Hi Friends -
We're partway there, but there is still a long way to go. This weekend, I worked with a friend of mine to register people to vote in old city philadelphia. There is something sort of special about doing this in the cradle of liberty, so to speak.
Prior to going out to register voters, my friend, Eric from philadelphia, made a great blog post that I am giong to borrow (i.e. completely rip-off). For every dollar that is donated, not only will I match it at $0.25 (up to my goal of $1,000) but I will also make a phone call to a PA resident to help GOTV for Obama. I know a lot of people are hesitant to phone bank for Obama. I understand. Very few people are truly "comfortable" picking up the phone and calling complete strangers to talk about something that our culture has deemed so deeply personal. Even if you don't feel you are able to make calls, this is a way to get involved with voter outreach and phone banking. These phone calls will represent your support of the Obama campaign in a way that money may not be able to - it creates a personal interraction with a potential voter.
So, every dollar you contribute to my Blog will = $1.25 AND will represent one call that I will make on your behalf to a PA voter.
If you are so motivated, you can donate to the Obama Campaign at
http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/WeAreTheChange
Thanks
For a better, stronger country,
Dustin
I live in the conservative 'T' of Pennsylvania. James Carville called it "Alabama w/o the accent." Gov. Rendell thinks we won't vote for a black candidate. I have been going to local Obama meetings and I'm here to report, this is just not true.
Each meeting I go to, 4 since mid-February, gets bigger and bigger. The people of Central PA are looking for change. They are looking to Barrak Obama. The grassroots organizing is swelling and I think the pundits, including Chris Matthews, a PA native, who keep putting PA in league with Ohio are going to be surprised again.
And this will be a surprise, it's not just Afro-Americans in Philly and Pittsburgh and Harrisburg who are turning out. The groups I've seen are across all demographics. I am (just) over 50, college educated and make under $50,000. I am surrounded by my peers. Not ALL women in this group are feeling Mrs. Clinton. We are many of us feminists, and would love to have a women president, but her vote on the war was wrong and she should admit it. Her current negative tactics are turning us off. We've seen this all before.In this historic election, the Karl Rove playbook doesn't make it.
Barack Obama is inclusive, a brilliant mind, an inspiring speaker and 47 years old. He, too, has a life full of experience. I think these sound bytes that are played over and over need to be examined. Take the latest....to suggest that Clinton and McCain have experience and Obama has a speech may have legs as a byte but fly in the face of logic. Is Mrs. Clinton implying Sen. Obama fell off a cabbage cart in 2004? He has dedicated his entire adult life to public service, too. He has more legislative experience than Mrs. Clinton. State legislatures are important as are national ones and both are more important than first ladyships. He was also a civil rights attorney, taught Constitutional law and was community organizer in Chicago, not working for the Rose law firm in Arkansas and keeping her husband in office.
I've read that Obama has polled very strong with college educated voters. Yet the Clinton campaign has tried to dismiss them as 'Obamamaniacs.' Educated people are more likely to go beyond sound bytes and do their homework. We also understand political manipulation when we see it. And college students, fresh from Poli SCi and History classes are coming out and enthusiasically supporting Senator Obama. This is not a coincidence. The more informed you are the more impressed you are with his candidacy and his vision for uniting people for political change and blunting the influence of lobbyists and big money interests. Party bickering and influence pedaling have frozen the government in Washington. He has vision and inspiration and will have the election coattails that will give us the abiltiy to get the huge issues facing our country addressed.
I so look forward to having an eloquent speaker in the bully pulpit that is the US Presidency. I am tired of the tortured syntax of the Bush presidency and I dread the scolding tone that is Senator Clinton's public speaking style. They are both described as charming in person, great, but for most of the nation, it is their public speaking that we experience.
I am working for an Obama presidency that will have sound judgement, grassroots experience, international understanding and very fine oratory. What a breath of fresh air.
This is less of a blog and more of a PSA this time around. Harkening back to the mantra that "all politics is local," we need to get out there (those of us in PA, WY, MS, etc) and make this happen. While I know its not a HUGE victory on its own, I have swayed at least 5 friends and family members to vote for Obama. But if they tell a friend, and they tell a friend, and they tell a friend, it turns into something. Lots of PA field offices are opening this weekend. Find yours. Got to the opening. Make a statement. We are individuals, but we are in this together and can make an incredible impact (as you've seen) when we unite. And make sure that you stay involved. We can't get all hot and bothered over this presidential primary and election, and then just sit on the sidelines expecting everything to turn out fine. Contact local legislators. Go to hearings on bills at the capitol. Read up on upcoming legislation that is important to you and your community. Obama has built a grassroots organization that is second to none, hands down. Now, we need to continue to mobilize on all fronts, not just national elections. PA HB 1660 / SB 300 can be a great example of how a dedicated group of citizens can make a difference. We need to stand up for what is right, and let our elected officials know what we think.
For a stronger, better country
Here's what I want to hear over the coming weeks as the race heads to PA: What is it about experience that makes a person qualified to be president? There are examples of some great presidents (Lincoln, Wilson, FDR, and Teddy Roosevelt) who were short on experience. The four that I mentioned had less public experience than Obama has. There are examples of presidents who had heaps of experience but showed poor judgment--Nixon, and sadly, my home state's James Buchanan, to name a couple. So the premise that experience = good judgment = qualified to be president is a fallacy.
Obama needs to hit that poor judgment (or lack of judgment) thing hard. It is completely legitimate, issues-based, and not negative in the personal sense. We should take a look at Clinton's poor management of the universal healthcare initiative back in 1993. We should take a look at her failure to read the National Insurance Estimate and to rely on administration briefings heading into the Iraq War Resolution vote. Isn't going to war a good reason to read what was merely a 92-page document?
Let's examine her excuse that she thought the president couldn't use the resolution the way he did. I assume she read the resolution (it was only a couple pages long). She's a lawyer. I'm sure she could have picked out the weakness of the provisions. Those weaknesses allowed the president to take us to war without further approval from Congress. There were multiple proposed amendments to the resolution to strengthen the resolution. Senator Durbin proposed an amendment to the Senate resolution that would have limited military action to immediate threats from Iraq. Clinton (and McCain) voted against it.
What good is experience if that experience is full of errors. For Clinton: Experience = poor judgment.
Now it’s off to Wyoming, Mississippi, and finally PA (Not that it's the last primary, but if it's not decided by then, then it will go to convention).
What does that mean for us here in PA? We need to GOTV, we need to call, and we need to be willing to talk with our friends and family about this movement that we feel so strongly about. This is too important to not talk about.
Today may feel like a "let down" after last night - I know many of us were hoping it would be in the proverbial bag by now. But it's not. It still can go either way. And while I still believe that Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States, that won't happen without the help and support of thousands and thousands of dedicated volunteers from all corners of the political landscape.
Get involved in local groups. It is true that all politics is local. We finally have a candidate that is inspiring us to get involved on that level. Let’s get out there and make this happen.
For a better, stronger America,
I am even more committed to Barack Obama. My first vote was in 1972. I worked at an alternative newspaper during Watergate. I was disgusted by Wille Horton and Swift boating. Now, the first woman candidate is using the 'kitchen sink' strategy of race, religion, gender and fear politics to battle her way to the nomination. The 'obama is a muslim and therefore a terrorist' may seem like a fringe tactic, but when I talked to my 88 year old mother-n-law on Sunday, she said she heard he was linked to terrorists. I was shocked! This from a open minded, world traveling senior. The gentleman on sixty minutes on Sunday reiterated this dis-information. And Mrs. Clinton's response to Steve Croft. DISTURBING and vague. As Mr. Axelrod said last nite, she has participated in prayer breakfasts with Sen Obama, if the tables had been turned, HE would have quickly defended the truth, unequivically.
NH she exploited gender, SC they exploited race, and now fear (the 3am telephone) and religion. This is not why I have always been a democrat. We have the big tent. As a feminist, I am appalled that this is happening and that women are falling in behind her in the name of the feminine. These are the worst of tactics and will taint this historic contest.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/texas/texas_democratic_presidential_primary
Obama has pulled ahead of Hillary in TX, according to Rasmussen Reports.
Additionally, of the total voters expected to turn out next week, 9% are expected to be registered Republicans (Obamacans, as the Obama camp has taken to calling them.) Of that voting bloc, 70% support Obama, according to MSNBC.com, and their contributing affiliates in TX.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23394070/
I believe that this phenomenon, which is not isolated, truly shows how unifying a figure Barack Obama is. We are in a political rut the likes of which have not been seen in decades. The partisan posturing and battles that take up so much time on Capitol Hill leave less and less time for the people's work to be taken up and seen through to the end. A unifier such as Obama stands the best chance to truly move this country past its deadlocked system of two-party political infighting into the start of a new era of cooperative public acomplishments.
For a great piece of reporting / commentary on the McCain / Cunningham debacle earlier this week, go to youtube or google videos and look up "double talk express olbermann." Simply outstanding. I am not sending this as a smear, but rather as an in-depth look at what, on the surface, appeared to be Senator McCain's repudiation of the comments made by Bill Cunningham regarding Barack Obama at a McCain rally.
