While thinking of the entire campaign and my involvement in it for 21 months, I felt inspired to write a poem in an attempt to summarize all of my emotions. It was difficult to put 21 months and so many experiences into words but this was what came through my fingers from my brain. I hope you like it and feel free to share it with others.
One Citizen
I am just a citizen.A citizen of my town, Rock Island,Of my state, Illinois,Of my country, America.I am just a citizen.One who admired a senator.A Senator from my state.A Senator at the state level.A Senator at the national level.I am just a citizen.Who listened to a speech,Who read about his history,Who came to volunteer.I am just a citizen.Inspired by a man.Inspired by a message,A message of HOPE,A message of CHANGE.I am just a citizen.I felt it was my duty,My time to give something back,My time to help a man.I am just a citizen. Knocking on strangers’ doors,Calling people in other states,Reaching out to others with my optimism.I am just a citizen.Longing for something new.Something better for my child,Something better for my grandchild,Something better for this world.I am just a citizen.A citizen who believed.A citizen who had faith.A citizen who gave.A citizen who is proud.I am just a citizen.One of millions,One who held a piece of history in her hand.One renewed by our ability to CHANGE.To CHANGE our country, our world,To CHANGE how people act.I am just a citizen.Sitting in the background,Listening, watching, admiring.I am just one.Proud of what you represent.Proud I shook your hand,Proud I gave my time.I am just a citizen.Who thanks you!R. Kelinson01/19/2009 (cr)
Figures it takes an Iraqi to throw the shoes at Bush. Why didn't we think of that earlier! Seriously, I can think of something else we should have thrown at him but it isn't that hard, in fact, it is something my dog drops out in the yard a couple of times a day!
Hillarious video. Guess I am not, have never been a fan of the liar that is still sitting in the White House. Can't wait for the Obama's to occupy the Oval Office!!!!! Now that is a first family we can be proud of everyday!!!
At this time of the year we make a concerted effort to remember our blessings and give thanks. There are so many blessings, so much to be thankful for here in America and also in my personal life. Family, friends, health, and happiness come to mind immediately.
And now we have the blessing of a smart President who will be sworn in on January 20th. I am looking forward to the CHANGE we will experiencing in the days to come. I am thankful for the new first family.
I knew in my heart that we could win this race. ANd then when it was announced, the tears began to flow. I have been a part of history.
We must not stop the commitment to change. We must stay organized. We must continue to make our voices heard. We are a major part of this victory due to the organizing that has occurred on the campaign trail. We must continue.
Congratulations to everyone who has been a part of this movement and especially to Senator Barack Obama, his family, and friends.
YES WE DID!!!
After 21 long months on the campaign trail Barack Obama is set to make history tomorrow as he becomes the next President elect.
I cannot begin to recap the 20 months that I have personally been nvolved in this campaign for the Senator from my state of Illinois. All I can say is that every minute, every hour, every door that I knocked on, every phone call I made, all of the time that I took away from the typical things that I did prior to the campaign. all of the time that I took away from family, it has all been worth it.
I was involved in my neighboring state of Iowa. Can I tell you how very fortunate I have been to be involved in Iowa. First was all of the pre-caucus phone calling, door knocking, and events. The events! How very fortunate I have been to be able to work so many events in Iowa that Barack Obama recognizes me! I had the opportunity to also meet Michelle Obama a couple of times. And let's not forget the JJ event in Des Moines. John Legend opened the night with a few songs before we marched strong into the auditorium. We sat and waited for the speeches to begin for hours and then Barack was last! They definitely saved the best fr last! He took the walls down. His team of field organizers were so on top of things, so organized, from the time we held up a sign to the cheer we were to chant.
History. I have been a part of history that my baby grand daughter will study some day in her history class. She and I will sit togethr and look through my scrapbooks. We will chat of the importance of the election. She will know that her bubbe was so involved in the campaign not only for AMerica, but for her future.
Tomorrow evening I will be blogging my election night thoughts. Right now it is time to get some sleep before the polls open at 6:00 in Illinois and 7:00 in Iowa. I still have phone calls to make! So TTFN....
I am tired of getting the stupid McCain robo calls. I mean every night around 9:00 the phone rings, I jump to get it, and it is a stupid robo call. So far I have had Hockey mom, Tom Ridge, and tonight some other dumb robo.
Get these jerks off of my ILLINOIS phone lines.
I felt it today. Did you? It was a gust of wind telling me that CHANGE is in the air. CHANGE is right around the corner. I felt it today. I will feel it tomorrow. Will you?
GOTV!!!!
Thank goodness for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives for cutting to the top and the bottom of this horrible group who wanted to kill 88 black students and behead 14 others before attempting to assinate Barack Obama.
Thank goodness for the intelligence that we have these days!
Please join me in a silent prayer for Barack and his family.
I feel a breeze. Actually I feel a gust. It is a HUGE gust that is sweeping this nation. I hear it rattle the shutters. I hear it shaking the window panes. I smell something fresh and new. I can smell this fresh wave of something new permeating through every crack and crevice of every house, every building. I see something awesome happening. I see millions of people on phones and knocking on doors. I can taste something. Something sweet. Something so new it will send a shock wave through this world.
I feel CHANGE.
I hear CHANGE.
I smell CHANGE.
I see CHANGE.
I taste CHANGE.
It is happening right now. It will be here soon.
Can You Feel it, Hear it, Smell i, See it, Taste it?
I saw this article and read it. Now I wish I hadn't because it really scares me! Please people, stop pushing your fundamentalist religious conservatism on everyone else. Keep religion in your place of worship. These groups are over the edge!
Christian right intensifies attacks on ObamaTerrorist strikes on four American cities. Russia rolling into Eastern Europe. Israel hit by a nuclear bomb. Gay marriage in every state. The end of the Boy Scouts. All are plausible scenarios if Democrat Barack Obama is elected president, according to a new addition to the campaign conversation called "Letter from 2012 in Obama's America," produced by the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family Action.The imagined look into the future is part of an escalation in rhetoric from Christian right activists who are trying to paint Obama in the worst possible terms as the campaign heads into the final stretch and polls show the Democrat ahead.Although hard-edge attacks are common late in campaigns, the tenor of the strikes against Obama illustrate just how worried conservative Christian activists are about what should happen to their causes and influence if Democrats seize control of both Congress and the White House."It looks like, walks like, talks like and smells like desperation to me," said the Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell of Houston, an Obama supporter who backed President Bush in the past two elections. The Methodist pastor called the 2012 letter "false and ridiculous." He said it showed that some Christian conservative leaders fear that Obama's faith-based appeals to voters are working.Like other political advocacy groups, Christian right groups often raise worries about an election's consequences to mobilize voters. In the early 1980s, for example, direct mail from the Moral Majority warned that Congress would turn a blind eye to "smut peddlers" dangling pornography to children."Everyone uses fear in the last part of a campaign, but evangelicals are especially theologically prone to those sorts of arguments," said Clyde Wilcox, a Georgetown University political scientist. "There's a long tradition of predicting doom and gloom."But the tone this election year is sharper than usual and the volume has turned up as Nov. 4 nears.Steve Strang, publisher of Charisma magazine, a Pentecostal publication, titled one of his recent weekly e-mails to readers, "Life As We Know It Will End If Obama is Elected."Strang said gay rights and abortion rights would be strengthened in an Obama administration, taxes would rise and "people who hate Christianity will be emboldened to attack our freedoms."Separately, a group called the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission has posted a series of videos on its site and on YouTube called "7 Reasons Barack Obama is not a Christian."The commission accuses Obama of "subtle diabolical deceit" in saying he is Christian, while he believes that people can be saved through other faiths.But among the strongest pieces this year is Focus on the Family Action's letter which has been posted on the group's Web site and making the e-mail rounds. Signed by "A Christian from 2012," it claims a series of events could logically happen based on the group's interpretation of Obama's record, Democratic Party positions, recent court rulings and other trends.Among the claims:• A 6-3 liberal majority Supreme Court that results in rulings like one making gay marriage the law of the land and another forcing the Boy Scouts to "hire homosexual scoutmasters and allow them to sleep in tents with young boys." (In the imagined scenario, The Boy Scouts choose to disband rather than obey).• A series of domestic and international disasters based on Obama's "reluctance to send troops overseas." That includes terrorist attacks on U.S. soil that kill hundreds, Russia occupying the Baltic states and Eastern European countries including Poland and the Czech Republic, and al-Qaida overwhelming Iraq.• Nationalized health care with long lines for surgery and no access to hospitals for people over 80.The goal was to "articulate the big picture," said Carrie Gordon Earll, senior director of public policy for Focus on the Family Action. "If it is a doomsday picture, then it's a realistic picture," she said.One of the clear targets is younger evangelicals who might be considering Obama. The letter posits that young evangelicals provide the margin that let Obama defeat John McCain. But Margaret Feinberg, a Denver-area evangelical author, predicted failure."Young evangelicals are tired — like most people at this point in the election — and rhetoric which is fear-based, strong-arms the listener, and states opinion as fact will only polarize rather than further the informed, balanced discussion that younger voters are hungry for," she said.In an interview, Strang said there are fewer state ballot measures to motivate conservative voters this election year and that the financial meltdown is distracting some voters from the abortion issue. But he said a last-minute push by conservative Christians in 2004 was key to Bush's re-election and predicted they could play the same role in 2008.Kim Conger, a political scientist at Iowa State University, said a late push for evangelical voters did help Bush in 2004, "but it is a very different thing than getting people excited about John McCain," even with Alaska even with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential pick.Phil Burress, head of the Ohio-based Citizens for Community Values, said the dynamics were quite different in 2004, when conservative Christians spent some energy calling Democrat John Kerry a flip-flopper but were mostly motivated by enthusiasm for George W. Bush.Now, there is less excitement about McCain than fear of an Obama presidency, Burress said."This reminds me of when I was a school kid, when I had to go out in the hall and bury my head in my hands because of the atom bomb," he said.
Today I voted for the next President of the United States of America!!!! It feels SO good to cast that vote after 20 long, hard, months!!!
The lines were long and I had my eyes peeled for any voter fraud. There was none that I was aware of during the 40 minutes I stood in lines.
12 days left! YES WE CAN and YES WE WILL.............
To Barack, Michelle, and family-
I am praying for you tonight and alwats, but tonight especially because the grandmother who played such an important role in your life is ailing and I know that all of you are hurting right now. You are doing the most honorable thing by postponing events. I know your grandmother is so very proud of you all! Be with her and be safe.
McCain is squirming. Have you seen him trying to look Presidential! He is not. He continues to go off of the question, tries to be negative toward Barack in every chance he gets, or takes, and cannot be honest at all.
McCain is a fool. I think he looks nervous, out of touch, and dishonest. This should bring us even more votes.
He looked at Barack like he had never even heard about Barack's health care plan. Barack looks like he would really like to tell John where to go.
Republican attack, fear, and lies.......
A friend saw this and sent it to me today knowing that I have been trying to reach out to the still undecided voters, which blows my mind that someone can still be undecided after everything that has been taking place.
I thought it was worth sharing with all of you so you to can give people something to think about.
What if John McCain were a former president of the Harvard Law Review? What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?What if McCain were still married to the first woman he said 'I do' to? What if Obama were the candidate who left his first wife after she no longer measured up to his standards?What if Michelle Obama were a wife who not only became addicted to pain killers, but acquired them illegally through her charitable organization? What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?What if Obama were a member of the Keating-5? What if McCain were a charismatic, eloquent speaker?If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.You are The Boss... which team would you hire with America facing historic debt, two wars, stumbling health care, a weakened dollar, all-time high prison population, mortgage crises, bank foreclosures, etc. Educational Background:OBAMAColumbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations.Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum LaudeBIDENUniversity of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.) vs. MCCAINUnited States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899PALINHawaii Pacific University - 1 semesterNorth Idaho College - 2 semesters - general studyUniversity of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalismMatanuska-Susitna College - 1 semesterUniversity of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in JournalismNow, which team are you going to hire ?
Went up to Madison this weekend to knock on some dorrs, hand out fliers, do what I could to find supporters or undecided voters. We started out early and with a bit of a chill in the air near the lake, I decided to wear my white, zip-up sweatshirt which has Barack's quote about HOPE printed on the left side of it in black. The quote for those of you who are not familiar with it says this, "In the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about HOPE."
An elderly man made a comment to me about the quote being a fabulous quote. HE obviously couldn't see who the quote was from because he asked me, "Who said that?" When I replied, "Barack Obama", he said , "Oh, who did he steal that quote from? All he does is steal lines from other speeches." I said, "I beg your pardon sir, Barack Obama did not steal this quote. HE spoke those words from his heart and from his love of his country." At which point I said to him, "It is obvious you are not a supporter nor a person who is interested in listening to the truth. Sorry that I interrupted your day and on Nov. 5th remember our chat and my face because I will be the one celebrating the victory of the election of Barack Obama."
I had to go there. I had to and there was no stopping the words flowing my my mouth.
I emailed so many people yesterday about the documentary film, "Who is this Guy?" and I thank everyone who has gone out to Blockbuster to purchase or rent the movie.
My cousin, who lives in Florida and is typically a Republican voter, went right out yesterday to rent the movie, brought it home, watched it, and then emailed me to say that she thought it was absolutely fabulous! In fact, she even admitted to me that she had been trying to learn about all of the candidates prior to the Primaries and she had been impressed with Obama. Her true Republican blood had some doubts, but she went along with an open mind.
She watched everything going on in the news, the polls, and especially in Florida how the candidates were progressing and winner over voters. As voters clearly gave us the two candidates that we now have, she waited patiently for the DNC and RNC so she could finally be won over by one or the other. Although Obama clearly moved her, she liked the idea of Palin on the Republican ticket.
And then....Palin goofs up on interviews, doubt starts coming back into her mind, and finally my email to her. After watching the documentary she made her decision to vote for Barack and not only that to show the film to other friends of hers who are still undecided.
What an impact! I am so thrilled that this documentary film has effected my cousin and who knows how many other undecided people out there.
Thank you!
It is crunch time. Time to make phone calls and knock on doors. Time to get voters to vote early or mail in early voting ballots. Time to make sure that when I wake up on November 5th, whatever time that may be, I wake up knowing I did everything possible to ensure that our country has a Democratic President who can and wil lbring REAL change to America.
Go to your dashboard and sign up to make calls to battleground states. I have no time to find friends, email friends, join groups, or blog. IT IS CRUNCH TIME!!!!!
