Someone made a comment on a blog in the group administrator's group that this campaign has no room for doubts and concerns; and I wanted share with everyone what I have to say about that.
Quote: "We need to get our walking shoes on and get active within our communities. We can and should report back on our success but by no means should we be blogging about our doubt." You're wrong. I've had my walking shoes on; I've attended commissioner's meetings, spoken to high school classes, worked at community centers, hit the pavement, met business people and formed partnerships, and every day is NOT the perfect dream world you can maintain from behind a PC. Americans are thinking people, and if they haven't read the books (which the majority of the public haven't - believe it or not), they're going to have real questions. GET OUT THERE instead of lecturing me, and you'll know why Barack Obama has told us, "we will experience failure".
There are people who absolutely will not vote for anyone who would allow a woman the right to choose to have an abortion. There are armed forces, medics and support personnel who believe the civilians in Iraq are going to be devastated when we pull out, because they're the ones providing the only medical care. There are many who believe voting for Hillary means they're voting for Bill. There are MANY LOWER INCOME BLACK AMERICANS who cannot believe that an African American could be president, and many more who believe he'll be killed if he is elected. I for one, am getting just a little bit tired of bloggers, internet activists and sit-at-their desk editorialists or positive pundits preaching to the rest of the population on mybarackobama.com that we need to plan to do something, we need to get moving, we need to do this, and do that. Well, guess what? I have, and I want to hear from as many people who are actually GETTING OUT THERE INTO THE COMMUNITIES as possible, because its going to take more stories and real life experiences being told on the blogs to encourage more all of us to actually take that extra step..it can be scary to be the first one speaking or the first one doing what we'd like to see in our heads. And before you get up on a soap box, make sure you know what you're really saying and where you're really coming from or who you're talking to.One more thing, life is not fair. Its an irony that in all likelihood, it is the communities like the one in S. Chicago where Barack started as a community organizer that are probably going to have the most doubts about Barack Obama. They're going to require the most amount of outreach, voter education and just plain encouragement, hope and support to pull through a winning vote for Barack Obama. Here in Ohio (you've heard all the reports, and they're true), one of the biggest challenges will be just getting people to go to the polls after having stood in line for 3-4 hours in the last election and often THEN turned away because they were at the wrong precinct or had inadequate identification or registration. Without the efforts and communication between the people in these communities who do not have internet access, as well as all members of the mybarackobama.com, the campaign is like a blind puppy dog in those communities, wondering along completely lost, and no way to address the concerns, lifestyles and issues for these voters, because they wouldn't know what they are (except actually Barack Obama makes it a point to visit Title XX daycares and small community centers whenever possible). Don't even think that those people aren't important because they don't vote or contribute anyway, because guess what? Out of the residents who attended our community kickoff, 100% contributed to the campaign yesterday, 100% first time contributions, because we got out there and made it possible for another demographic of our society to "own" this campaign.What I'm saying is instead of preaching and editorializing, I'm challenging everyone to get out there and figure out what you can do to take this campaign beyond your computer screen.
Just a little story from one of MY first experiences in hanging flyers and posters to advertise our community kickoff campaign. I was hitting all the barbershops and salons, daycares, laundromats, schools and the grocery stores that would let me (one put our poster right above their weekly sales flyers!) and I was walking in a pretty rough area. I had learned at a commissioner's meeting the evening prior that the residents had many concerns because the area has a reputation for some crime, a lot of truancy, prostitution and also happens to be a main thoroughfare. I was on my way back to my car, carrying the remaining posters draped over my arm, my purse over the other shoulder, and a older man who was sort of disheveled and missing most of his teeth, pulled his car over toward me and said something that I didn't hear very clearly. I was trying to sort out his words over the noise of the traffic, feeling some excitement that maybe he'd seen my posters and leaning over toward his car to hear him better. Then I looked into his eyes and the grin on his face and realized what he'd said was, "wanna ride?" I quickly straightened myself out, nodded an emphatic "no, thanks!" and hurried toward the safety of my truck. The next wave of thought that hit me was about the meeting the evening before, and the residents discussion about "hookers" hanging out at this particular intersection and on the steps of a church a few doors down. It was then I decided not to wear my leather coat with fur trim any more while hanging posters in the city.
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