As I was packing for my week of volunteering in Iowa, I was alerted by a member of my Rapid Response group to a brilliant posting by Geekesque in dailyKos. And a very funny story at that. But when I checked the HillaryHub's facts link, I realized it was based on a real Clinton attack claiming he has been plotting to become President since kindergarten! All I can say is: politics imitates parody. So is this what Hillary meant when she said "Now the fun part starts"?
If you have not read the post, I urge you do so. It will only take a couple of minutes, but this is in my opinion the funniest story to come out of the Presidential campaign to date. And if you have a lot of time on your hands, read some of the almost 1300 comments that have been made on this story, for it has truly inspired some of the most hilarious puns and jokes I can recall.
I was in between flights to Iowa the next day when I read a far more serious blog by none other than Robert Reich, Bill Clinton's Labor Secretary, in which he criticized the "stridency and inaccuracy" of Hillary's charges against Barack Obama. He proceeds to describe Obama's approach to Social Security as "progressive" and his proposals on healthcare as "better" than Hillary's.
This is the background to my arrival at the Quad Cities airport. I picked up my rental car and drove through the Illinois countryside, not passing more than a dozen cars on the way to Muscatine Iowa, named "Pearl of the Mississippi" for its famed clam shell button industry. That's where I will stay during my week here, housed along with another volunteer from Illinois in the basement of a friendly Obama supporter. But I will actually be working with Kiana, an Obama staffer from Seattle Washington and recent Williams grad, who is responsible for rural Washington and Louisa (pronounced Lu-eye-sah) counties. One of my main tasks will be to help set up a new office in Washington (seat of Washington county).
The fun in this campaign started for me long ago. As far back as April, when I first offered to work as a volunteer in the Obama campaign and contribute to his election. For me, politics has not just been an academic and professional pursuit. When I sat down with Kiana today to review what I will do here, she suggested I help her efforts in Riverside, Iowa, future birthplace in March 22, 2233 of Startrek's Capt. James Tiberius Kirk (I kid you not). So, I hope to write about that experience this week. Like I said, now this is fun!
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