I have to go to sleep, but just out of curiosity:
If you support Barack Obama, and you're not doing everything you can right now to help elect Barack Obama... why is that?
Yard signs are fine. Buttons and stickers are fine. Blog posts are fine.
But canvassing... that's the stuff that actually gets votes. Canvass.
Does it scare you to talk to strangers? Fair enough.
Isn't four more years of Bush policies a little scarier though?
Well, on the third day I ever even set foot in the office here, me and a few other DFOs (Deputy Field Organizers) ended up being in charge of the whole operation for a day.
Due to scheduling, all the Field Organizers (the guys whom we work for) and their bosses (the guys whom they work for) had to be out of town. But of course, the campaign doesn't stop. Volunteers don't stop showing up. People don't stop incessantly wanting yard signs (more on this in a second).
So... we, very green and having very few answers, were being asked a lot of questions and asked to make decisions.
It's one of those moments where you just need to remember to: Act Like Barack.
And what I mean by that is, in moments of stress, moments of crisis, in life's trials, that's the time where you need to be calm, collected and have a steady hand, so you can make clear rational decisions. Just think about Barack in those debates. Or Barack in his convention speech. Or Barack speaking in front of hundreds of thousands of people.
The man never lets you see him sweat.
In fact, one of the two most interesting parts of Tuesday's debate, to me, was when McCain began describing how we need our president to be a rock, be rational and have grace under pressure in moments of national crisis. I completely agreeed with him, and he seemed to be framing the perfect selling point for steadfast Obama vs erratic McCain.
The second weirdest point in the debate was when Obama stated his position on a potential strike to kill Bin Laden in Pakistan, and McCain completely misstated Obama's position about 20 SECONDS later. I mean, it's one thing to post negative ads and misconstrue words, put them out of context for people well after the original words were said.
But the audacity to severely twist someone's words... SECONDS after they just said them... it was bizarre. And he did it twice in a row in the Pakistan argument. That's not reading comprehension we can believe in.
Finally, a plea to all the good Obama supporters of the world: I know you want yard signs and t-shirts and buttons and bumper stickers. And I'm happy you want to show your support. But please, for the love of all that is holy, if you get some of that stuff from the campaign, match each item with one measly hour of volunteering.
Your signs and buttons and stickers... they don't turn out votes. I know you desparatey think they do. But compared to volunteering and in doing so contributing to the get-out-the-vote operation, your yard sign is meaningless.
So please, GET a yard sign, and also phone bank for an hour at your Obama office. Get a bumper sticker, and sign up for a weekend canvass somewhere. Get a button, and invite four friends to come with you and volunteer.
This will happen if we make it happen. Don't wake up November 5th thinking, "I could've done more."
Your yard sign won't console you.
Whew. Well, I'm here. I took Amtrak down here, and while I love trains, the American train system offers few options in terms of scheduling for infrequently traveled routes.
Which meant a 3am train out of Penn Station for me. Fun! But I finally made it to the Mason Family Compound at around 2pm and unpacked in my room.
But no matter, I got here. I was on essentially no sleep, so I went down to the Virginia Beach Obama office (which is on the Boulevard, near Rosemont) to check in and then went home to crash.
Lots of activity there. People walking in off the street to register, as well as people phone banking and the field directors and organizers planning out stuff. And it wasn't even particularly bustling, as a lot of folks were out on the streets canvassing.
If you're nearby and want to help out, come by the office! There's always someone there.
Let me rephrase that, if you're nearby, you NEED to come help out. Stop by. Here's a map.
And if you're not nearby, volunteer wherever IS nearby. There's no excuses for not pitching in this year.
Off to bed, first day of real work (for me) is tomorrow. I shall cast a long shadow of volunteering on my hometown
P.S. As always, buy me a virtual beer if you like.
So here's the basic deal:
I assume I actually won't have much time to update this, but I wanted to sort of log what I'll be doing, and keep you folks who are interested up to date.
Feel free to ask questions. I'll do my best to keep up.
And please:
