I see a lot of corruption and a lot of promises that aren’t ever going to be kept. But the first time I saw Obama speak, it was like he was speaking directly to me. And it fit with me so much. I get the feeling that both he and Michelle understand what the common person goes through.
Sarah is currently working as an editor for an editorial publishing company, helping to produce a reading program geared towards second graders. Her true passion is teaching, a profession she hopes to re-enter someday.
I was a teacher but I left teaching because I was very discouraged by the NCLB act and saw very negative things happening under Bush. I couldn’t do it anymore. There was no way I could help students without drudging through the bureaucracy. Teachers spend all their time prepping kids for tests and not teaching them anything about life.
Sarah says she worked very hard to help one of her struggling seventh graders to improve. The student, who was in a gang and often got into fights, was exceptionally smart, and Sarah wanted to help him get on the right track. She spent numerous hours after school got out working with the student until she was told by her vice principal to “stop worrying about him, just drop him, and focus on students who were already excelling in their test scores.” That experience was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Sarah.Growing up in Colorado Springs, Sarah’s family was very conservative and her father was a member of James Dobson’s Focus on the Family community. Sarah says she was turned off by what she saw as the hypocrisy of Dobson and other conservative evangelical leaders. She didn’t abandon religion—she now worships at an Orthodox church with her fiancée—but she turned her back on conservative politics for good. Sarah’s fiancée comes from a military family; his mother and sister are career military, and his brother in law served in Iraq. Sarah says that while he does identify with conservatism and voted twice for Bush, he has been disillusioned by Bush’s presidency. He is now “totally on board” with Obama.Sarah sees a lot of potential for Obama in Colorado. “The majority of the state is hardworking farmers and ranchers and they’re tend to be somewhat conservative,” she says. “But my sense is that a lot of people are starting to ask for something new.”Coloradans for Obama, the group Sarah started as a meeting place for Coloradans, now has over 250 members. “I’ve been talking to so many people not only in Colorado, but across the country. It’s very grassroots and it’s been so inspiring.”Click here to search for my.BarackObama.com groups to join, and click here to start your own group.
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