Every Friday in western North Carolina, Dave sits around a table with a handful of former Marines for lunch. When the topic turns to politics, Dave shares why he supports Barack. “I support him wherever I go,” he says. Dave is 66 years old and is a former Captain in the Marine Corps who hails from Glen Alpine, a rural town with a population of just over 1,000. He is also a proud, lifelong Republican. A number of years back he worked on a Republican congressional campaign in Colorado. “My daughter, who’s a Democrat, and I had an agreement that we would never talk about politics,” he says.
Then, last year, he started following Barack and listening to his message. Dave became convinced that in order to accomplish change, we need to work in a nonpartisan way. He even went so far as re-registering. “This past year I registered as ‘uncommitted,’ or independent, just so I could vote for Barack Obama in the primary,” he beamed.
Barack is going to be able to attract capable, courageous, people into government service. The president leads the country and encourages citizens to act. The last president who was a force in that office was Reagan. What drew me to Senator Obama was listening to him. He has his fabulous values, a lot of courage, and he’s unflappable. When McCain started talking about staying in Iraq for years, I was convinced. Democracy only works well through people; when they care and participate and when they’re inspired and led to do so.
In Dave’s view, people have been cut out of the process all too often in recent years, and his area is seeing the strains of this approach first hand.
The biggest issue for us here is the economy, the economy, the economy. North Carolina is suffering less than most, but the cost of petroleum, driving, fertilizer, and harvesting is exacerbating the agricultural problem and driving up the food costs. They’re destroying preserved land to produce energy here. Greed has run us into disaster when we have CEOs who make 400 times what the average worker makes.
Dave feels an urgency to be involved. “At no time since FDR led us out of the Depression, and not since then, has our country faced such a damaging prospect,” he says. “Nothing but dramatic change will save us.”
Every single day between now and the general election I’m going to be supporting Barack. They just opened up a headquarters near me in North Carolina. I haven’t been down yet, but I’m going to be. I’ll make telephone calls, write, speak, and advocate for Barack.
This campaign is changing the way we view electoral politics and Americans of all backgrounds are taking part. Join Dave and the millions of others who have made a clear statement that the time for change is now. “My mother, who is 89, gave birth to me as a Republican,” he said. “She too voted for Barack.”
Voices for Change is a series featuring profiles of Barack Obama's grassroots supporters from across the nation. The people who make up this movement come from all walks of life, but they share a common goal – to help bring about fundamental change in Washington.
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The issue here, of course, is that John McCain claimed great umbrage at Barack Obama's lighthearted comment that Bush and McCain would emphasize that "he doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills." But if John McCain thinks that comment was playing the race card, then why did he play it first? One month ago -- in late June -- a McCain ad superimposed Obama's visage on a one hundred dollar bill as part of an effort to mock his supposed 'presumptuousness.' This is a huge find - digg it here: Link
