gone and done that work, and because of that, stand on the brink of one of the most glorious and defining moments in American history.
Everyone on the outside, from the media to the Clintons to John McCain, Sarah Palin and the Republican attack dogs, have always read us wrong. They have done little but fixate on Barack - who he once knew, what sermons he listened to, where his amazing amount of money has come from (us, of course), not to mention the vicious digs about the issues, from taxes and the economy to the war in Iraq - where Barack's wisdom has been shown time and again.
What they have never fully grasped is the basic idea Barack laid out in his Democratic Convention acceptance speech in Denver, and so many other times in this 21-month odyssey. "This election has never been about me. It's been about you."
It is OUR strength, OUR hard work, OUR determination, and OUR commitment to change with Barack Obama as our next president, that has pushed us through this long and memorable journey to the doorstep of the White House.
Now, one more time, fellow members of the Obama army, roll up the sleeves and get to work, just for a few more hours, give it your all-out effort and leave absolutely nothing to chance. We stand on the threshold of our dream coming true. With one more push, we will get there.
There has been no shortage of moments in these last few weeks where the deep emotions stirred by Barack Obama in all of us rise to the surface. They rise even now, barely 72 hours before the nation decides its next president.
Mainly, what stirs in my soul is the immense meaning of all this. Why should any political campaign, even one for the highest office in our land, cause us to alter our daily lives to make victory possible? What drives us? What makes us believe, with all our hearts, that Barack is the right man to lead the United States of America?
Admit this much - it gets easy to lose that meaning in the daily campaign grind. Attacks, counter-attacks, the dozens of national and state polls, analysis and paralysis and controversy and extreme highs and extreme lows, all seem to take place every hour by this point.
And if that doesn't occupy our time, the work surely does. Now it is, for us, an all-out effort to get out the vote, both here in Syracuse and everywhere in this country, then make sure every single vote is fairly counted.
Sure, millions have voted early, and the numbers look good, but we can't get complacent for one second. The other side will use any means necessary to snatch victory from us, so they have some nerve to make bogus claims of voter fraud - especially when they don't have any problem with voter intimidation techniques, especially to minorities.
So in doing all that work, maybe we do need to take a very brief moment and contemplate why each of us, in our own small or not-so-mall way, chose to volunteer and work for Barack Obama and this positive movement for change.
Upon lots of thought, I've come to realize that the same factors that brought me to this unparalleled level of political activity in my life still hold nearly 21 months later. Our country is in trouble, and our good name is tatters around the world. Barack can restore both our economic and our global standing, his mere presence a sign to other nations that America is a place where any dream, no matter how impossible, can come true.
In many ways, these last days are the most difficult of all. On the one hand, we're all tired and fatigued and ready for this to end. On the other end, this has been such an incredible experience, a journey all of us will take forever, and leaving it behind when it's done will be very difficult. Nothing that I've done in my life, for sure, even comes close to the meaning of this movement.
I'm sure that many of you that may have come across this blog have your own stories to tell about why you are here, what it means to you. Barack Obama has made such a dramatic impact on this nation, regardless of what happens on Tuesday, and a win here would turn mere symbolism into a bit of history so beautiful and wonderful that it's impossible to describe. So let's work hard the next 72 hours to get that good feeling.
Maybe a few million people groaned and complained when they realized their favorite program, or the end of the World Series (congratulations Phillies), were not going to be on at 8 p.m. when Barack Obama aired his 30-minute vignette.
But I'm pretty sure that millions more were eager to listen.
Here was a half-hour of Barack Obama unfiltered, without the pundits or the critics or the Republicans to shout him down or say the most vile and cynical things that they're quite eager to share with their partisans on your favorite talk radio piece of filth.
Barack didn't need to tell his whole story again - but he did bring up the highlights in a clear and artful way, while making sure any irrational person that somehow fears his possible presidency understand that he is, indeed, a good family man and father. That does count for something.
More importantly, he shared the stories of ordinary Americans struggling with all the main issues of our country in these difficult times. They are the best witnesses possible for what Barack wants to do, and are the very reason we are working so hard to help him win.
But note what wasn't there in those 30 minutes of programming. Not a single negative mention about John McCain. By contrast, the other side cannot utter a sentence without bashing Barack in some kind of way, or bringing up Joe the Plumber for the 25,000th time.
The time flew by. Don't you wish you wanted to hear more? Well, it's possible, if we all keep up our all-out effort in the next six days. Basically, what Americans saw tonight (as if they didn't know it already) is that the Barack Obama Republicans are telling you about is nowhere the real Barack Obama we have all grown to support and love. And we're getting closer to having him as our president.
To be sure, the conservative folks will trumpet all the national polls that suggest John McCain is closing the gap on Barack Obama. Big deal - no one on earth figures that this will end up as a 10-point national margin with the popular vote. The Republicans are sure to come home.
What does matter is the states, 50 plus the District of Columbia. Essentially, every presidential election is 51 individual elections, the byproduct of the Electoral College. Every four years we curse the EC's existence (especially in 2000 when Al Gore won the popular vote), but there's no escaping the fact that 270 will be the most important number on Nov. 4.
So, at this exact moment, where are we? The great web site www.fivethirtyeight.com does 10,000 computer simulations of the election every day. For us, that's required reading material, and based on what they're saying, the odds for us look good. Which only means we should work harder.
Still, it's fun to examine the 51 individual races. Where are we strong? Where is McCain strong? And where will it be decided?
It is fairly safe to put California, Connecticut, Delaware, D.C., Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington into our column. Add them up, and it's 190 electoral votes, more than two-thirds of the way home.
McCain is likely to get Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming. That adds up to 127, not even half the magic number.
Now the polls have shown tight numbers in Arizona (10), but McCain doesn't lose his home state, right? That state, plus Georgia (15), Montana (3), North Dakota (3) and West Virginia (5) all should go the Republicans's way, meaning 36 more and 163 overall for Mr. Maverick.
That means 190-163 for Obama, with 185 still up for grabs. Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin were those remaining prizes, at least when the fall began.
The Upper Midwest - Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin - were once prime McCain targets. Now they seem safe for us, adding 37 more to our total and getting us to 227. Every indicator says that Iowa (7) and New Mexico (5), who narrowly went for Bush in 2004, will head Barack's way, and that gets us to 239. We've trended up in New Hampshire (4), and we've never trailed in Pennsylvania despite all of McCain's time spent there, so that means 20 more, if all goes well.
Then we're at 263, one big state away, and seven different places where it could happen, for even a Nevada win would only give us 5, not quite enough at 268. Let's go through them, one by one.
Colorado? Think of the 80,000 that came to Barack's acceptance speech, and the 100,000 that just showed up last Sunday. Nothing even close to that Rocky Mountain High has taken place on McCain's side, and how fitting if that were the place where it all would end. Our organization there (thank you Ray Rivera!) is awesome, and the voter demographics have changed. We're polling strongly among Hispanics, who could make the difference.
Florida? Florida? Florida? (God, we miss you Tim Russert.) This didn't look like a good fit until the economic crisis, as no state in America got hit harder by the mortgage meltdown. Combine that with strong Jewish support and concerns about Medicare and Social Security, plus lots of work from the Clintons, and we might get cosmic justice for what happened to Al Gore eight years ago. The early voting turnout is astonishing, by all accounts, with people waiting in line for hours - and hopefully getting proper ballots without any chads anywhere.
Indiana? The mere fact that Hoosier Land is in play is astonishing, given its recent deep shade of red. The land of Dan Quayle might be conservative, but it's also decent and fair, preferring politicians that are very much in the middle of the road, like Dick Lugar and Evan Bayh. Heavy turnout in places like Indianapolis and Gary should, at least, make this a close one.
Missouri? Mix in the astonishing crowds seen in St. Louis and Kansas City with the great advocacy of Claire McCaskill and a Show Me spirit that doesn't take kindly to fools and liars, and maybe the home of Harry Truman makes sure that his 1948 surprise over Thomas Dewey doesn't get repeated. For Barack, no Super Tuesday win was as important as this one back on Feb. 5.
North Carolina? Remember how pivotal that state was late in the primary season, when Barack outperformed expectations and rendered the decisive blow against Hillary Clinton. They say a million people will vote early, and this was a big Bush win four years ago. Just like Indiana, we shouldn't be close here. Pull out a win, and it will certainly be ours.
Ohio? It's been often repeated that a Democrat cannot win without Ohio, but maybe that's not the case in 2008. Old maps and old impressions die hard in Buckeye land. Let's face it - there's just not the same evangelical enthusiasm for McCain that there was for Bush in 2004. And a Democrat, Ted Strickland, runs the show now in Columbus, which should mean fair voting. John Kerry took his ultimate defeat here. Barack just might get ultimate victory.
Virginia? Maybe it wasn't wise for McCain's aides to denigrate entire parts of the state as not the "real Virginia", or worse. The commonwealth has gone GOP every time since 1964, but Barack's primary rout should have told you something had changed. The trio of Tim Kaine, Mark Warner and Jim Webb give us valuable allies, and since polls close early there, a win could mean the start of our victorious night. The home of Washington, Jefferson, Madison and the one-time capital of the confederacy could be the place where history begins to happen.
So there you have it, the state of the states with one week to go. Watch tomorrow night Barack's 30-minute TV commercial, his last and best chance to deliver the argument for hope and change to millions of Americans before the election. Then keep on going, don't rest another second until we have 270.
After all the rallies, all the millions of phone calls, and all the thousands of miles walked by canvassers while going door-to-door, this entire presidential race boils down to eight days of all-out effort to get Barack Obama to the finish line.
Just in time, Barack gave us our marching orders today. Ever since the last debate, the crowds that have come to see Barack have been astonishing - Sunday produced 100,000 people in Denver after 45,000 in Albuquerque, and about the same number of folks out today in Canton, Ohio and Pittsburgh as the end nears.
In many ways, it's a return, full circle, to the vast crowds that came out for the first events way back in February 2007, plus the big turnouts in so many parts of our land during primary season. All the issues are out there. Now it's a matter of rallying millions one last time to our cause and getting them to do the most important thing of all - vote.
So it was that today, in Canton, Barack delivered what his campaign called the "closing argument". It reiterated all of the points he has pushed in the general election phase of this campaign, but brought back a vital point that, in these tough economic times, may have been lost, but never really left our movement - and, in fact, is a vital cornerstone to all that we do.
Hope. A simple, four-letter word that permeates throughout Barack Obama's story. It was the theme of Jeremiah Wright's sermon that brought Barack to religion and to salvation through Christ. The word brought up in his famous convention speech of 2004 and splashed across the front cover of his second book, which brought so many of us to his cause.
When this contest began, we knew we had to bring new leadership to this country and the world after the disaster of the George W. Bush years. But we never could have calculated things turning as bad as they did in the housing market, with jobs, with the stock market, or with food prices, or with a million other indicators that demonstrate America's struggles.
Hope was needed when Barack Obama began running for president. And hope is needed even more now, and especially in these last eight days as the effort intensifies.
Whatever we do in the next week - and we will be doing a lot - let us be driven by our desire to dream, to make things better, to hope of a a better and more equal and more just country with an inspiring man as its leader.
While working in the campaign office one day, I came across a sheet of paper that told us to close our eyes and imagine the world of the next eight years. Well, maybe that's getting ambitious and too far ahead, so use this as a different motivation.
Close your eyes and magine election night, Nov. 4. Imagine gathering with your friends, your family or your fellow Obama supporters, sharing food and drink and good times and gathering in front of the TV as the results pour in across the country.
And imagine that moment, unknown at this point, when, God willing, the network anchors announce that the magic number of 270 has been reached, and that Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States.
Then go out and give your all-out effort to make that dream come true.
Inevitably in any presidential campaign, what's true gets left behind in a flurry of attacks from both sides. To the best of his ability, Barack Obama has tried had to stay grounded in truth in all his attacks on John McCain, and has stayed straight with us, a big reason why we love and respect him so much and are working so hard to help him win 11 days from now.
Contrast that with the other side, a Republican campaign that almost prides itself in the deceit it is willing to hand out, hoping the American people are gullible enough to buy it.
John McCain keeps harping on taxes, using all the left-bashing code words (socialist, spread the word) the talk-show crowd wants him to do. In other words, say anything to make sure the wealthy keep their share and we in the middle class get stuck with no possible way out, or up.
This cannot be said often enough - Barack Obama wants to CUT the taxes of 95 percent of the American people, and CUT the taxes on more than 90 percent of small businesses. It's no different than the successful formula Bill Clinton espoused in the 1990s, and that proved to be fiscally responsible, too, with balanced budgets and surpluses. Wouldn't it be nice to have that again?
Then there are the lies, the repeated lies, about Barack's character, his religion, his "association" with William Ayers and a thousand other scurrilous bits of gossip. The GOP hacks keep repeating them, over and over, completely ignoring the truth about Barack's deep Christian faith and all the other wonderful qualities to make him look different, risky, scary.....code words for something far more sinister.
In such an environment, terrible things are said or done. When Barack flew to Hawaii to be with his ailing grandmother, the woman who raised him through so much of his formative years, a GOP hack had the nerve to complain about it and say it was far worse than the $150,000 the RNC forked over to dress up Sarah Palin, said that Barack should "hump his own bags" and fly commercial.
To say that was mean, rude, callous and cruel would be a gigantic understatement. Never mind that the Secret Service would NEVER let a candidate this close to the presidency fly on ANYTHING commercial, or that if he did, the whole air system in America would be tied up for an entire day. Oh yeah, and no taxpayer's money here, either. That money came from us, and we're all too glad to help Barack put his family first.
Then we hear about what happened in Pittsburgh about Ashley Todd, a college student from Texas who claimed that she had been attacked near an ATM machine by a 6-foot-4 African-American male, sexually assaulted, and left with a "B" carved out backwards on her face. The Drudge Report and other conservative sites went berserk over this for 24 hours, doing all they could to demonize the entire Obama movement over this one heinous crime.
Only one problem - the heinous crime was a complete fabrication, something Ashley only admitted two days later, royally ticking off Pittsburgh police officers in the process and earning a misdemeanor charge of a false report. Just a sad story...but also downright disgusting in the way many folks were all too happy to exploit racial stereotypes just to take Barack down, truth be damned.
I could care less about the charges. I care more about the sort of mentality, from Ashley Todd or the people surrounding her in the McCain camp, that thinks something this awful and divisive and mean is just part of the game, part of politics, part of a contest where winning is all that counts, regardless of the methods used.
We have tried so much in this country to overcome the terrible shadows of our country's past when it comes to race. Barack tried not to emphasize it in this historic movement for change, until forced to do so when the Jeremiah Wright saga hit full steam. His race speech from March is required reading for anyone that cares about where we've been in this country..and where we could still go.
Yet I get the feeling that only Barack Obama winning this election will help this country, and its people, understand that the old and limited ways of thinking about people of all races and creeds and backgrounds must end, and that a new day must dawn.
This is a big, big reason why the entire world is fixated on this election, and why most of them are pulling for Barack. They know full well our history, and they understand the deep and hypocritical divide between the lofty rhetoric and standards for democracy we ask upon the world, and the actual democracy (with all its inequality) that is practiced at home.
Here is our chance to show the world how far we have come, how much we have changed, and how we can never, ever let fear or hatred guide our thinking, even when times get tough. Let us push even harder in the next 11 days for Barack Obama, and for America, so we can show that, sometimes, truth and justice can win out.
And so the work of nearly two years by Barack Obama, and all of us within his positive movement for change in America, comes down to two more weeks of sweat and sacrifice so that our wonderful dream can come true.
You know it's near the end when everyone starts getting tired. The candidates are worn out, the staff people are beat from dawn-till-dark work, the volunteers are running out of gas from all the walking and calling and voter registration. And the voters are tired of the TV ads and waves of phone calls, especially those folks bombarded in the swing states.
Thus, when everyone jumps on gaffes, by people on both sides of this epic campaign, please have a bit of understanding. Enough time in this cauldron, and everyone hits a false note at some point.
First it's Joe Biden predicting a crisis no one really ought to predict (though history shows that something will happen anyway). Then it's John Murtha talking about rednecks (not good) and John Kerry bringing up underway (don't do that, please), not to mention Sarah Palin's fundamental misunderstanding of the VP duties and McCain agreeing with Murtha in front of Western PA voters - trust me, watch the YouTube clip and try not to fall over laughing.
All these things are entertaining, but they don't change the fundamental backdrop of this race - namely, a poor economy that needs to get kick-started again and a tattered American reputation around the world that needs to be restored. All these things can only happen if we put Barack Obama in the White House.
Alas, Barack has concerns that go far beyond any poltical contest, even one as epochal as the 2008 election. On Thursday, he will fly to Hawaii to spend two days of quality time with his beloved grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, who at 85 is in poor health.
As we all know through Barack's books, it was Madelyn, whom he called "Toot", that helped raise him with his grandfather during his teenage years. And it was from her that Barack absorbed the values of hard work, self-disicpline and determination that would help him leap toward the doorstep of the presidency.
Every single one of us here pray that, if it is God's will, Madelyn Dunham will live to see her grandson win two weeks from now and, better yet, take the oath of office on Jan. 20, 2009. And we applaud Barack for taking this time to be with her, knowing that there might not be many more chances to see her at all, regardless of what happens in the election.
We owe it to ourselves, we owe it to Barack, to his grandmother, to all his relatives, and to everybody who ever blazed a trail in American society to make Barack's opportunity possible, to give our whole hearts and souls to the work of the next 14 days.
Yes, the numbers look good, and the electoral map is healthy. But remember New Hampshire - we cannot sit around, we cannot start congratulating ourselves, we cannot be content for one single, solitary second until they say on the night of Nov. 4 that Barack Obama has reached 270 electoral votes.
All of us have come a long, long way from that cold Saturday afternoon in February 2007 in Springfield. But there remains an election to be won, a country that needs to heal and be whole again, a once-in-a-lifetime candidate that needs our whole effort. Let's strive to get out that vote and carve our own place in American history.
In a singular moment of class, grace, and eloquence, General Colin Powell gave Barack Obama the most important endorsement yet in this election cycle.
Just about every other famous person in America had weighed in on this contest already. And while newspaper endorsements run heavily on Barack's side (thank you Washington Post, L.A. Times, both Chicago newspapers, Denver Post, NY Daily News et al), they just don't carry much weight beyond the communities that read them.
Powell is a whole different matter. He had manifestly stayed on the sidelines, the ultimate undecided voter in this great land of ours, deeply admiring both Barack and John McCain for different reasons, and genuinely torn about whom to choose.
First and foremost, you have to understand that Colin Powell is a soldier. A chance to serve his country helped him rise from his humble origins in the Bronx to becoming a hero to all of us, especially in his term as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, where he helped forge the brilliant military strategy that won the First Gulf War in 1991.
Really, Powell was Barack Obama not so long ago. When his autobiography came out in 1995, a popular clamor erupted that he run for president. I have no doubt in my mind that, had he done so, Powell would have trounced Bill Clinton. But his wife, Alma, talked him out of it, maybe fearing the exact sort of racial tension Barack is facing right now.
He declared himself a Republican, hoping that his stature and open-minded ideas could be accepted in the GOP. He would soon find out otherwise, like when he spoke at the GOP convention in 2000 and derided opponents of affirmative action from the stage and got some boos for it.
Powell was, and is, a pioneer for all that he has accomplished, and when he was chosen by George W. Bush to be Secretary of State, it was supposed to be the culmination of his career of exemplary service to this country.
Instead, Powell became the forgotten man in a hungry administration chock full of Neocons all too eager to rush to war in Iraq after the 9/11 attacks. Worse yet, he made the public presentation claiming Saddam Hussein had WMDs in front of the United Nations Security Council. Since we found out later that it was all a big lie, Powell was vilified, tarnished, some on the left willing to erase everything else he had done because of this terrible mistake.
What they forgot, of course, was that Powell himself agonized about the war. As we found out later in Bob Woodward's books, Powell, who knew something about war others in Bush's administration did not, tried all he could to stop the downhill train. But he was outnumbered by Cheney, Rumsfeld and the Neocons, and ultimately had to accept the role he had eagerly embraced his whole life - that of the good soldier.
Not a day goes by, I'm sure, that Powell doesn't agonize about Iraq and the consequences of what he and others produced. Maybe that's why today, on "Meet the Press", when he emerged to say that he was supporting Barack Obama, he told a story to illustrate his point.
He spoke of a picture taken at Arlington National Cemetery, our nation's most hallowed ground, where a young soldier, just 20, had just been buried after being killed in action in Iraq. He had all the important information on his gravestone - the day he was born, the day he died, the service he rendered and the medals he won.
Above it all was not a Christian cross, or a Star of David, but a crescent moon. This fallen soldier was a Muslim, born and raised in New Jersey, who had served for - and died for - his country, the United States of America, just the same as millions of Christians and Jews and men of all other faiths had done.
How could any person tell this soldier's family that, because they worship Allah, they somehow are not American or that they're a danger to our country? Yet that is exactly what they say about Barack Obama, a Christian, for no other reason than the fact that he has a funny-sounding name and, well, he's African-American.
Better than just about any man in this country, Colin Powell has lived the American Dream, and understands exactly what it entails - the idea that any person, from any background, can make it in the United States. He has seen how great we can be, and he wants that for us again.
Of all the many reasons he gave today for supporting Barack, what stood out was his correct observation that Barack has electrified the young voters in this country and has the potential to inspire the world, too - in stark contrast to the relentless negativity of John McCain and his Republican allies, who seem more interested in stopping Barack by any means necessary than in helping this country.
We live in extraordinary times, and this is the most extraordinary election of our lives. And it is such a great blessing, and confirmation of the postiive movement for change we have built, that Colin Powell is supporting Barack Obama, giving our argument even more moral weight. Now we have 16 days to reward the good general's faith with a victory at the polls.
In this post-debate sprint to the end line, no one running for president or vice president can afford to slip up, offer the wrong word or wrong phrase that can sink a candidate's dreams.
So I found it absolutely amazing that no one paid larger attention to the slip Sarah Palin made in front of some supporters a couple of days ago, when she said she enjoyed visiting "the pro-America areas of this great nation".
True, it may have been in the midst of an anti-Washington rant, but.....Pro-America parts of this nation? Hmmm, what do you think that means?
I tend to think she meant small towns....but to somehow imply that there are Anti-American portions of America is the height of casting aspersions upon all those that don't agree with the worldview of Palin, John McCain and their Republican allies.
Stop if you've heard this before - yes, you have, for 20 years, if you've had the temerity to support a Democrat in a presidential election. Inevitably, the GOP will drag out that patriotism canard, trying to convince the American public that the Democrat at the top of the ticket is somehow scary, alien, radical, risky, yada yada yada...
To some degree, they've been doing this to Barack Obama for months, ever since the most incendidary Jeremiah Wright tapes surfaced, with a bit of Ayers thrown in for good measure and the twisting of Michelle's words, too.
Look, there are going to be political differences in the course of an election. Everyone expects that part, the attacks, charges and countercharges that make up an intense race. But it always becomes toxic when someone's patriotism gets questioned - or for that matter, the patriotism of his supporters.
Thank goodness that Joe Biden hit hard against Palin's words yesterday, saying in New Mexico he was sick and tired of seeing candidates assailed for their loyalty, especially when nothing in the record even hints at such thoughts. In other words, the GOP is trying to scare us again, but this time we're having none of it.
You can see that in the crowds. Long, long ago when this whole thing began, Barack drew astonishing crowds in Austin and Atlanta, L.A. and NYC. Then today, in St. Louis, we saw Barack draw 100,000, according to police estimates.
These immense masses come from small towns...but also cities and suburbs. They ALL are Americans, they ALL care about the course this nation is taking, and they ALL are thirsty for the kind of change Barack Obama can bring if we elect him president.
And everyone that works in this movement fits into that category, too. We joined up because we love America and want to see it rise again as a bastion of freedom and justice, and a place where any person from any background has a chance. We don't hate Republicans - we just hate what they have done to the United States in the last eight years, and want to fix it.
Sarah Palin and John McCain can say all they want about Barack's policy ideas. That's fair. What they, and far too many of their surrogates, are saying about our loyalty to this country is not acceptable in any circumstances. Nor is the GOP's transparent attempts to suppress the vote in many key states, and we're happy that our campaign is hitting back on this point.
John McCain once said he'd run an honorable campaign. Then the Rovians took over, intending to divide us all again. What they will find out in 17 days' time is that people in EVERY part of America are ready to believe in this country again....with Barack Obama leading us.
One last time, Barack Obama and John McCain appeared on the same stage, shook hands and spent 90 minutes in front of a good portion of the American people, debating the future of the United States of America.
As far as substance went, it had more than the first two collisions, that's for sure. Credit Bob Schieffer, the moderator, for bringing up thoughtful and provocative topics that led to great exchanges between the two principals in this presidential epic.
True, McCain was as tough and aggressive as he's ever been, taking on Barack at every turn on every possible issue, from taxes to trade to health care to education to the future makeup of the Supreme Court. He came out fighting - everyone can agree on that point.
They also must agree that at this debate, like all the ones before (both in the primary and the general election), Barack Obama showed American voters, and showed the world, just what kind of leader he would be - one that is ready for the immense challenge ahead.
Stop if you've heard this before - Barack has the ideal temperament we need right now. He never gets rattled, stays focused on the issues, and whenever he gets attacked with slings and arrows and lies, he comes back with the truth, and voters appreciate that kind of approach.
Face it - Barack cares about making the lives of every American better, whether it's through bring health care to the uninsured, a quality education to every child regardless of their background, a good job to anyone willing to work, and fairness in our tax system. That shines through every time he talks to us, that he will always be in our corner.
And John McCain? Well, we know he cares about Joe The Plumber. A lot.
Thanks to McCain's relentless evocation of the budding Ohio entrepeneur that questioned Barack about his tax policy yesterday, we will all get to know way too much about Joe The Plumber over the next few days.
This was serious overkill. Usually, when a story about an ordinary American citizen gets mentioned by a presidential candidate, it happens once in a setting, then they move on to other topics. But not Joe The Plumber. He got more attention than any person in the history of presidential debates.
It's too bad no one thought up of a drinking contest about every time Joe The Plumber got mentioned. Last time around, McCain said "My Friends" 21 times. Here, Joe (combined with Barack a few times) got mentioned 26 times. That's more than four six-packs, for anyone counting.
Here's the slight problem - Joe is NOT THE ONLY PERSON IN AMERICA! He's one of 300 million, and you know what? Most of them will get tax cuts in a Barack Obama presidency! And they'll get health care, too. That does matter. Note how one person in that CNN focus group liked the endless Joe references. The others got tired of it PDQ.
Barack took care of the one single trouble point, too, when he brought up Bill Ayers without McCain doing it first. He did so on his own clear, truthful terms, especially the educational committee in the late 1990s that had so many Republican ties. So I guess all those loyal GOP members pal around with terrorists, right?
Taken as a whole, these three presidential debates have caused a fundamental shift in this election. Once, the doubts were about Barack Obama and whether he was "presidential" enough. Those doubts must be gone now. In all the categories that count, and on all the issues, Barack addressed them with poise and confidence, acknowledging the tough times we live in, but displaying his belief that, working hard, we can make things better.
Now, in the 20 days that remain, we must double our efforts in every conceivable way to help push Barack to victory. It's up to all of us, who believed that this positive movement for change could reshape the course of history, to turn that belief into action, to never rest until Nov. 4.
This is an election about change, and the future, not the tired partisan arguments of the past. Barack Obama is forging a new kind of politics. With our help, he can complete that impossible task as the next President of the United States.
Man, it's close at hand now. After 20-plus months of every conceivable event, good and bad, one could imagine, we have reached the real, true, genuine, honest-to-God homestretch of this epic presidential contest.
A mere three weeks from now, we ought to know whether Barack Obama, leading our positive movement for change in America, will have reached the summit. Every day, good poll numbers come out, which both thrill and scare me at the same time.
On the one hand, the combination of our incredible hard work, and having an incredible candidate like Barack Obama, has led us to this point, where most neutral observers think we will prevail. On the other hand, I pray that it doesn't lead to ANY kind of complacency on our part, that we work even harder than before to bring it home for Barack.
We sense it, we feel it. Just the possibility that we will be celebrating one of the most joyful moments in American history 21 days from now is almost too much to consider, so maybe it's best not to get too caught up in that moment and just focus on the tasks every minute and every hour.
Yet there is no shortage of motivation for our cause. It isn't difficult to find - just attend, if you dare, or watch footage of any of John McCain or Sarah Palin's rallies, and feel the sheer disdain, fear, anger and hatred that they and their supporters show toward Barack - and, to a smaller extent, to all of us in his movement.
Just today I came across a YouTube click of people standing outside a Palin event in Johnstown, Pa. The bile and filth that was heard is guaranteed to make any Obama/Biden supporter furious that stuff like this is still said in a land that supposedly preaches equality. Just about everything short of the N-word was tolerable to these folks. They have let mindless, irrational fear and hatred supercede any concern about which candidate is going to make their lives better.
This is what people around the world talk about when, in looking at our country, they point out that our history, and our deeds, directly contradict the rhetoric about freedom and democracy that we like to preach to other nations, allies and enemies alike.
And here is our chance to show them, in this most important election of our lifetimes, that we have indeed come a long way from our dark and checkered past, that we have the courage to do what Dr. King dreamed about 45 years ago in front of the Lincoln Memorial - namely, judge a man not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character.
John McCain and the Republicans are telling us to be fearful, to reject our basic human decency and sense of fairness just so they can spend four more years plunging America into even worse economic conditions, all the while perpetuating war and debt that we cannot stomach.
Well in this case, they will fail, and we will succeed. All through this campaign, our message has never wavered - that America is hungry for change, tired of the divisive politics of the past, and ready to work hard to restore both our economic standing at home and our good name abroad.
All of you reading this blog, and everyone in this country that has put their whole heart and soul into this movement, have served as a source of inspiration during these last 20 months. We owe it to ourselves to make that final push in the next three weeks so that, on Nov. 4, our nation will stand up and cheer and note that, in the end, the good guys won. Guys named Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
John Lewis emerged into the American conscience nearly half a century ago, as a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. He stood in the front lines of the civil rights movement - harassed, beaten, sent to jail numerous times, all in the name of freedom's cause.
So when Lewis, now a noted Congressman from Georgia, came out Saturday and said the words of John McCain's supporters against Barack Obama fanned the flames of hate, he spoke with a vast amount of knowledge and authority.
Okay, so maybe the analogy to George Wallace in 1968 and 1972 was a bit strong, but what else can you possibly say? For an ENTIRE WEEK, pre and post-second debate, the crowds that came to see McCain and Sarah Palin wanted red meat, and got it, especially from Palin, who was almost giddy to claim that Barack had ties to evil, even if they were patently absurd and false.
Add to that the delight a couple of introductory speakers took in saying Barack's middle name, and loud voices of crowd members saying things like "Terrorist!" and "Kill Him!", it would be downright scary were it not for the presence of the Secret Service protecting Barack at all times. We can assume that Barack and his family are safe and in good hands.
It took maybe five days for McCain finally to recoil at all this, publicly, and some in the media were gullible enough to buy his sudden spate of sympathy and respect for Barack. That needed to be shown earlier in the week, when it could have stopped everything cold. But the cat's already out.
Fair warning - you'll hear a lot of noise about what John Lewis said. As we saw in the Jeremiah Wright saga, the cable news mob likes NOTHING more than to stir up racial tensions, or any kind of tensions, just for the sake of ratings and a close race.
What is required is the middle ground Barack took on Saturday night - dismissing the worst part of John Lewis' analogy, but endorsing his point that the most vile stuff has to be cast aside. This election is far too important, the issues far too critical, to be decided on issues of trivia - and I pray that we've reached a point in our society where race is not the primary consideration when two candidates of different races are running against each other.
We are here because Barack Obama is, in our minds, the best candidate for president - the wisest, most intelligent, and the person best suited to lead America in these difficult times. That is reason enough to support him.
But also it helps that Barack has, for the most part, avoided the low road of politics in these 20 months on the trail. He aspires to our best hopes, not our worst fears. And it's in that positive spirit that we must carry ourselves in the remaining days of this race.
YES WE CAN!
In the aftermath of the second presidential debate, Barack Obama has continued to do what he has been doing for 20 months - lay out his case for change and the desperate need for our government, and our next administration, to do what is right for the millions in the middle class left behind and crippled by this sagging economy. Joe Biden is doing the same, quite effectively, wherever he goes.
Meanwhile, John McCain, Sarah Palin and their surrogates continue to harp upon William Ayers, hint at Jeremiah Wright and Tony Rezko, loudly proclaim Barack's middle name, and other kinds of vicious attacks - all in the name of scaring American voters and convincing them to base this critical decision on something other than the issues.
No wonder the polls are trending toward us. No wonder swing states are swinging in our direction, more each day. In these tough times, people want solutions and answers, not tasteless trivia.
Here, in 2008, the new kind of politics is at work, in every state and every city and every town and village in the United States, because of Barack Obama. People are engaged like never before, contributing in record numbers, registering in record numbers, waiting in long lines to do early voting in the states where they can and volunteering in our movement in the tens of thousands.
This is what John McCain and his Republican mates don't understand at all. Having won five of seven presidential elections since 1980, having used the tired smear-and-fear tactics so often, they figure that, simply by unleashing them again in this last month of this campaign, that voters will follow them like mindless sheep.
Well, that isn't going to happen. We are involved, engaged, intelligent, and are not going to fall for that "who would you like to have a beer with" schtick anymore. Besides, by all indications, Barack is so much nicer anyway - and he's smarter, too!
Most of all, Barack understands that this election is about the American people - who we are, where we are going, what we wish and hope and dream about, even when things are difficult, and about how the United States is seen in the eyes of the world.
As we sit now, with 26 days to go, America is at a crossroads even greater than we imagined when this whole thing started. Already, the choice was clear - between a continuation of the same failed George Bush policies, or a new beginning with a new and inspiring leader mobilizing millions into a new sense of duty to the country they love.
Now, America's very place in the world is at risk, and might entirely hinge on the decision we make. As all of us continue to do the amazing work we have done so far, use as your motivation a vision of what the night of Nov. 4 and its aftermath may look like.
One vision is stark and grim, that of the GOP again deceiving the American public into a bad choice that paralyzes our future. The other is a glorious vision, one that is impossible for any of us to describe because such joy has never been felt by so many millions about a single person's potential rise to the presidency of the United States.
It's safe to say that the psychological lift a victory by Barack Obama would give us, combined with its deep historical meaning, would, by itself, make this nation feel good about itself again, make us all believe that we have the power to change our own destiny.
So let the Republicans attack and drag out all the old associations that voters don't care about. Let them be mean and desperate and negative. We know this election is not about Barack Obama or John McCain, but about us. So let us work hard to shape that decision and make our nation great again.
