If you or somebody in your family has a pre-existing condition, you’ll get help in 2010: Both the Senate and House bills will make it illegal for insurance companies to drop coverage for Americans who get sick. Insurance companies will also be barred from limiting the total benefits Americans can use over the course of a year or over their lifetimes. Affordable insurance coverage options will also be made immediately available through a high-risk pool for Americans who have been uninsured and have been denied coverage because they have a pre-existing condition. These options will serve as a bridge until the new health insurance marketplaces, or exchanges, are up and running.If you or your family has insurance, you'll get help in 2010: The scales will no longer be tipped against you in your relationship with your insurance company. More of your money will start going towards your care instead of excessive insurance company profits or TV ads. Between 2010 and 2013, insurance companies will be required to report the proportion of premium dollars that are spent in areas other than medical care – including profits. If a company isn’t spending enough of its premium dollars providing benefits, it will be required to issue rebate checks to its customers to make up the difference. Insurance companies will also immediately have to begin creating effective appeals processes for customers who have been denied claims ---including independent reviews---and the legislation provides grants for states to create ombudsmen to act as consumer watchdogs on health insurance coverage. If you want to keep your family from getting sick in the first place, you’ll get help in 2010: All insurance plans will have to begin covering preventive services. That means all Americans who purchase insurance on their own will receive preventive care from their doctor without paying a co-pay. If you’ve got kids, you’ll get help in 2010: Insurance plans that cover dependents will also have to provide benefits to adult children up to age 26, covering young Americans at a time when they’re most likely to lack coverage.If you’re an early retiree with coverage from your former employer, your premiums will be reduced: Employers and their retirees between 55 and 64 years of age will have lower premiums from new re-insurance helping to ensure the continuation of these essential benefits.If you’re a senior, you'll get help in 2010: Major help on prescription drug costs will begin kicking in, with dramatic reductions on the costs of brand name prescription drugs for seniors. In addition, the coverage gap, or “doughnut hole” in the Medicare Prescription Drug Program will be closed over the next few years. So as we come to the end of this debate, it’s important to take stock of what American families and small businesses will get from reform:· Reforms that will generate the largest deficit reduction in 12 years; Reforms that will rein in insurance companies and shift power to patients, doctors, nurses and American families. Reforms that will actually reduce premiums and save money for American families and small businesses; Reforms that will strengthen the financial health of Medicare while closing the prescription drug doughnut hole – the most significant boost to Medicare's solvency in more than a decade. Reforms that will make quality affordable health care available to tens of millions of Americans – the most significant action since Medicare.
If you or somebody in your family has a pre-existing condition, you’ll get help in 2010: Both the Senate and House bills will make it illegal for insurance companies to drop coverage for Americans who get sick. Insurance companies will also be barred from limiting the total benefits Americans can use over the course of a year or over their lifetimes. Affordable insurance coverage options will also be made immediately available through a high-risk pool for Americans who have been uninsured and have been denied coverage because they have a pre-existing condition. These options will serve as a bridge until the new health insurance marketplaces, or exchanges, are up and running.
If you or your family has insurance, you'll get help in 2010: The scales will no longer be tipped against you in your relationship with your insurance company. More of your money will start going towards your care instead of excessive insurance company profits or TV ads. Between 2010 and 2013, insurance companies will be required to report the proportion of premium dollars that are spent in areas other than medical care – including profits. If a company isn’t spending enough of its premium dollars providing benefits, it will be required to issue rebate checks to its customers to make up the difference. Insurance companies will also immediately have to begin creating effective appeals processes for customers who have been denied claims ---including independent reviews---and the legislation provides grants for states to create ombudsmen to act as consumer watchdogs on health insurance coverage.
If you want to keep your family from getting sick in the first place, you’ll get help in 2010: All insurance plans will have to begin covering preventive services. That means all Americans who purchase insurance on their own will receive preventive care from their doctor without paying a co-pay.
If you’ve got kids, you’ll get help in 2010: Insurance plans that cover dependents will also have to provide benefits to adult children up to age 26, covering young Americans at a time when they’re most likely to lack coverage.
If you’re an early retiree with coverage from your former employer, your premiums will be reduced: Employers and their retirees between 55 and 64 years of age will have lower premiums from new re-insurance helping to ensure the continuation of these essential benefits.
If you’re a senior, you'll get help in 2010: Major help on prescription drug costs will begin kicking in, with dramatic reductions on the costs of brand name prescription drugs for seniors. In addition, the coverage gap, or “doughnut hole” in the Medicare Prescription Drug Program will be closed over the next few years. So as we come to the end of this debate, it’s important to take stock of what American families and small businesses will get from reform:·
Health reform is good for Louisiana. Call your Member of Congress and encourage them to support health reform for real Louisiana families. http://bit.ly/CallMembesrofCongress
Join Organizing for America in your community. We need your help making the change we voted for become the reality we live. http://bit.ly/JoinOFA
Louisiana had one of its best phone bank days in recent weeks Thursday, as volunteers in Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, New Orleans, and Shreveport made over 1,200 calls to OFA supporters, encouraging them to contact members of Congress and join our Rapid Response Network. Momentum for reform is on the rise following a recent announcement from Senator Mary Landrieu that she supports the health insurance reform legislation being debated in the Senate. Noting that the Senate now has a historic opportunity to pass a healthcare bill, Senator Landrieu said:
“While many of us expressed cost and bureaucracy concerns about early drafts of health care reform legislation, it is clear that the product the Senate is debating is a dramatic improvement," Senate Democrats have developed a consensus that combines the best blend of private and public approaches to reduce cost, expand coverage and increase choice and competition for Americans," she added. "I look forward to moving this legislation forward before the holiday recess."
Senator Landrieu’s support of health reform is a demonstration of the power of grassroots organizing. Community Organizers in all Organizing for America-Louisiana regions have hosted over 150 phone banks and generated nearly 12,000 phone calls to supporters. Real people with real health care issues were able to reach out to members of Congress through phone calls and personal visits. Grassroots organizing took on the insurance lobby and millions of dollars of negative advertisements, and won. We won because family members spoke to other family members, neighbors spoke to other neighbors, and small business owners to other small business owners about the importance of taking action for health insurance reform now.
This peer led outreach helped spread the truth about reform and got Louisianans engaged. Though we are proud of this achievement, the battle is not over. The Senate still has work to do before finally passing health reform, and we need to make sure Senator Landrieu continues to hear from supporters. Also, in the near future, the House of Representatives will take a final vote on health insurance reform. Your role will be instrumental in helping to influence them.
Call Senator Landrieu and your member of Congress to make sure they stand tall for Louisiana families and support health reform. You can find contact information for your Member of Congress here: http://bit.ly/CallMembesrofCongress
To learn more about OFA in your community or to volunteer for your neighborhood team, please click here. http://bit.ly/JoinOFA
Work as citizens wholeheartedly with passion and perserverance, along with determenation
In the end you wont be disappointed if you PUSH(Pray Until Something Happens)
Change Corps of New Orleans is looking for some of our volunteers to help staff the St. Bernard Project's Women's Rebuild in May. Women Business Leaders from across the country will be gathering for this event and helping to rebuild homes in St. Bernard Parish. We would like to send 20 representatives from our organization to participate either for the whole week, or for whatever day (or two) you can commit. We need to provide volunteers' names by mid-April so that they can plan effectively. Below is a tentative schedule for the week:Monday, May 11 Work 8:30-4:30, Lunch PicnicTuesday, May 12 Work 8:30-4:30, Group Dinner @ 7 pmWednesday, May 13 Work 8:30-4:30, Dinner and a PlayThursday, May 14 Work 8:30-4:30, Happy Hour/Awards Ceremony at Tropical Isle on Bourbon St.Friday, May 15 Work 8:30-4:30, Welcome Home Party @ NoonSaturday, May 16 Work 9:30-3:30 Please send a message to lynda@changecorpsnola.org with the days you can volunteer as well as your contact information so that we can make arrangements with you.For more info on SBP, go to:http://stbernardproject.org
St. Bernard Project
8324 Parc Place
Calmette, LA 70043
Hello Louisiana for Obama, I hope you are as fired up as I am after President Obama’s speech last night! Across the country and here in Louisiana we are inspired by the President’s message and motivated to organize for change.
I wanted to introduce myself to those of you who I don’t yet know. My name is Kevin Brown and I worked as a grassroots organizer on the Obama campaign. Just like many of you, I knocked on doors, made phone calls and held organizing meetings with teams of volunteers. Together we won this election.
I am excited to serve as Louisiana’s Volunteer Liaison to Organizing for America and I'm thrilled to tell you that Organizing for America is up and running! OFA’s mission is to mobilize our grassroots movement in support of President Obama’s policies for change and to build on and strengthen that grassroots organization we have all built together. I am an unpaid volunteer (not an official OFA staffer) who has been asked to help coordinate our efforts here in Louisiana OFA’s national office.
I know that many of you are already utilizing the Obama network to organize in your communities. In Louisiana alone, we held 31 house parties and collected 181 stories around the economic crisis. Your efforts helped pass the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act and your involvement will be critical to its success.
You can act today to support our economic recovery. We've put together an easy to use online tool to look up the phone numbers of your representatives who voted in favor of the economic recovery plan -- take a few minutes today to thank them for doing what's right.
Take a minute to thank the Senators and Representatives who supported the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and encourage them to continue working with President Obama to lift America out of this economic crisis. When you're done, report back to us about the calls you made.
Throughout the next weeks and months, I look forward to working with all of you to ensure that Organizing for America is successful here in Louisiana. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or ideas as we continue to organize for change.
Thanks so much,
Kevin Brown
Louisiana Volunteer Liaison, Organizing for America
kevin.brown@obamaalumni.com
www.TheLouisianaMovement.ning.com
The Obama organizers in this state held a vested interest in this year’s campaign. We were here before the campaign, remain here after the campaign, and we are determined to bring about real change in our home state. Several of us have formed an alliance for change, and we invite each of you to join us.
We are Dawn Collins, Obama ’08 Regional Field Organizer for Congressional District 7 (and beyond. LOL); Diana Hamilton, Obama ’08 Field Representative for the Lake Charles Region; Patrice Jacques, Obama ’08 Regional Field Organizer for Congressional Districts 1 and 3; and Lynda Woolard, Obama ’08 Field Representative for the Orleans Region.
Many of you know us personally as we have worked side by side during the campaign. Many of you are just now being introduced. All are welcomed to join us at www.TheLouisianaMovement.ning.com. This site is intended to be used as a local supplement to BarackObama.com. From this site you can find the websites of each organizer, or you can view and join a few of the groups listed on the left under the “Members” listing (i.e. “Change Corps of Greater Baton Rouge,” “Change Corps of Acadiana,” “Citizens for Financial Responsibility,” and “Citizens for a Better Education”).
You can use the page to create a group to be used for your own area or for an issue near and dear to your heart. You can start discussion boards or forums. You can even add memorable pictures, videos, and music.
We welcome your enthusiasm, questions, and concerns. Reach out to us about how you can make strides in your own neighborhood, city or region.
We look forward to your continued involvement. Change cannot happen without you.
Sincerely,
Dawn D. Collins
Dawn.Collins@ObamaAlumni.com
I saw Steven Soderbergh on the Rachel Maddow show this week. He raised an interesting point that has really stuck with me.
Rachel asked him how it is that his movies, which are so smart and thought-provoking, could possibly be the commercial successes that they always turn out to be. The popular theory is that Americans prefer to watch "dumb" material... going to the theater to escape the real world... and not wanting to be bothered with having to think.
Soderbergh replied that while he only had a high school education, he was a thinking man and chose to not under-estimate his audience. The remarkable thing is that what had impressed upon him that Americans might just be smart enough to care about politics and the important issues of the day was his experience with Sports Radio. He explained that in listening to sports talk on the radio, he had realized that our citizens are perfectly capable of memorizing years' worth of statistics, understanding obscure rules, maintaing focus on an issue from beginning to end over several months, if not years, and expressing great passion about their beliefs. He was particularly impressed with how mere fans have no problem calling a coach out for a bad play... and are able to easily articulate how they could do it better.
He's right. If you ever listen to a sports radio station, you will hear this borne out every day. It's exciting and fascinating... and there's no reason that we cannot put the same amount of energy and intelligence into our politics and our communities. Our sports teams, are, after all, just another community of which we are a part and supporting a team is rife with politics. We have the model to be excited and involved. And a little bit of observation does, in fact, prove that doggone it... we're smart enough and committed enough to do this thing.
We can do it! Yes we can!
Be the change...
Join us:
www.changecorpsnola.org
I DO BELIEVE NOW IS THE TIME TO ACT.
I have tried to get this to Mrs. Napolitano and Barack as well as some other ideas. I am concerned with our elavated crime rates, our cost of crime, elevate risk from a WMD, a Biological attack, The fragile economy,and solutions 1 system of systems a matrix, that multitasks, and solves multiple problems at the same time. We are looking at the overall solutions that we can provide:
United states total population 2008 = 300,000,000 peopleof that number:73 million are Childrenhttp://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/quickfacts/stat_snapshot/
Number of Children http://www.childtrendsdatabank.org/indicators/53NumberofChildren.cfm
In 2006, there were 73.7 million children under age 18 in the United States. This represents an increase in the child population of more than 50 percent since 1950. 55,568,000 are on some sort of assistanceMonthly Statistical Snapshot, October 2008 55,568,000 are the Number of people receiving Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, or both, October 2008 http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/quickfacts/stat_snapshot/
U.S. Imprisons One in 100 Adults, Report Finds http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/29/us/29prison.html?_r=1
January 08, 2007"Incarceration Nation"The NationJanuary 5, 2007 (web only)Incarceration NationSilja J.A. TalviEvery year, American taxpayers fund an estimated $60 billion for our incarceration system. This system staples together a network of public and corporate-run jails, prisons, pre- and post-release centers, juvenile detention centers and boot camps. All together, these facilities hold well over 2 million human beings, locked away without public oversight or scrutiny. http://realcostofprisons.org/blog/archives/2007/01/post_4.html As Jobs Vanish and Prices Rise, Food Stamp Use Nears Record http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/31/us/31foodstamps.htmlEmployment Situation
http://www.bls.gov/Jobs lost in 2008: 1.2 millionPayrolls shrink by 240,000 in October, 10th straight month of cuts. Unemployment soars to 6.5%http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/07/news/economy/jobs_october/index.htm?postversion=2008110711
The TOTAL number of unemployed persons (10.3 million) in Americahttp://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm1,200,000 jobs lost just in 20081,800,000 jobs not replaced (economic growth replacing retirees) Some state unemployment funds drying up
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/10/08/jobless.claims/ECONOMY EXPLAINED / JOBLESS: UNEMPLOYMENT CHECKUPFunds in jeopardy: Georgia benefits trust relatively stable for now; 19 states face depletion in year.http://www.ajc.com/business/content/printedition/2008/11/23/unemployins.htmlsome macro economics explanationshttp://arnoldkling.com/econ/macro/unemp.html
300,000,000 People in America----------------------------------------73,000,000 Children 55,568,000 people receiving Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, or both, October 2008 costing 50,464,000,000.00 (Monthly) 2,000,000 are incarcerated (cost 60,000,000,000.00 (60 Billion))10,300,000 currently costing (unknown at this time)
143,431,343 total people working in America (as of now Dec-7 2008)so less than 48% (less than 1 out of 2) of america is supporting the whole nation.
Read more for the solutions to most of our problems.
The Change Corps of New Orleans is in its formative stages. It seeks to continue and grow the network of volunteers gathered for the Obama campaign in the last election... and to mobilize them towards community service. If you would like to be involved in our grassroots efforts... please log on to our webpage and fill out the form on the "contact us" page. We welcome all ideas and suggestions for what you would like to see us bring to our community.
http://www.changecorpsnola.org/
Dear President-elect Obama,
I have received your letter thanking me for your support this electoral cycle. You are most welcome. I should point out that I supported you largely because you more closely represented my interests than John McCain did, given that I am a gay Buddhist environmentalist pro-union pro-feminist pro-choice socially liberal and anti-war anti-death penalty kinda guy.
We do disagree on a number of issues. While to be sure the only way any voter will agree 100% with their chosen candidate is if they are that candidate, there are a few things still which need to be said. I hope you will listen now.
A little while back, you voted in favor of the warrantless wiretap, which disturbed me greatly. You see, my family is from Eastern Europe, and I have served there in the Peace Corps myself as well as having traveled across the region. Although the Iron Curtain has long since rusted away, the scars of governments which refused to respect the privacy of their citizens still remain upon the minds of many in this region. I have personally seen the paranoia and distrust of both government and fellow citizen embedded in the souls of people whose ancestors stayed in the old country while mine fled. This fear paralyzes many otherwise innovative and brilliant people from doing things that could help their countries compete economically with the West, from adopting social programs that would benefit the entire population, and from forming functional governments capable of healing old wounds.
And the same not only can but probably will happen here as well if we continue to live under a system where private communications between individuals are monitored and everyone is held suspect. If we continue to follow the policies of a President that has treated all Americans as potential enemies of the state, we are doomed. You are probably aware that our fighting men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan have had and continue to have their private communications with their families recorded. As I am sure you know, the distance and time separating these heroes from their spouses has sometimes resulted ina degree of loneliness, which many have attempted to deal with through intimate conversations of a sexual nature between the soldiers/sailors/airmen and their spouses via telephone or email, and that these conversations have been also eavesdropped in upon, referred to by NSA personnel as 'hot phone sex' and laughed at by the aforementioned intelligence operatives. In a time of war, this sort of insult delivered to our fighting forces is undignifying and unpatriotic. If we truly support our troops, let's at least give them a little privacy.
Americans at home should also enjoy privacy, free from government intrusion into their personal lives and communications. True, intelligence can be gathered by violating this which could be used to protect the state. But at what cost? When we sacrifice our civil liberties, particularly our right to privacy, on the altar of national security, we come dangerously close to the paranoid regimes that ultimately destroyed themselves in Eastern Europe and across Russia. I for one do not want to see the same hollow expressions of unease in the eyes of my countrymen that I saw in the eyes of those who were old enough to live through those regimes in Europe. If we truly want to protect out liberty, if we really give a damn about liberty and democracy and the right to hold a dissenting opinion, then we must, as a moral imperative, restore the FISA courts and end the random surveillance of Americans, particularly those who have offered to risk their lives to defend the very state that trusts them so little as to pry into their sex lives by listening to their intimate telephone and email conversations with their spouses. This is shameful, and it must stop.
Is this the USA? or the USSR?
End the warrantless wiretap immediately, Mr. President-elect.
Thank you,
Dave Bart
The church next door to me is marked as my official polling location for tomorrow. I can see through the widows of my bedroom into the exact windows in the church library which house the exact electronic voting booths that are assigned to me for tomorrow--one of which will log my vote for Barack Obama.
I can see my family's destiny from my house and it's very cool.
Honestly, that church has been both the bane and the awesomeness of my existence. It's awesome because I can literally roll out of bed and vote. It's also awesome because it was the polling location that was assigned to me for the California primary on February 5, 2008, which made my campaign poll-watching assignment very very easy.
But what is NOT awesome about that church is that hidden inside its steeple is a cell phone tower which corresponds with a cellphone tower which is not my provider and which, inexplicably, causes a ridiculous about of interference which pretty much ensures that me & everyone else can only get a max of 2 bars inside my house.
This is in a major metropolitan area.
Try running a phone bank from your house when you don't have a VOIP connection and everyone in attendance is trying their best to call voters in PA before the primary there and no one can get more than 2.5 bars.
So this is why the church has been the bane of my existence.
But for tomorrow, it is awesome.
Tomorrow, I will roll out of bed around 4 and will stealth-ishly creep over to the church next door to see if there is a line to vote. If there is, I will join it. If not, then I will check the Huffington Post and press refresh for a few hours before going over to get in line right when the polls open.
I am so proud to have embarked on this journey with all of you. And I am so thrilled that tomorrow it is both ending and beginning anew.
We will use the tools and the infrastructure of MyBO to serve as community organizers over the next 8 years. We will answer the call to serve with enthusiasm.
Yes we can.
Wow, it's been a trip. I can't believe I'm here in New Orleans doing all this when it was just back in June I was offered the opportunity to be on the leadership team for Louisiana Students for Barack Obama. I feel so blessed, like we're on the cusp of something absolutely amazing. We are about to see the world change.
We've had our ups and downs. We've had a hurricane that virtually extinguished our ability to communicate, making the jump off the ground for the fall a very difficult task at each university here. Schools changed schedules, activity expos changed, and our seemingly genius plan on how to reach all of them was off to a shaky, rocky start. Where would we go now?
Two months later, we've registered thousands of students to vote, filled shifts, and held an incredible rally at Tulane. I've never felt more connected or inspired by anything. I've never been prouder to be a student in the United States, nor have I ever been prouder to represent students across the state of Louisiana.
I love knowing that for the first time in history, students are not belittled or underestimated by a candidate. We are a tool, a catalyst, a way to change this country for the better. And students can do that. Wow.
Tonight we had a conference call with Senator Obama. He sounded tired, but proud. I want to fight for him, for all the students I represent, because I know he will fight for me. He will fight for the students who have loans from college they don't think they'll ever be able to pay, the high school senior who doesn't know where to go or if college is an option, the student who graduates from college and suddenly has no health insurance. We are a part of a movement and so is he.
When I was teaching in Uganda this past summer, someone told me, "You know, when the United States coughs, the whole world catches a cold." They then told me we had to elect the right person in November and that Africa was praying for Obama.
That stopped me in my tracks. Wow. We're not changing the United States. We're changing the world. We are.
Yes we can. Obama wowed me. Now let's wow him.
Cheers,
Lauren
It's an image that kinds sticks in my mind, probably because I can relate to it.
Yesterday in class, I asked the guy sitting next to me if he had early voted yet. He responded that he wasn't voting this year. I didn't go all crazy on him like a lot of political junkies do, mostly because I abhor proselytism of any kind. I'll donate money to the campaign and register people to vote, and maybe I'll hold a discussion with them on the issues and why I support who I support, but that's where I draw the line. Their vote is a pretty scared thing, and it's up to them to decide where to place their bets.
The guy I'm talking about here cuts a pretty classy figure. Always well dressed, quiet, smart, and well-mannered. The kinda guy you kinda wish you could date, but figure he's probably way out of your league and wouldn't be interested in you, anyway. Can't help the occasional sidelong glance, though. And maybe a silent wish.
Well, one of those glances caught the image of him flipping through the back of his notebook. There lay the answer to the question I couldn't ask for ethical reasons. It was a news article, printed out from some website. The title had something to do with the candidates' positions on GLBT civil rights, an issue near and dear to my heart as well.
A few weeks ago, MoveOn contacted me and asked me to be their Regional Coordinator for this part of NOLA. I eventually turned the job down because I wanted more time to study. While that's a truthful statement, especially since every time I got a call regarding MoveOn, it seemed somehow to coincide exactly with when I was doing my schoolwork. But the real reason why I decided to turn the offer down was because MoveOn as an organization refuses to take a stand on GLBT civil rights.
Some months back, after I had already been donating money to MoveOn and showing up at their rallies in New York, before I moved to NOLA, I got an email from them about some kind of poll they were conducting of their membership. They wanted me to pick from a list the political issues that I cared about most. There were many there that I feel strongly about, the environment, war, diplomacy, education. But GLBT rights were not even on the list of options. I mentioned this fact to the guy who offered me the RC position. We argued for a bit. He mentioned that MoveOn is driven by the opinions of their membership, and it's a group decision as to what they support. I countered that they didn't even bother to ask anyone if GLBT civil rights was an issue of import, so how could they even pretend to know if that was a priority or not. He argued that there are other, more important issues. I countered that this was the most important issue to me. After about a week I sent him an email to tell him I'd had enough time to settle on a decision.
Much like the classy hot guy that sits next to me in class, I feel pretty disenfranchised, since Joe Biden openly rejected the idea of Equal Marriage during the VP debate, and there's a passage in The Audacity of Hope where Obama states his opposition to Equal Marriage quite clearly. I still support the ticket. Hell, I've donated $500 bucks to it, and already cast my vote for this ticket. I plan on showing up at HQ to make phone calls on their behalf in a week or so. But I think after that, my involvement with Democrats who can't see my civil rights as a priority is pretty much over. I've given Al Franken about $1000 because he's for Equal Marriage. I'm also sending him more money every time he sends me an email requesting funds. By the time this is over, I may well have given him the maximum. My next major donation will be to the GLBT Victory Fund. I'll continue to provide support to candidates that want full equality, and by that I mean FULL equality for GLBT citizens, and they will receive my exclusive support from this point forward. When 2012 comes round, I will not support Obama's re-election unless his position on Equal Marriage comes more into line with the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment. Every American citizen, no matter what their sexuality may be, is entitled to equality. Including me, and that hot guy from my Tuesday morning class.
The rally was a few blocks from City Hall, in front of Tulane Medical School. The turnout was fairly impressive, although I had hoped for something even larger; it being a Tuesday afternoon seems to have limited the number of attendees to those who could comfortably travel to and from the site during their lunch break. I have often wondered why we almost always hold the elections on a Tuesday. The weekend, particularly Sunday, would seem to be better suited to the task, since almost everyone would be off from work that day except the poll commissioners. Saturday wouldn't work for observant Jews, but I imagine just about everyone would be fine with trotting over to the polling station on a Sunday. If we're so attached to Tuesday, we could at least make it a federal holiday.
Louisiana allows voters to vote early, between 14 and 7 days before the big day itself. As this was the first day of early voting, the rally served as a good way to motivate people who might have otherwise forgot to get on over to City Hall and cast their ballots. As the rally started winding down, I decided to do just that. The line was impressive- it stretched all the way from one end of the building to the other, and I took my place at the end, a few meters from the back door. The lady in front of me fretted about not being able to make it to the voting booth in time before her break was over, so I suggested that she come back at 8:30 before work the following day, assuming that there would be a lot less people in line at that hour. She left, and after progressing through the line for about an hour or so, I joined in on a conversation that had been going on in front of me since before I got there. I normally hate doing this, but they seemed to be bringing up some pretty important points about politics, and I was bored out of my mind just standing there. The lady behind me chimed in that this election was almost entirely about race, and that there are so many people who would not vote for Obama because he is black. I commented that racism is indeed America's original sin, but mentioned that this time it might be different; there have been two African-American men elected to governorships in the past several years (one of them in Virginia, no less), and recently David Patterson took the helm as New York's governor during a political crisis and weathered the storm quite successfully. Perhaps Americans are starting to get over it. Besides, the economy is doing so poorly that even the most determined racist might decide to junk the ideology knowing that if s/he doesn't, their family might starve due to the deepening recession and McCain's demonstrated ineptitude at economics.
We went on for another hour, until we finally rounded the corner and made it to the hallway with the voting machines. Everybody fell silent just as soon as they rounded that corner and saw them, I notices, and stayed quiet for a few minutes. I joked about this to the small group I was in the middle of, we laughed, and then slowly made our way to the side room where we had to show ID and check in to vote. After I got past this stage, I walked around the corner to the staging area, and a poll commissioner led me to a machine. She asked if I knew how to use the machine, and I replied that i did. As she activated it, a screen came up showing all the candidates running for President and Veep with their respective parties. I stared at the screen for a moment, and noticed that the commissioner was still standing behind me, looking at the screen I was looking at. There aren't any curtains on the ones at City Hall, unlike the ones we used during the congressional primary and local elections I served as a poll commissioner for last month. After a few moments, I cleared my throat to indicate that I would like some privacy, and she moved on.
I think she was worried about who I would vote for. In racially charged Louisiana, I'm probably pretty hard for her to read; I'm white, but I also look much younger than I am. That could easiy 'type' me for either candidate to the casual observer, since the only ethnic group that seems to have any issue with Obama's race are whites, and yet one of his strongest bases of support comes from younger voters. I wasn't offended that she lingered to see which way I would go. Frankly, I worry about which way the rest of my countrymen will choose to take this country, too. I just felt sort of embarrassed that race was even something anybody had felt needed considering here, whether it was Obama's race in the eyes of white Americans, or my race in the eyes of this poll commissioner. I'm not going to bullshit you with this whole, "I'm color blind! I can't even see racial differences!" trip, but I am going to say that the fact that we consider them to be anything of any real consequence, especially when it comes to voting, is something that I find irritating.
In two weeks, I may feel very proud or very ashamed of my country for how this election goes. I just wish that prideshame was purely rooted in the issues at stake, and the candidates' ability and judgment. But it isn't, is it? There,s something else that's on everyone's mind, something that shouldn't be, and we all know is there. The pollsters talk about 'Bradley effects' more than they talk about employment opportunities or education or healthcare or war. And the fact that this insane, 'Schrodinger's Cat' situation that will persist for the next two weeks isn't helping things any.
Random thought:
McCain is always deferring to the 'Commanders on the Ground' in his speeches, claiming that the Commander-in-Chief shouldn't make his own decisions, rather just leave it to the generals.
Well, General Colin Powell, former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has endorsed Obama.
Therefore, the single most maverick thing McCain could do right now is follow General Powell's lead, and endorse the Obama campaign.
McCain for Obama!
Mixed feelings today. Checked the daily poll numbers, looks like Obama is backing away from the lead he held a week ago. This worries me.
A few days ago, the race was pretty much over. It wasn't so much a matter of McCain losing, as much as whether he would lose gracefully or keep up with the negative ad campaign and ruin whatever political legacy he has left. But McCain's been there before. During the primaries, his numbers seemed so low that even Giuliani could have beat him. Then, somehow, he rose from his coffin and sank his teeth into Romney, allowing Huckabee to get away alive so long as he didn't put up anything approaching a serious fight.
It also disturbs me because of a joke he told at the Al Smith Dinner the other night, when he stated that 'there were at least a few people still pulling for' him, and then turned to Clinton, and said 'Good to see you, Hillary'. I noticed that while Obama was still smiling, he wasn't laughing. Neither was I, although Clinton herself was.
I'm not so much disturbed by the prospect of a 'Bradley effect'. As racist as this country is, the economy has pretty much made the point that even the biggest rednecks in Appalachia have the choice of putting aside their prejudices or starving to death. Outside of Kentucky, Texas and Oklahoma, I'm pretty sure people will not choose starvation. Most of the country would prefer not to return to the hunter-gatherer stage, no matter how Palin talks up moose hunting. I'm more concerned with the lingering resentment of Clintonistas, whose only real problem with Obama is that he didn't immediately have a sex-change operation as soon as he won the primary. Palin is no Clinton, but a very large part of Clinton's platform wasn't so much what she stood for so much as it was her gender. The frequent and desperate identity changes (Look! I'm inevitable! No, wait! Now I'm a trucker! Look, as I morph from a member of the Manhattan elàn into a midwestern blue-collar redneck!) sort of resemble McCain's flippety-floppety campaign. Both tried to throw the kitchen sink at Obama, hoping something would work if they just tried everything, no matter how ugly (from Clinton's RFK was killed in June bit to the recent emphasis on Obama's middle name and Bill Ayers). And both played the gender card, (Clinton crying in NH, McCain's Palin pick). If Obama survives all this and still wins, then I won't be so convinced that he isn't from the planet Krypton.
Those 18 million cracks might not have been in the glass ceiling, but more in the forward windshield. Resentful Clintonistas that were never really about a particular platform other than electing a female president, called to arms by the sight of New Hampshire tears instead of platforms or ideas might just be the thing that summons McCain from the political graveyard. There's two weeks left, and I would be lying if I said that I'm not worried. McCain's done the vampire thing once before in this election, and I don't know how many lives he has left. The sunrise can't come soon enough.
