I bought my first Barack Obama t-shirt on Feb. 3, 2008, at a shop in Union Station in Washington, DC. I wore an Obama t-shirt every single primary day no matter where I was or what I was doing. Here is the power of the Obama t-shirt: it's an open invitation for people to talk with me about Barack Obama. And they do.
That first t-shirt has been to San Francisco on President's Day, on a tour of the Napa wine country, to a business dinner in Fairfax City, VA, and to Rolling Thunder on Memorial Day in Washington, DC.
My second Obama t-shirt was purchased at a kiosk at Reagan National Airport on my way to Boston for the weekend. I bought an Obama hat too. The hat made it to a re-enactment of the Battle of Concord on April 19th, and then the hat and the shirt attended (as a spectator) the Boston Marathon that Monday. This past weekend that shirt made a visit to St. Simon's Island, GA, where my extended Republican family showed great tolerance about my wearing it around the island. (It's not like I would mind them wearing a McCain t-shirt . . . I've just never seen anyone wearing a McCain t-shirt.) Last night that shirt made an appearance at a Unite for Change event in DC.
My third Obama t-shirt was purchased right outside Busboys & Poets at the corner of V & 14th Streets in Washington, DC. Ironically, that was the one I was wearing the night of June 2nd when I sat with an old friend of mine right in Busboys & Poets and watched Barack Obama make history on the television screen in the company of wildly enthusiastic fellow supporters.
It's a long way from now until November and I've decided that I can't manage with just three t-shirts. So last night I went to a website called Zazzle.com and looked at over 1,500 different Obama t-shirt designs before selecting 6 shirts to round out my Obama wardrobe. Two of them proclaim Virginia's support of Obama - which is the state I live in and a state that Obama needs to take in the general election.
I can't begin to tell you the people who have stopped and spoken to me everywhere - waitresses in restaurants, the guy behind the deli-counter, business owners, sales clerks, school kids in the park. I'm wearing an invitation to talk about my candidate and it's a powerful thing. Sometimes I forget I'm wearing it until someone shouts at me from across a busy street, "Hey I like your shirt!"
Don't overlook the really simple things. Consistently doing the simple things can have a tremendous impact on the results in this campaign. And I've very much enjoyed the people I have met across the country as a result of simply wearing a t-shirt that says Obama in '08.
