I’ve been moody lately. I have a lot of anger built up. I feel like I have been waking up each day for years and, like Sisyphus, trying to push the same rock up the same hill, only to see it come crashing back down. But I admit to feeling a little tingle of hope over the last two days. I feel like if we can just somehow defeat the Clintons and nominate Barack Obama that we will not only win the White House with about 40 states, but also 10 or more senate seats and lord knows how many House seats…30…50?
It’s just feels that way to me. Seeing the Democrats bring more voters to the polls in South Carolina than the Republicans kind of solidified this feeling. Watching the Kennedys pass the banner of liberalism to Obama today gave me further reason to believe.
Don’t get me wrong…I am a stone-cold cynic when it comes to this politics thing. And just three days ago I was despairing that we were headed for a Clinton-McCain race that I would have to sit out on basic principle. That race would leave me no one to root for and leave us locked in the suffocating red/blue nightmare that has exhausted us all.
Today things look somewhat different. I think Mitt Romney is going to win Florida by a small margin tomorrow. And I think the polls are going to swing Obama’s way in a big way over the next week. It’s a better looking landscape. But the hill is still so steep and the route so uncertain. Can we muster the strength for one big last thrust to get this damn rock over this damn ridge?
And can we finally, now that he has given his last State of the Union address to no effect, stop fearing the man in the White House?
Hope. We are so vulnerable when we hope, but we must hope or otherwise we despair.
So, let’s hope your feelings of hope are rewarded as 2008 rolls along.
“But I admit to feeling a little tingle of hope over the last two days.”
Sounds like a circulation problem. You better get that checked out.
Anyway, I think McCain pulls out Florida.
he might, but I hear Huckabee is cratering and all his support is going to Romney.
Don’t you think that will be balanced out by Rudy’s supporters moving to McCain?
that’s a big question mark, isn’t it?
I just heard on my local news that the Huckster is going to have his Florida return-watching party here. Everyone’s invited!
Part of me really wants to go.
I think you should…and take a camera, so we can all see what a Huck supporter really looks like.
you should totally go. bring a camera and if possible a recording device of some kind. You’d have a pretty big pot of comedy gold to post here!
My hope is that people stop watching CNN and MSNBC and start picking up phones.
You want Obama to win? Call his campaign office near you and volunteer to phone bank.
Seriously.
It’s up to us.
It’s not a sure thing by any means. It could all still be Hillary’s. We have a genuine uphill battle. Let’s leverage this week’s momentum for all it’s worth.
I offered to volunteer and within two days was given a precinct to cover. It’s a daunting task, and I and all the other precinct captains can use the help.
Call the local Obama office nearest you and tell them you want to help make calls in your precinct. If there’s a leader there, they’ll put you in touch. If there’s no leader assigned, guess what? Tag, you’re it.
And even a bad precinct captain is better than NO precinct captain.
No one else was covering my district. I’ve barely made 100 calls. I’m hardly a star at this, and I’ve never enjoyed talking on the phone. I’m a write. I write. I don’t speak, and don’t enjoy speaking. But this is the simplest thing to do, and it helps the campaign the most. Only have one hour? You can call 25 people in an hour, easily.
Today, one of the people I’d left a message for called me back. He lives in my building. He hasn’t voted in a primary in years. He’s on a walker, with severe arthritis. But he’s terrified Clinton will be our nominee and will lose us the election, so he wants to vote for Obama.
I’m going to drive him to the polling place.
My one vote has just doubled, 100%.
If 50,000 volunteers turn in 100,000 votes, that’s huge. If 5 million turn in 10 million, that’s even better.
It takes all of us. You don’t have to do much. But please. Make a few calls. Some will be bad numbers.
Some will hang up on you. Most will be polite. And some are downright inspirational.
Just do it. You’ll thank me for the suggestion.
Addendum: I don’t have to leave my house to do this. They have great online voter databases you can access phone lists from. I call a few people between 7-8pm each night, and more on the weekends. That’s it. But it helps.
YOU SAID IT!
Especially if you speak Spanish fluently. Get in touch with Obama’s campaign – online. They need several million Latino households called, speaking Spanish. Doesn’t matter where you live, they’ll have you calling people in CA, AZ, NM, NJ and NY. You use an online tool to tell you who to dial and the script to use.
STOP reading predictive polls. They are all out of date before they get published lately.
And watch a good speech:
Don’t make me scold you again.
Love ya Boo. It’ll all be good. You’ll see.
sharing that clip. I hadn’t seen it before. I enjoyed so much the feeling that Ted Kennedy was enjoying himself having Caroline and his son both giving Obama their declaration of support and incidentally creating that familiar support for each other.
It made me think that Clinton, in spite of the fact that he felt he was “chosen” by his experience in meeting JFK, never really let Ted Kennedy have any shine during his administration. Hillary has used Teddy as a mentor during her time as Senator and it is telling the Teddy did not see that mantle of JFK going to her.
We need to turn Hope into Action.
I’ve signed up for GOTC here in Minnesota. At age 14 and my first political campaign I’m signed up to be a precinct captain. After I finish some big homework on Wed I will be dedicating every waking hour to Obama. It is that important. I started a online money drive for Obama that has raised close to 20k. I’m doing EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING I can. I am exhausted but I find ways to stay awake. To stay fired up. Because the stakes are too high.
Hey! You’re an inspiration!
it’s going to be okay.
believe!
im taking the suggestion of the poster above and volunteering to phone bank tomorrow. i just donated to obama yesterday and bought 4 stickers to give to my son in college and a few more for friends who also support obama. my primary (MD) isnt until the 12th, but i’ve got three votes under one roof. dont think, just act and NGU.
Fantastic, Donailin!!
Now please – what does NGU mean??? Never seen that before.
My guess is, Never Give Up. But it’s just a guess.
Thanks – makes sense!
I know exactly how you feel. I’m so, so cynical. Still, when a flippin’ politician can bring me to tears because there are still people in America who can believe is awesome. I decided to put my cynicism in a pretty box and store it away for later. Maybe Feb. 6th…oops, some of it slipped out! Right now, I’m going to ride the wave and feel the wind on my face. I’m going to be happy dammit. For once, there’s a politician who actually inspires me. I always look at votes and past achievements of a politician and while Obama’s is impressive, so are Clinton’s and Edwards. Yet, they don’t persuade me that they can or will actively try to do anything about any of our current messes.
I am looking forward to 62 in the senate. Won’t that be a site. 🙂
Keep up the good works, sisters and brothers. There is light at the end of this nightmare.
62!
62!
62!
Is anyone old enough to remember that clown toy? It had a lot of sand in the bottom. You punched at it, it wobbled, but wouldn’t fall down. No matter how hard you pushed it, it returned to its original position.
I think of it when I think of our political system. We are trying to push it to a new place. But it keeps wanting to move back.
I don’t trash Senator Clinton. I think her brain and instincts are good. But I do criticize her seeming inability to manage the men around her. Frankly, I think some of the stuff coming out of Bill’s mouth isn’t even premeditated. I think he’s repeating back room talk, without pre-analyzing it. The Jackson remark sounds like that.
But to win as you suggest, we need something totally different. Can you imagine a debate between Obama and McCain?
I remember that toy! In fact I now have one just like it I use as a door stopper, well, it was until Satchmo picked it up and shredded it in the yard.
As for Hillary’s instincts, I would beg to differ. It’s hers & Bill’s instincts, their default way of making decisions that make my teeth hurt.
Of anyone on the planet outside of the WH, she certainly had the best access to info on Saddam Hussein, and it drives me crazy that Bill, when president, chose not to attack Iraq (for the right reasons, probably reading similar intel) and yet when the emotion of Bush’s lies entered the room Hillary and Bill both set aside what they knew to turn and join Bush’s herd. She likes herd mentality.
And I view the Iran resolution the same way. Look at how she supported it when the herd was fired up, then Webb got her to think outside the herd.
Same as the default plays we’re seeing with the campaign. Her voice has gone back to screeching because a couple of layers got ripped off in SC and yesterday, and the soft voice of soothing persuasion is now revealed as the facade it was.
I just don’t like her defaults. (but I like you)
You would feel better if you went to drinking liberally. (Although the phone banking idea might help too.)
If the Obama store at his campaign website is any indication there are many Americans catching this hope thing. EVerything is either out of stock or on backorder – stickers, shirts, yard signs, hats…
Sounds like everyone is REALLY tired of the way the Bush administration has made us all feel for all these years.
Feel your pain, Booman. It’s been crushed hope after crushed hope for seven years now–I find myself now, after observing our Democratic Congress roll over again and again on the lawbreaking and treason wafting out of this White House, and wondering if Bushco is actually threatening the lives and blackmailing our congresspeople. I can’t understand how we could have come to this, and I can’t imagine a way out. One cannot live without hope, but…