November 9, 2008
I still have sore knuckles.A few days have passed since we left the street fight in Philadelphia and polls closed across the country.About week ago we arrived in this cradle of American democracy, where Independence Hall still stands – but really, it seems like it was a lifetime ago. It was. We arrived with hope and left with even greater hope. We arrived with Candidate Senator Barack Obama and left with President-Elect Barack Obama.We arrived in Philadelphia in one era and returned to New Haven in another.And in between those eras, I knocked on doors – nearly 200 households three or four times each, and returned with sore knuckles.Sore knuckles – an appropriate metaphor for this version of fighting. Valarie, Tafari, Tanya, Jess, joined me and thousands more as foot soldiers in the Hope Revolution. Our voices and words were our swords. Enthusiasm and fearlessness was our armor.I wish an invisible camera crew was following us around so you all could see it unfold on the ground as we did. Our time in Philadelphia was so thorough and rich that no amount of explanation, no matter how vivid, will do the experience justice. So I will try to describe it through snapshots and images and stories.We drove three hours from Connecticut on Saturday afternoon to Pennsylvania, plugged into the campaign and they placed us in Northeast Philadelphia. We navigated through the old city to our Obama field office and saw dozens of people at street corners holding signs that read "McCain-Palin," "Country First" and "Another Democrat for John McCain."The New York Times wrote a story that weekend describing Northeast Philadelphia as John McCain's best chance to win Pennsylvania; if he got a big enough margin to offset the rest of the city, he could win the state.Their campaign was counting on sewing the seeds of racial division – union-working Whites who wouldn't vote for a Black candidate. Tactics of another era. Two houses shared one lawn around the corner from the Obama field office – one side of the lawn screamed "McCain: Country First" and the other "Obama-Biden. "We were in the teeth of the storm.GROUND GAMEAt our request – by that I mean Valarie's insistence – the campaign gave us of a section of Northeast Philly. We were responsible for Ward 35, Divisions 29 and 30 – Roosevelt, F, Smylie, Montour, Mayfair, Adams, Tabor and Garland streets – and we set out to do what we did in Santa Monica, California and Pflugerville, Texas. Our job was simple: Get every single Obama supporter in Ward 35 out to the polls.The neighborhood is mostly lower income African-American, with some Latino, East Asian, and White voters. From afar, the neighborhood blocks looked as if each contained a single gigantic, two-floor house that spanned the entire block. But up close they were dozens of individual homes linked to each other, sharing tiny yards and front patios.All were humble, built around WWII, and a few were in bad shape or boarded up. But most exuded the pride and love of American homes across the country. It warmed my heart to see the individual nuances of each place – a wind-chime, an ornate knocker on an otherwise rickety door, Philadelphia Phillies 2008 World Champions signs. Children tossing a football around in the streets.The neighborhood was full of life. But not full of working doorbells, to the dismay of my poor right hand.In the days we pounded the pavement and banged on doors in Ward 35, we got to know individual homes and faces and stories. I asked people if they're still planning on voting for Senator Obama. Most of the time I got the response, "Of course I am!" Meaning: "I can't believe you're asking me that question – what are you, stupid?"A young Black man, probably my age, said to me, "I can't wait to get out and vote!" (Some version of this was repeated again and again – the excitement to vote was amazing.)A 22-year-old woman asked me what she should do on Election Day, she had never voted before. She was afraid of the unknown, but excited to participate. I walked her through the process, tried to demystify it, and assured her I would be there on Tuesday to help if she needed it.A Puerto Rican family was standing outside when I asked if they're still supporting Obama. The father, wearing Phillies gear and displaying visible tattoos, was very excited, telling me his entire family is voting for Obama. He introduced me to his wife and voting-age daughter, telling me he had just earned his citizenship and it was his first election. And although he didn't get his voter registration card in the mail, he was going to vote no matter what.The convenient store owner, an Indian-American from Kerala, made me a fresh pot of coffee Monday morning and told me was voting Obama, that we need a change.A middle-aged Black man with white specks on his temples lifted groceries from his car up the steps to his home on Roosevelt – a traffic heavy tree-lined thoroughfare with small condo-like homes. He said, yeah of course he's voting Obama. Then he looked at me and said, "You better make sure all these (expletive deleted) come out to vote!" He laughed and I said I'm trying to do just that.Getting people excited wasn't the problem; getting them to actually vote was."I came all the way from California to make sure you vote on Tuesday," was my standard greeting. To which some responded, "Oh God Bless you" and others "Wow – really, what's California like?" Others who might not have otherwise cared seemed genuinely surprised to see someone actually coming that far just to their home to ask them to vote. (If nothing else they'd be letting me down!)As I crossed the street, a group of kids asked me, "Is Obama going to win tomorrow?""If your parents and everyone in your neighborhood votes, he'll win the city, the state, and he'll win the White House." They walked off to school, a piece of Obama literature in their hands as a keepsake, a printed memory that perhaps they'll find in their scrapbook decades later.That afternoon school let out as Valarie and I were nearby, and we were surrounded by excited children cheering Obama's name. We passed out literature with a painted picture of Barack's face, saying "You Have the Right to Vote." I thought, These children will grow up knowing they can become President some day. It will be … ordinary. Ordinary to have someone who looks like them as a candidate or a nominee or…That evening, two white police officers stopped by the field office with their lights and siren. We were confused, perhaps some were a bit worried. But they only wanted "Obama-Biden" yard signs. We smiled at them as they drove off with signs and metal posts.A car-load of people pulled over to that same curb – middle-aged Black women in the front and teenagers in the back. They shouted out to the office that they wanted signs. After they got some, they asked about helping Election Day."You want to volunteer?""Yes-we'll do it-oh yeah-of course!""You'll come out on Election Day?""Yeah-you know it-uh huh!""Okay – be here at 6am tomorrow morning."Brief pause. Then…"We'll be there!"After our final round of calling and walking the ward on Election Day eve, our night was filled with inspirational speeches by the governor of Maryland who told us that change happens by "small margins" so expect a fight, not a blowout. A local field director later exclaimed, "Our ground game is incredible! They won't know what hit them tomorrow!" ELECTION DAYCreighton School seemed indestructible, built in that era of industrial American can-do – just like all the houses in Ward 35. But before dawn on Election Day 2008, Creighton was sleepy and dimly lit, our tiny corner of the electoral world, and it was dark and sleepy an hour before the polls opened in Pennsylvania.Voters were already there, sitting in the auditorium's wooden folding seats, waiting for the electronic boots to be set up. The custodian, a large African-American man lifting desks and chairs in his arms, displayed a T-shirt with Barack's face on the front and huge words "I'm Asking You To Believe" on the back.A dozen or so people were there. And then more and more and more. Once the starting gun sounded on Election Day, it soon became apparent that we had to organize a better system to prevent a quagmire. And the slower the line the greater chance people would leave and not vote.So, we efficiently re-organized the lines. Valarie was stationed by the entrance to the polling site with neighborhood maps to help direct voters. Tafari was the Wal-Mart-style greeter, occasionally speaking in impeccable Spanish, filtering people in the proper direction.We would ask people, "Do you know what division you live in?" Response: "I only know I'm voting for Obama!" "Shhhh! That's good, but shhhhh!"Despite our efforts, one of the three lines was so long that a few people left before voting in order to get to work on time. We begged them to come back later, and they promised us they would. We called for backup. Soon, a few dozen donuts and hot chocolate were delivered by a White middle-aged man with an Obama-Biden pin, and we handed them out to voters.We saw people in line who knew us, who saw us walking the neighborhood or met us at their door. Old, young, pushing strollers, using walkers and canes, bringing their children or their elderly parents with them. Black, White, Asian, Latino. It was an American postcard, a picture of modern democracy.A Black man in his late 20s recognized Tafari and told us his name wasn't on the rolls even though he had a registration card. The poll worker asked him, "Have you voted before?" He said, "Of course not, I never had a reason to vote before!" We made sure he got his provisional ballot and cast his vote for Obama. And he went back and called everyone he knew to vote.An elderly White woman pinched my cheek, saying "oh, aren't you adorable?" as I tried to help her to the correct voting table. (She might have been blind. Not sure.)The election officials – nearly every one of them including the oldest one who was probably in her 80s – smoked. I mean smoked, like they were getting paid for smoking. I don't know why, but the sight of it made me laugh.As the work day began, the lines began to shorten and we decided to hit the streets and our neighborhoods to make sure people had voted. We would take them there ourselves if we had to, Tanya's car standing by. And we did – Valarie found at least a dozen people who wouldn't have otherwise voted. One of them, a very frail elderly Black woman who just returned from the hospital wanted to go but had no one to take her until we offered a ride.Valarie and I talked to everyone we saw, on the streets, in stores, even in McDonald's – "have you voted yet?" One voter, a 37-year-old man Bernard, was moved by the note Valarie left at his door that he offered to help us that afternoon. So, Bernard drove around Valarie and myself and helped us knock on the remaining doors of our ward, making sure that every single voter we could find made it to the polls on time, just as night was falling in Philadelphia. He even took a couple of voters to Creighton.An incredibly sweet Latino family on Valarie's block even offered us umbrellas, as the rain started to sprinkle. Valarie and I took two and returned them when our day was over.The final voters trickled in to Creighton before the polls closed. We waited inside the auditorium for the count – an immediate tally the machines spit out so we can report back to the campaign office.The verdict in Ward 35, Divisions 27, 29, and 30: 334 Obama, 57 McCain. And two dozen or so provisional ballots uncounted. We doubled turnout. We made a difference.Kim, a law student from New York also volunteering at our poll, got off the phone with a friend who works at NBC and said the network was about to call Pennsylvania for Obama. We didn't believe it. At least, I wouldn't believe for at least a few more minutes until I got calls and texts from around the country, friends and family confirming it.We did it. We all Pennsylvania was ours.LOCAL VICTORY, GLOBAL CELEBRATIONRising Sun. Our makeshift Obama field office sat on the corner of this inadvertently appropriately named street. Rising Sun – a new day on the horizon, full of hope and promise. The office was a tiny basement beneath a crumbling home for rent with a large porch near a business district. This is where we made calls and plans and returned on the brink of victory. This is where we helped make history.We watched as results came in from states around the country. It was still early in the count, but Pennsylvania was marked Blue – by a large margin. They didn't know what hit them.Needing to eat, we watched returns come in at a local Italian restaurant, toasted to the steady feeling of victory about to set in, and then joined others at a local bar to watch the West Coast polls closed.Time ticked down in California, and I imagined the sun going down in Venice, into the ocean just blocks from my apartment. Sun setting on an era, I hoped.We counted down like it was New Years Eve, counted down to the dawn of a new beginning. The moment polls closed in the West, CNN called the election. Before we realized it, John McCain conceded with humility, honesty, and thoughtfulness. I wish he behaved like that throughout the campaign. (But then again… if he did, it would be a lot closer…)Cheers went up, and we quickly got in our cars to an Irish pub downtown where all the Obama campaign staff and volunteers were awaiting the President-Elect's victory speech.News vans with satellite antennae extensions lined the street. Horns honked and shouts came from cars passing by. The bar, "Finnegan's Wake," was dark and full of hundreds of people, dozens of TV news cameras with broadcast cameras and on-board lights. Flat screen TVs that usually play football or baseball or basketball games showed Grant Park in my hometown Chicago, buzzing and bright and beautiful. I longed to be there, in that park I've walked a hundred times. But I was happy I was on the battlefield, too.The next President spoke but no sound came from the bar's speakers. Moments passed, and we ached and shouted for the audio to come on. A riot was about to break out – a hope riot?Then the sound started, part way through, as Barack said: "We are, and always will be, the United States of America."The bar cheered, and the speech flowed loudly through the speakers. We listened quietly, attentively. Valarie wept, and I tried to simultaneously listen, fight off tears, and photograph faces in the crowd – White, Black, Hispanic, South Asian, East Asian, European. Old, Young. We are, and always will be, The United States of America. "To the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done." Everyone in the room was a part of that campaign team, and a roar went up. I imagine our cheers ringing like the Liberty Bell from coast to coast, from sea to shining sea.The speech ended, and the music resumed, and Valarie – what camera doesn't love Valarie? – was immediately interviewed by Reuters TV. I was only a few feet away, taking photos of the crowd, but I could only catch tiny bits of what she was saying, "He represents the hopes of my generation… our new President's name is Barack Hussein Obama… Now is our time…" The celebration continued and swirled and I caught a glimpse of more people in the bar. Hats, t-shirts, a guy in a moose costume with a sign that said, "Moose for Obama." (Who else would the moose support?)Tafari, meanwhile, somehow was crowned with a straw-type brimmed hat, like the ones you see the press wearing in old movies. He was dancing. I mean, dancing! Valarie, and Tanya, and I decided that we wanted to drive back to New Haven, that our energy was high enough to make it back, but not high enough to party all night. Tafari said, "This is our night! I've been waiting for this for 24 years. Just leave me here!" So we did. (Don't worry – he made it back to Connecticut in time for class the next day. Though I'm not exactly sure how and I prefer to leave it up to my imagination… I believed it involved the moose…)We drove through the mostly empty streets of Philadelphia on the way to the highway, dark, decaying neighborhoods, in the late night, beneath elevated train tracks. Tanya, Valarie and I chattered in that exhausted, elated way people get after a hard-fought victory that drains you of your energy but not your excitement. We were fueled by happiness.We approached three Black teenagers, dressed in a way that most people would assume they were gangsters or hoodlums, probably up to no good. As we passed near them, we saw they were holding up a large sign – the iconic Barack Obama "HOPE" poster. It was nearly 2am. We smiled and honked and drove into the future.Twenty-four hours after we first woke up, we were on the New Jersey turnpike speeding through the night. We stopped at the Woodrow Wilson turnpike rest stop. Valarie slept in the passenger seat and Tanya went to the rest room while I got coffee to start my driving shift. As I was waiting in line, I saw a Black man across the rest stop watching the TV screens above as he poured cream into his coffee. The report was about the Obama victory rally. A smiled slowly stretched across his face. Mine too.It was my turned to drive, just before daybreak. I listened to the BBC as reports came in from around the world, reports of spontaneous street celebrations in Kenya, in Europe, Australia and in Indonesia. I was unprepared for the global celebration. This was the world's victory, too.Although drained from our days in Philadelphia, I couldn't help but smile broadly, teary-eyed, hearing about people in slums of Nairobi, waving American flags. There was talk about naming a street in Mombasa on the Indian Ocean coast for Barack Obama. A crowd of people gathered around his father's grave in Kenya, chanting, "Obama, you have sired a king!"My swollen knuckles clutched the wheel of Tanya's hybrid car. The sky started to lighten, ever so slightly, as we passed the New York skyline and crossed the George Washington Bridge. We arrived in New Haven as day broke at the start of a new era.THE BEGINNINGWhen we were canvassing and getting people out to vote in Ward 35, I left behind a personal note about why I'm supporting Barack Obama. In it, I mention my parents who came to this country with nothing except their smarts, their values, and their hopes. They have worked hard, without complaint, their entire lives for a better life for their kids.They succeeded.Because of them, I can live a life doing what I love, pursuing a career as a filmmaker. Because of them, I can survive long periods of drought with their support and without their question, without hesitation.Because of them, I can live a life of conviction, can take long periods of time to pursue what I believe is a righteous cause many others might view as folly or as recklessness.Because of them, I had a chance to take a tiny chisel and hammer and help pave a way for Barack Obama to be President. And, as the new President said – this is not the change we seek. It's the chance to make change. I had a chance to get a chance to make change. I will never forget what it was like to do it.A lot of you have thanked Valarie and me for all the work we did. But truly, we all have a hand in this. There are so many here who did so much, but here's a snapshot.Barb, David, Wendy and Jack in Philadelphia gave us their couch and their floor and made us breakfast so we could work in their city.Jeff Eldridge put down a lot of cash, even in the year of his sabbatical, for the primary and election.Chris Farah joined us in Santa Monica in the primary and the streets of Las Vegas last month, knocking on doors.Mike Farah produced the video of Ron Howard supporting Barack Obama.Nitasha Sawhney organized that Vegas trip and countless other fundraisers and fought to get her community behind Obama.Lutishia Lovely and George Gonzales fought with Valarie in Texas to win Pflugerville for Barack.Amar Bhalla, a turban-wearing Sikh who is our hero in Divided We Fall for his work fighting discrimination in NYC and everywhere, went door-to-door in New Hampshire back in January for the primary.Nikhil Jayaram phone banked and canvassed in Nevada, registering Indians and South Asians.Bernie White wrote and directed a play in Venice about Barack and his estranged Reverend, and worked in Oregon for the primary. And spent the final day of the primary on our couch, toasting as Obama earned enough votes to be the nominee.Kal Penn swayed college students and people of all ages across the county, giving the word "celebrity" a good name.Penny Ronning tried to turn Montana blue and almost did. Judge Brar switched parties to vote in the primary and called South Asians around the country to get them to vote for Barack.Valarie's grandfather Captain Gurdial Singh Gill (Papaji) who fought for freedom in World War II with the British Indian Army, who despite being in the hospital and very close to being gone forever, voted absentee and returned home the day before the election. Hopefully on the mend, we pray.And of course all of us who confronted ugly racism or fear or skepticism or cynicism in our own families – all of you own a part of this historic turning point. From many, one."We will remember that there is something happening here in America."I don't want to over-state this moment. There will be a lot of disappointment ahead. It is up to us to make the change, to hold our government accountable, to pull up our sleeves and to finally, once again, be proud to call ourselves "Americans."But for now – this is our moment. Remember this. The future generation will ask us where we were and what we did when the first minority was elected President in our homeland. How did it happen? We will tell about stories of racism, bigotry, lies. But, ultimately, Hope. Hope that trumped everything else. So thank you all – you made this happen. Valarie and I were happy to be on the ground on your behalf. Thanks Mom and Dad. This is a step towards an even better future for me, for Valarie, Manu and Archana and the future of our families.For that, the sore knuckles were worth it.To the future,Sharat
When i began bloggin about my feelings/opining concerning the Obama campaign, I would have never foreseen the economic collapse being such a catalyst in the election. The Palin announcement I thought had stole the mojo from the long primary with Hillary.
Then Saturday Night Live, Jon Stewart, and Katie Couric all conspired to effectively deflate Palin, while simultaneously the collapse of the credit system worldwide would skewer any chances McCain had of even "Pretending to be Relevant". Of course we, as Americans, are in shock, we are all uncertain about what the future will bring. The notion of a Depression is real, and it's not good to shout "fire" in a crowded theater, but if the whole system collapsed, then shout anything you want.
The upshot of all the recent activity makes the SNARKY side of McPain and Failin just resonate with a pathetic twang. While we reel with the news of the day, they ostrich themselves into an unwinnable corner and play politics as usual. Don't they see this is different! Have some self-respect Mr. McCain! Don't lower yourself as a senator with a distinguished career by statement like "That One". Don't you see that we know what you mean when you do that? The thinly veiled racist side of you has just come out. Give him the respect he deserves. I don't care if you lose an lose badly, the country is in a great need of togetherness coming out of this election, and you need to lift up Barack as the great leader he will be, because--- "BELIEVE ME, YOU WILL BE THANKFUL YOU DON'T HAVE THE JOB".
We are at an uneasy juncture in our History. Timing is indeed everything. You would have been better than Bush after 9/11 but your own party sabotaged your momentum in that primary against John Kerry. We have memories. I will give you credit for the type of politician you were then, but for the challenges that call today, you are not up to the task. That doesn't mean you should not portend to hold yourself to have dignity and self-respect. Allow the fact that you will lose to set in, and just chill. Unite ahead of your losing for the betterment of the country. After all, you are the one constantly reminding us slogan-like, "Country First".
Please lead by example.
And Barack, even people that aren't used to it, will learn to pray for your ability to remain strong and true while leading our nation back to a place where we don't all worry day-to-day. You have keep your composure all the way through this trial, and one day, History will look extremely favorably upon you and both your intelligence, faith in yourself, and your ability to lead our nation. But that doesn't mean we envy the job you have in front of you.
Peace
Drew
We are making a music video to Get Out the Vote for Obama and give the people of Los Angeles an opportunity to have their voices heard.
The theme of the music video is that with Individual Voices coming together we can inspire people to overcome fear and take action for a better tomorrow. The music video will feature citizens of LA holding homemade signs saying what HOPE, PEACE or CHANGE means to them.
We have an amazing song that has been produced by a grammy-winning producer and an experienced team of film makers.
We need VOLUNTEERS who would like to participate in this community effort.
Please email us at yesyoucanvideo@yahoo.com if you:
With the election coming up, we need to move on this fast. So please get back to us by Sunday, Oct 5th at 8pm. YesYouCanVideo@yahoo.com
THANK YOU!
From: http://www.pollster.com/polls/us/08-us-pres-ge-mvo.php
The Ugly New McCain
By Richard Cohen
Following his loss to George W. Bush in the 2000 South Carolina primary, John McCain did something extraordinary: He confessed to lying about how he felt about the Confederate battle flag, which he actually abhorred. "I broke my promise to always tell the truth," McCain said. Now he has broken that promise so completely that the John McCain of old is unrecognizable. He has become the sort of politician he once despised.
The precise moment of McCain's abasement came, would you believe, not at some news conference or on one of the Sunday shows but on "The View," the daytime TV show created by Barbara Walters. Last week, one of the co-hosts, Joy Behar, took McCain to task for some of the ads his campaign has been running. One deliberately mischaracterized what Barack Obama had said about putting lipstick on a pig -- an Americanism that McCain himself has used. The other asserted that Obama supported teaching sex education to kindergarteners.
"We know that those two ads are untrue," Behar said. "They are lies."
Freeze. Close in on McCain. This was the moment. He has largely been avoiding the press. The Straight Talk Express is now just a brand, an ad slogan like "Home Cooking" or "We Will Not Be Undersold." Until then, it was possible for McCain to say that he had not really known about the ads, that the formulation "I approve this message" was just boilerplate. But he didn't.
"Actually, they are not lies," he said.
Actually, they are.
I love the interactivity of this site. The team that designed it did a great job! :)
I came across this article in "Time" magazine and it talked about something I've been observing since the start of the campaign. We know that race plays a role in America.
It's not something that can be easily talked about without distracting from the message of this campaign. The Republican party has tried to use race as a wedge between Obama and small-town, working class white America.
One of the strange comments I've heard is that we don't know much about Obama. What is there left to know?
Obama has been very open and we've seen him speak honestly about who he is and his vision for America. That comment says less about Obama and more about those who make such comments. What about Barack makes them uncomfortable?
During the campaign there has been an attempt to portray Obama as the other: a Muslim, a foreigner, or an angry black man. Still, no matter what has been thrown at him, Obama has stayed calm, focused and poised. That says a lot about his character.
Well here is the Time article:
Over this week we had the Republican National Convention (RNC) scheduled to gather in Saint Paul, the capital and second largest city in Minnesota. An unexpected guest crashed the party as Gustav headed toward Louisiana.
Hurricane Gustav came almost exactly three years after Katrina. The botched response and insensitivity during Katrina was something the Republican party wanted to avoid this time.
Sorry I took so much time off from writing, and even though i have health insurance this time around, the care i received from the Urgent Care Clinic didn't seem to cure my illness very fast. I still feel weak, but manage to have strong converstions with those who seem to believe people that aren't covered by health insurance these days just don't work hard enough.
Please.
That's about as desperate as More McPain picking Sarah Failin as his mate. I'm sure the Pensacola Playboy in him would love to have her mate with him, but as a Presidential Persona, she is more PTA than Presidential Material.
I viewed it as a Hail Mary pass, ala Doug Flutie in that famous last second catch. Now, granted she can read off a teleprompter, but so can I. Maybe this is a morsel left over from No Child Left Behind, Sarah as VP would be truly leaving nobody behind.
I'm proud to say that the banner I hung in the Destin Headquarters, of Obama against the backdrop of American Flag and Skyline, is looking regally over an office that hasn't been staffed since the campaign of JFK very long ago. I take that as a good omen, as a fellow senator that was eventually elected to the highest office in the land.
My friend who attended the Democratic Convention in Denver, and was invited to a small intimate gathering with Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton, did not have the time to approach Michelle about the portrait my friend and I painted of Obama on the beaches of a very Republican Coast, but she tried. If anyone else reading this knows either Hillary or Michelle please tell them of our portrait, as it was painted by a survivor of Katrina and a denizen of our nation's funkiest city--- New Orleans. Well, he and i had to battle those who said they would destroy our painting, threats to attack us, and all we did was continue to paint in silence for four days. The pen/brush can be mightier, it just has to be USED.
So I further my call to action. Register those you know and don't know to vote. We don't have that much more time to get them registered, so work quickly and diligently, all Americans should be personally invited into the importance of the voting process. It is a symbol of our connectiveness, something really lacking in the American way of life. Whether you vote for my team or your team, it unites us all, and inspires us to a vigorous debate about the future we could and SHOULD take. I just prefer to believe my position to be enlightened. So be it.
I'd like to give everyone the link to viewing the portrait that I did that is at the Headquarters in Destin. Primarily just to share something that is very important to me, and allow you to witness the beginning of our westward journey, as we move the banner from headquarters to headquarters, seeking press along the journey to promote Obama as our truly blessed and talented candidate.
Here's the link to the photos as the portrait was created, up to and including its hanging in the Destin Headquarters.
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48808&l=d670b&id=705089738
Hope you can enjoy them, and anyone that knows anyone in a Democratic Headquarters along the route to Portland, OR from Destin, FL feel free to contact me and we'll arrange for the banner to visit you within the next few weeks.
Much love and encouragement to all committed to a better society and a more united world!
I guess even if the Obama's needed a vacation, and the Olympics seem like the perfect time, Russian invading Georgia during this historic "truce" period has really upset the apple cart. Death, destruction and instability. To see Bush so cozy with Putin at the Olympics is almost a sick slap in the face.
Barack, Mr. McCain is trying to upstage you. The more visibility he gets during these time, especially with the President AWOL, the more presidential McCain appears. With the stock market in rally mode, commodities and oil in decline, the ECONOMY could quickly be off the table and then we are playing on unsteady ground.
McCain will position himself as the only person who knows how to navigate these waters. If you stay out of the fray, stay on vacation, unfortuanately, the only presidential qualities that you exhibit are the negative ones that Bush projected during the Katrina crisis, and other times he has hid out at the Crawford Ranch. Just letting you know. I love you, but you gotta face facts.
That is the WAY THE WORLD REALLY IS,
(no more days off for the next, well--let's be optimistic, eight years)
They are doing their best to reverse the rules of the game.
These thoughts are ones i wish Dearly i did not have to entertain.
Why would I have an argument with someone about something so inane? Because that's the level of desperation these folks have gotten to. It brings back some really horrible memories I had as a child growing up in this backwater of the Panhandle of Florida. Don't get me wrong, I love the surrounding environment here, but the ideas people profess and put forth, honestly, still blow my mind after 30 plus years.
Let me be more specific. A co-worker of my wife had this to say, "I don't really care about politics (beware when you hear those cautionary words . . .), and I really don't care if Obama becomes President even, but i think if he is, then someone will take him out. She didn't say it that way, but I can't bear to say outloud or on paper what she said. Instantly, i said, "That's a horrible thing to say outloud, even if you believe it to be true, you shouldn't say that." Why, says she. Lots of people, AND HERE IS WHERE I JUST LOST IT, "believe that he is the antichrist". This is an educated, well-traveled, monied woman and I'm hearing this.
Flashback: My mom and dad both worked. I'm the eldest of four. Our babysitter, an extreme fundamentalist used to take care of us and do cool things, like blueberry picking, pecan picking, and trips to the beach. But she also indoctrinated us, into beliefs that the world was ending, the apocalypse was just around the corner, conspiracy talkings about the signs-- most of which was just a fear of the rise of technology-- Ok fair-- up to and until Y2K. I thought we all got that out of our system. But some of the things she did went way,way too far. My mom would reel her in once in a while, but she was cheap and she was otherwise pretty good to us. So when we would tell stories of her later on, taking us to the grocery store and making us hand out pamphelts of the end of the world, and the number of the beast, and the anti-christ this and that-- well that was WAY TOO FAR.
Even if we had belived that stuff, you shouldn't do it to KIDS. And our family was Catholic. What place of hers was it to do all this. Like we didn't have enough guilt about sex and masturbation already to deal with, don't pile on another religions scare tactics. I say all this as a person who still attends Mass, but one whom also believes his mind is from his creator, and I would be a fool not t use it. So when I say i don't personally believe abortion is a good thing, I follow that position quickly with, "but I don't believe that my morality needs to be LEGISLATED BY THE GOVERNMENT". If that doesn't work, I say the usual, "you wouldn't want someone who was raped to be forced to carry that baby to term?" Sometimes the nut jobs say, "why not, the baby wasn't the rapist." I walk away if the logic, heart, and soul of my conversation has just left the building.
Well, needless to say, these memories of childhood were brought up by this person. She, of course, followed it up quickly with this thought--- "i don't believe that rumor, but lots of people do". I told her in plain English that someone who repeats a rumor like it is a widely held belief, is herself perpetuating the RUMOR ITSELF. She thought i was just being mean. I said that type of thinking was brainwashing, that it was like spreading mental illness, and that it was RIDICULOUS to say OUT LOUD. I don't want to get the the point where people can't have stupid thoughts, i just want them to exercise discipline over when those thoughts get BROADCAST.
I told her if that's what so many people believe, why do none of the mainstream media outlets report it? She didn't really know what to say. She was upset, and I attempted to make nice, mostly because my wife works with her, but also, to some degree I have compassion for people who have ingested this mental illness and somehow believe that they don't believe it, but they continue to spread it.
So, the upshot is I'm not angry and frustrated about this. Like a good friend of mine said who works for the Innocence Project--- this is a corner that a frustrated campaign is working out of. Maybe I shouldn't even dignify with a response, but if this belief is even a tad out of control, I believe that it is OUR responsibility to confront it with reason, to point out to folks that this is poison they are spreading. Lies are one thing, when based on positions. But Obama has endured an extreme amount of POISON. When she initially said he was the antichrist I said, "what makes you believe that". She says, well "he's the first ONE". And I'm not a genius, but i figured I had backed her into a RACIST corner. I said over and over, "what do you mean by ONE". She eventually said, "the first One of color". I think that is their biggest fear, and yet in this day an age they are sophisticated enough to KNOW NOT TO SAY THAT outloud. But I say, and Man, I mean it, they must be educated to not speak the poisonous thoughts outloud. My sense of balance is too affected when they use the word antichrist as a substitute for their fear of a black man as President of the United States. And that's all that is going on. They substituted "muslim" rumors earlier in the cycle.
One thing i Know is that when a raccoon is in a corner and must fight its way out, things get ugly. Obama should be further ahead in the polls. I don't want us to rest as a unit, and sit on our laurels while these mentally ill thoughts linger out in the ether of the internet, but I really don't want us to get over confident when people are brazen enough to speak this trash out loud. Confront but don't do it in a cocky way. Have compassion for those you correct. One Principle I learned and ingested while studying Aikido was that it is not necessary for me to use my energy when "SHOWING YOU THE ERRORS OF YOUR OWN WAYS". This women brought this up. She clothed it initially in innocuous language, that in reality was racism and rumor mongering. She thought I was going to be polite and not confront because my wife and her work together. I'm sorry, this is all TOO IMPORTANT for me to just allow. But I will show you compassion, mostly on the back side of the argument, and I will also use your mentally broken thoughts to SHOW YOU THE ERROR OF YOUR OWN WAYS, because basically this is a conversation I didn't want to have, and DON'T WANT TO HAVE AGAIN. IF i'm a bit brutally honest in demonstrating that to you at first, i hope you will be wise enough to not bring it up again. And then I apologize and give a hug. I'm not an animal, I just think that sometimes when the fish tank needs a thorough cleaning, you must first stir some of the shit up that has amassed upon the bottom. Then a water change will flush out a lot of that old TRASH. But we can all use our intelligence and our strength of heart.
Nevertheless the warrior in each of us must also remain vigilent.
Wow, that was something else!
MUCH LOVE,
DrewdruDrew
Recently I did a blogging STAYCATION. It was getting obvious to me that I was going Negative with myself, despite my better inclined positive nature. That is one of the risks of what has been going on around us. It can suck you in like so many dollars drilling at home.
So i hit the pause button. That is something very adult for me, and so here, I pat myself on my back. You should too, especially if you've resisted becoming overly negative in the political/economic climate we are in. Before I dozed off last night i was watching a PBS program on the climate, and that was depressing, but enlightening.
Back in college i did my Presidential Scholarship thesis on "Alternative Lifestyles". This was before it became a moniker for the gay and lesbian movement. What i was getting at, in my very naive way---was that it was time to change. Before the Franklin quote came true: "Only when the well is dry will we recognize the worth of water." My point back then was that we needed a shift, not merely for the planet, but in truth for the very health of our souls and psyches. We needed a return to community, a way of being together, a way of caring and working toward difficult goals that should not be put off onto the next generation.
Well, in the context of this PBS story, which spoke of the offsetting of global warming due to the high amount of particulate matter that is reflecting solar heat back prior to it reaching earth. The study measured temperature differences in the Maldives, where the "fresh" arctic air makes its way to the southern Maldives and so clears away the "dirty" air and thus more sunlight (10% the study said) reaches the earth on the southern part of the chain. It made me think back to keeping a saltwater aquarium-- i tricky endeavor if anyone has atttempted this, and one that is super dependent on the stability of minute changes in a small system. Got me wondering if the coral bleaching we have seen worldwide isn't as much due to changes in temperature of the seas, but in the actual QUALITY of the light reaching these ancient pueblos of life in the sea. This last century is responsible for so much change.
I guess it shifted my perspective off of the political, me remembering my thesis and what i wanted people to do back then. The less important things, suddenly seeming less important again. Turned out I wasn't very good at TELLING other people what to do. What i ended up with in my thesis was a demonstration of myself turned INSIDE OUT in the form of an art installation. This replaced my thesis of words, and showed what path I was walking, and intended on continuing walking. Always my challenge has been to shut up and not tell other people what to do, just do my thing, let them observe and see how it affects them. Well, back then, in the early 90's, it caused my teachers to sit on the couch in "my Room" and reflect on all the things they had never done that they wanted to do. I still hope my life has that effect on people. I was scared in doing that room, for one part I hadn't gotten approval to do an "art version of my thesis", and for another I was exposing very inner parts of myself to get a point across, one i feared would be turned back on me. The truth was that me allowing that part of myself to be externalized simply gave others permission to do the same. That is the ineffable part working between us all.
So I embrace the challenges that have been set before us. This election is bigger than the players at the top, it is as much about the links we are forging between one another now in order to do the work that will be difficult that is coming soon. The change is shocking, and can manifest negative elements in us all at times. It is part of the FUTURE SHOCK that Toffler talked about so long ago. But when those moments come, hit the pause buttton, and realize in your heart what my Zen teacher used to say all the time, "Sipping Tea We Stopped the War".
Have peace today, and progress will follow tommorrow.
Author Ron Suskind claims that the White House forged a letter showing an operational link between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. The White House denies it.
It is sad that we cannot just believe the word of the White House.
In the battle of ideas, Obama wins hands down.
So no one should be surprised thta McCain is going negative. I am a little surprised by how early he has done so.
Here is a good petition that is spreading online. Take a look. It asks McCain to quit the nonsense.
Boy is it easy to become cynical. The conversation i just had with a diehard Republican, whom I'm friends with, makes me just cringe. She has no idea of the double standards she allows in her points of view. Close to homelessness once, she has no compassion for those with multiple levels of hurdles in their lives---she views it strictly as a choice. Maybe a bad series of choices at best. And when asked, "Even if it costs more, you would prefer for people that fall on hard times like that (even those with mental illness/addiction problems-- you would prefer for them to be locked up and stored like so much HUMAN BEEF." All the while she doesn't see the problem with an administration which turned a blind eye to most of the lending practices that led to the current bailout/SOCIALIZATION endorsed by the Bush Administration to fix a major screw up.
Well don't tell me they weren't aware of the problem, anyone with a mailbox could tell you that lending had gotten way, way too easy. Just gauge it by the sheer volume of offers to do this, or do that, and so much "FREE" money from the ATM known as your house would flood in. No worries, rising prices would more than compensate. So those people lending with practices like that, HOW DIFFERENT THAN drug dealers are they really. And now we're supposed to just go along. That seems like a severe case of bad choices, but really, for the sake of the ECONOMY, let's turn a blind eye to their decisions (and i'm raging from the lenders to the overseers to the people sending in the pieces of paper), and the decisions of the homeless or addicted---those people are somehow morally bankrupt. Ok, if you say so . . .
So now we just accept this is the way it is. No such thing as a free market. Let's look ahead. People speculating the death out of oil, which if it spurs us to innovation and turning away from overseas wars--then i'm all for, but that is nonsense on the highest level. Don't even bother me with your breath about supply and demand. It is not rational. And it is related to massive shorting and making money hand over fist at the expense of the consumer. Don't buy the pack of lies you are being sold. But call your friends on their nonsense.
Then there's the issue of Republican corruption. From gay politicians who hide behind their families while they ignore basic issues of equality. Look, if the guy is good enough for your cock, then I think his lover should be able to make some decisions on his behalf and get some of your benefits. Then there's the favors. The nepotism. The behind the doors dealing. The sweetheart contracts, and the whole massive amount of unknown cronyism that pervades our system. We can't go after employers who hire illegals, we can't protect our own citizens, and we are putting up barriers that are impossible if you fly, but feel free to walk in, walk over us, and take plenty of benefits if you live in California. I'm all for immigration, but let's be fair to a modest extent.
Employers should not be able to hire without consequences. I've been there, telling dishwashers to get "real" ID. Don't come to me with this nonsense. The wages are simply going under someone else's identity, and the copying even looks phony. It gets tiring. Exhausting to just do the right thing. And it's all for the sake of easy money.
Who thinks credit cards are next? That money is way too easy, and people can't afford to live, so charge on and charge it up. Where is the end to this madness that began in earnest with the Tech Bubble, are we to simply sit back, live through a series of seemingly drug induced highs, that only the BIG DOGS profit under, and then wait for the shoe to drop each time. I'm tired of the Republican Highjack Machine. I recognize them for what they are. Highwaymen who rob, who lie, and steal with their buddies, then hide behind overly moralisic patriotic high fives mixed with a dose of homophobia and xenophobia. I just don't have the time to entertain it as reality. Too much of that on T.V. I feel like in real life i'm just watching more of the same. Challenge these people into CHANGE. Only when they can admit their problem can it begin to get better.
Take it light,
While Barack has been dominating headlines with his incredibly successful overseas trip, McCain has looked befuddled and has had a series of gaffes. You would think his luck couldn't be any worse, but tonight he had to cancel a trip to New Orleans where he was going to fly out to an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Turns out there was a tanker collision that caused a 12-mile oil slick. Classic!
Today's Washington Post has a good summary of all of the bad luck he has run into in recent days.
The article closes by pointing out that McCain's speech at the Republican Convention will take place during the Washington Redskins - New York Giants football game that will start the NFL season. So there will be about 100 people watching him on TV and about 40 million watching the game.
I guess McCain will feel right at home - his crowds aren't much bigger than 100 people anyway.
Everyone on this blog is probably familiar with McCain's mistake on the CBS Evening News last night with respect to the details of the Surge's timeline.
Keith Olbermann had some great video of McCain's attempt at an explanation the apparent gaffe. View the video here: http://robsobs.blogspot.com/2008/07/mccains-blunders-about-surge.html
I really like the backdrop. What presidential candidate doesn't want to use cheese products in a grocery store as a backdrop. It is a joke.
