Some of you may have read the original blog below that I wrote to an undecided woman friend of mine in response to her asking me why I support Barack. I am reposting it now, since I am just off Skype with that same friend who called to announce that "she is out of the closet" and fully on board with Obama!!!!
She does not have a profile on the website (at least not yet), so I won't out her by name, but I wanted to encourage others with the knowledge that a seed planted in fertile ground will grow. It may take sunshine, water, nourishment and time, but Senator Obama's HOPE is a resilient plant. In her own words, "I have not been excited about politics in a loooong time." Yes We Can
Below is the response I wrote to an undecided friend as to why I support Barack Obama (NO LONGER UNDECIDED, NOW PART OF THE OBAMA FAMILY)
It's About Democracy - Not Politics
For What It's Worth: My Case for President Obama
By Jolly
Dedicated to L. and all other
undecided women of intelligence and substance
In elections past being political meant trying to be informed on the issues
and the candidates and ultimately going to the polls and voting. I
registered to vote as soon as I turned 18 and I voted and voted, but as far
as I can tell things basically stayed the same and in many respects got
worse. I never stopped voting, but at least to some degree I stopped caring and
life went on. In the words of another Obama supporter, 'For too long I had
been sleeping, but I had been afraid to dream' (Andre Useche, "Si Se Puede Cambiar" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ky8Hvq-F0U).
However, then the unexpected happened. Along came a Senator who issued a direct challenge to all
those who still care about this country and still have faith in its possibilities to actually get
involved and engage as citizens. His name is Barack Obama.
In different words and in a different time, he echoes JFK's challenge to
"Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your
country." However, there is an added component, because he says by his
actions and in his own voice that it is not just ok to hope and believe in
a better America, it is essential. The question becomes can we put aside
ideological, racial, regional and socio-economic differences and find the
common ground that unites us. If the last eight years have taught us nothing
else, have they not taught us that as Americans our lot, our safety, our
future is inextricably linked to one another and that it absolutely does
matter who our leader is and who we choose as the public face of our
country in the world?
If you know me and my family, I can't imagine that it would shock you that I
would throw my lot in with the dreamers and the visionaries. My family, and
my Mom in particular, taught me that it is more than okay to believe in the better
angels of our nature. So I am an optimist and I try to live up to the name
my parents gave me. However, I'm also a pragmatist. I have learned to
guard my better nature with discernment and with the ability to make precise
and instinctual judgments about people and what they stand for. I count
amongst my closest friends people whom I consider to be giants and leaders of mind,
heart - and particularly spirit. These are the same attributes I identify in
Senator Obama.
There are some aspects of my reality that many close to me don't share. For
instance, I know what it is to force back racism by sheer willpower. It's
not that I haven't faced it, but rather that I have made the active decision
in my life to defy it. I have been taught to, when possible, feel pity for
those who would cast judgments about me based solely on the color of my
skin, as ignorance is its own prison. I would never cast my vote for
someone based either on the color of their skin or on their gender. To do so
would be contrary to my very nature. However, as someone who shares Senator
Obama's mixed race heritage and multi-cultural background, I do believe
there is an empathetic component that may allow him a clearer vision of the
diversity of his constituency. I also place great value on his expansive
and personally informed worldview, which I believe will enable him to relate to a
host of other global citizens. I believe the size of Senator Obama's margin
of victory in the Democrats Abroad contest, is an active testament as to which
candidate those who live outside our borders think would best aid us in
stemming the tide of anti-American sentiment in the world and be most likely
to restore our standing in the global community.
And then there is Mom - one of the greatest examples of a woman of substance
and intelligence that I know, as well as one of the fiercest supporters of
Senator Obama's candidacy. For me, the example has been set, the dies have been
cast. My parents answered the call of another President and served as Peace
Corps volunteers in Uganda (until the forced evacuation of Americans due to
the tyranny of one of the despots of their time, Idi Amin, made it impossible
to stay). My parents also marched with Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the same
South Side of Chicago streets where Senator Obama years later would work
tirelessly against voter disenfranchisement as a community organizer. They
stood for social justice and against racial inequality long before they
could have possibly known that they would one day be proud parents of brown
children. And then, in the transformative act of love that has most
profoundly influenced who I am today, when I was 3 weeks old they adopted me and made me
the heart of our family (a place I proudly share with my brother Jon). Our
household soon swelled as a family of Cambodian refugees temporarily joined
us in our home on Maple Knoll Drive in St. Paul, Minnesota.
My father died in a car accident in the mountains of Jamaica in 1980 on his
way home from going to deliver the horrible news to a mother that her son
had drowned. The son was a student at a school in Ocho Rios where my
parents were volunteer teachers. My father's last known words ever spoken
were to this mother, as he told her, "You have strength and courage. God will see you through."
I carry those words, as well as all of his other lessons of love and human dignity, with me to this day.
So I REJECT and RENOUNCE anyone that would try to claim that words don't matter. Is it not in part
social contracts made up of words such as the Constitution that bind us together and communicate
our ideals to the world? As you can see, I come from a family of words, hope,
compassion, education and action. Thus, when my mother explained to me that
it was personal to her that we as a family support Senator Obama, there
really was no other choice. At the end of the day, win or lose, I will be
able to say that I cast my vote based on my true informed convictions and
based on my best hopes for this country. I truly believe that the future
will show that once again our family has stood on the right side of history.
So to the action: as you probably know, I have joined millions of
like-minded supporters in the trenches of democracy. We are fighting for
democracy, more transparency in government, and for a President who has a
proven ability to unite, inspire and tackle with openness the real problems
that exist in this country and in this world - a President who has built his
campaign from the bottom up on the political strength, ideas and resources of
the governed and who is not beholden to lobbyists and PAC money. America needs
a President who is willing to not only listen to, but to work with, those who hold
different views - someone who is able to find and build consensus on common ground,
around common concerns and based on common convictions and beliefs. In order to pull off big
things, to bring change, you have to be able to get people to invest in working together to fix the
problems, both immediate and systemic. In my opinion, Senator Obama has
both the strongest record and greatest potential in this regard.
The fact that the generation behind me has also been emboldened to join in
this fight and are also casting their votes for Senator Obama in large
margins is just one more example of his ability to bring new voices, new
ideas and new innovations into the governing process. I know I am not an
anomaly. I have now had the great privilege of meeting and working with
Obama supporters from across the country and can say that in large part
Obama supporters are DOERS. We are people of words, conviction and action
and we are ready to cast our lot and our vote with Senator Obama. Yes, it
is in some respects a matter of trust. However, I'm not just betting on
Senator Obama, I am betting on myself, on like-minded Obama supporters across
the country, and on America itself.
So from my place of deepest conviction I ask that you join me in my support
for Senator Obama. As you can see from all I have said this is personal to me. For
Senator Obama, for my mother, for those that fight each day to protect us in
the battlefields and now for me, what this country is and what it stands for
is very personal. Thus, I ask that you join us in the battle for a better
America.
I am proud to be an American, but I could be prouder, I long to be prouder.
Senator Obama and what he stands for makes me prouder.
"In the unlikely story that is America, there is no such thing as false
hope" --Senator Barack Obama
OBAMA '08
-----------------
WE ARE THE CHANGE WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR
I invite you to take personal responsibility and educate yourself on Senator
Obama's positions and proposed policies on the many real issues that face
this country, which can be found on www.barackobama.com under issues (as
well as in his Blueprint for Change).
Additional information on his Senate Bills
can be found through the Library of Congress website at http://thomas.loc.gov/,
which is just one more of many democratic tools that Senator Obama and his supporters have
brought me.
Just a Note to Add that we will be having a Vote for Change voter registration drive in Harlem on Tuesday (June 3rd, check out the events page for details http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/4b5m)
Hope to see you there, let's spread some hope and democracy in New York aka Obama Country
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