As part of a continuing series, we're following Obama Organizing Fellows as they share their stories and their experiences. They discuss the people they meet, the hardships of organizing, what the campaign means to them, and how this summer is changing their perspective.
John is an Organizing Fellow in Gwinnett County, Georgia. His stories appear each Sunday.
Yesterday marked the end of the Obama Organizing Fellowships. I wish I had some watershed revelation to share with you, something spine-tingling. But here in Gwinnett County, where the other side holds the power, the seats, and the tradition of victory, I have discovered sore feet are more useful. Here in Georgia, we may have the biggest task of any other state; we are in play, but to win, we have to register hundreds of thousands of voters, persuade tens of thousands to let go of a beloved party, and then get all of them to vote. In other words, we have to work, every day, all day. And we have to do things we thought we never would. Take canvassing--most people don't want strangers knocking on their door, and most of those people don't want to be the stranger knocking. But yesterday, we had over 50 first-time canvassers grab voter registration forms, walk sheets, maps, and scripts and go out to knock on over 700 doors. By voter registration numbers, it was not our most successful effort. But it was also exciting to see the volunteers, many of whom were skeptical at the idea of canvassing, return tired and sore, their hair a little disheveled, their arms a little more red, but with great beaming smiles. They all said, "This was fun. We met so many people!" I have only canvassed a little, but all of us are discovering together that knocking on a door to sell a vacuum and knocking on a door to register voters are two different things. This campaign asks people to do nothing but take hold of their rights and responsibilities, to live up to the ideals of our nation. We ask people to be citizens, not consumers; we ask them to step into the activity of making this country work.We don't see the other campaign here, besides the occasional yard sign and bumper stickers. We don't know what their game plan is, and we don't really want or need to know. But we see that we are the ones who are reaching out to the Georgians who have been left behind in the explosion of 'development' in this county. We see that we are the ones who want the jaded and disaffected to come out and believe in the power of a vote. Yesterday we heard from a couple of our opponent's supporters. Some of our volunteers knocked on the door, identified themselves as Obama volunteers, and asked to register voters. The owner of the house said, "I support the other side, but I gotta tell you, I admire what your campaign is doing." Maybe that man will change his mind come November. And if there's one of him, maybe there are more like him that we will find today when we strap on our walking shoes and knock on more doors. What that means to me and our volunteers, is that we're making progress in this county. It took me six weeks to get here, and now I see how far we have to go. But we have hope here in Gwinnett County, and the more we work for change, the more hope we have.
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