Organizing for America | T. Neil Sroka's Blog: Have You Endorsed Barack?

Have You Endorsed Barack?

By T. Neil Sroka - Feb 4th, 2008 at 4:38 pm EST

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If you've visited this blog over the past couple of days, you've seen a range of individuals -- from Garrison Keillor to Ethel Kennedy -- and newspapers -- from La Opinión to the Boston Herald formally declare their support for Barack Obama ahead of tomorrow's historic Super Tuesday Primary.

While each of these endorsements sends an important message about the broad support Barack has behind him all across the country, no endorsement is more important than the one our movement receives each time you talk to a friend, neighbor, or family member about your decision to support Barack Obama.

This afternoon, Ben, 28, with the help of his brother Jon, 24, sent an email to their mother, Emily, "formally announcing" their personal endorsement of Barack Obama.

Mom,
As all children do, Jon and I learned about how to operate as adults by watching and mimicking our parents. We learned from you and Dad about how to treat people, we learned culture, we learned right from wrong. We also learned our politics...

Jon and I are both voting for Obama and we can't wait to do it. He is the first candidate in our lifetimes who actually personifies what we were raised by you and Dad to believe. We both love Hillary. She knows policy inside and out and she'd have a pretty clear agenda for a first term. I personally would be thrilled to vote for her in a general election, but I just don't think those qualities are enough. Obama embodies something no seasoned, experienced politician/policy wonk could ever achieve: a sense of newness and possibility. Jon and I were raised to believe that true patriotism is loving your country not just for what it has been, but even more importantly for what it has the potential of becoming. The election of Barack Obama would prove to us and the world that the US is still capable of bold evolution and innovation. It would prove that we have the ability to heal ourselves from a generation of failed policy, partisan rancor and imperialism. It would prove that our narrative as a country is still being written. I know these statements all sound sappy and high-falutin', but, frankly, if the achievement of these ideals is impossible, then, well: I give up. But I do believe these things are possible. I have to...

Obama for who he is and for what he believes is the only candidate I've ever seen who is capable of truly accomplishing these things. We love Hillary, but we desperately need more than just policy right now. We need societal inspiration and growth, and I think Hillary is incapable of delivering that.

That said, Mom, I [won't] tell you who to vote for. I understand your desire to vote for a woman of your generation. If I was in your shoes, I would do that proudly. But, I'll leave you with this: in the same spirit that Jon and I learned from you and Dad how to love politics, learn now from your children. It's time for a new generation to inherit the country and we need your help. So do your grandkids.

Your loving sonny boy,
Ben

Although Ben and Jon were clearly raised in a house where politics was part of everyday conversation (Jon told me that he was first introduced to politics on the shoulders of his father at a rally for Michael Dukakis at the age of four), it doesn't really matter whether or not politics is a regular topic of conversation among those closest to you -- each of us knows this election is far too important to not have our voices heard.

So, with less than twelve hours remaining before the first polling sites open for tomorrow's twenty-two state contest, take some time to let your friends, neighbors, and family members know that you'll be supporting Barack Obama in tomorrow's caucus or primary.

After all, you never know when your endorsement might be just the encouragement they need to caucus or cast their vote for Barack -- it worked for Ben and Jon. After getting the message above from her two sons, Emily told them that she'd be voting for Barack tomorrow, too.

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