Organizing for Obama: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Resolve
Four years ago I was sure there wasn’t another Democrat living in this city. It wasn’t an unreasonable thing to believe, given that our representative is a 5-term Republican who voted for the war, thinks we should wiretap whoever we want, and consistently votes for Bush policies with full confidence that he’ll be sent back to the House with the same 20-point spread he gets every time he runs for re-election. Hell, he doesn’t even run. Supporters put up a few signs and his name is at the top of the ballot, and that’s about it.
This district is just about as red as they come.
When I received the notice that there was going to be an organizing meeting for Obama tonight, I almost didn’t go. Not because I don’t want to support him, but because it would have been really depressing to walk into a room with 20 or so people and know that we didn’t stand a chance of changing many minds. At the same time, I knew not going would be giving up before I started. So I sent the RSVP a couple of weeks ago and added it to the calendar.
My husband is still in the Republican camp, though he has changed his party affiliation to Independent and voted for Obama in the primary. He’s not at all enthused about the political process and less enthused at the prospect of me becoming an activist some 20-odd years into our marriage. When I grabbed my keys to the Prius and gave him a half-hearted invitation to attend, he used the Laker game as an excuse and didn’t question me too closely about what exactly it was I was doing…it didn’t quite sink in that I was going to go beyond the occasional online donation and actually toss my name into a hat as a volunteer. I think he figured it out when I came home with the window sign and bumper sticker. (He’s still pissed about the MOMocrats sticker on the car…but it’s staying anyway).
Enough about me. Off I went to the meeting. After my GPS failed me twice, I finally found the place and was only 10 minutes late. I knew attendance was expected to be higher than originally assumed, but when I walked into the room I was unprepared for an utterly energized room of over 200 people to be on their feet applauding the District coordinator, Deborah Dent. The sound was like thunder and the ovation went on and didn’t stop there. I think we were on our feet or applauding for the majority of the meeting; that is, when I wasn’t twittering what was going on.
Energy. Light. Enthusiasm. People of all ages, from 14-80, men, women, boys, girls. People’s mothers, fathers, sons, daughters. Republicans, veterans, independent voters, Hillary supporters, lawyers and garbage collectors. All in one room for one purpose. Pure energy poured out of that room. Meet some of the people:
Graham is 17. He’s been homeschooled, is extremely passionate. He’s wearing a shirt his sister gave him that says “If I was old enough to vote, I’d vote for Barack Obama.” He’s attending Moorpark College, studying political science and international relations. He’s involved in political groups on campus and plans to campaign for Obama in swing states. He is articulate and intelligent, with a deep well of passion running underneath his calmer exterior.
Kathy is the mother of 5 children, all under the age of 10. She was raised a Republican in a Republican family. Her mother attends meetings at the Republican club in Simi Valley still, her husband is also Republican. She’s here to secure her children’s futures. She doesn’t believe the Republicans can do that, but she does believe Obama has the leadership and answers.
Cal is an older gentleman. He gets emotional when he speaks of his reasons for being there. He says he’s inspired, that he’s been giving money to the campaign, but believes it’s time now to get involved in more than giving.
Karen has never been very political, but thinks there is too much at stake not to be involved.
Another gentleman about my age (I didn’t catch his name), stands up and declares that he’s a lifelong Republican who has been proud of his country. And while he doesn’t want to say he’s not proud of his country, he is not proud of its leadership. His hope is that Barack Obama can restore the proud and strong leadership position that has made us proud before and can again.
Tom represents Veterans for Obama. He says that veterans have special moral authority in this campaign, because they can speak against McCain. While he respects McCain’s service, he does not believe McCain has the skill or the necessary authority to lead us out of the war and into better times. He will be traveling the country, speaking on behalf of the veterans who feel abandoned and pushed away by the current administration.
A Hillary supporter stands (I didn’t catch her name either). There are about 10 who raise their hands when asked if they were former Hillary supporters. She says she’s here because she wants change, and that change will come with Obama as president. She is less concerned with any identification with personality and more concerned that a Democrat be elected. She is here for the candidate. She’s energized.
Another Hillary supporter is a lawyer who says she really wants to want to get out of bed in the morning, something that she thinks is an effort right now.
Don is another older gentleman who, through tears, says that he supports Obama because we all need to get together and make change happen. He hasn’t seen anyone else who can do it. Don’s passion touches everyone in the room, including me.
The next speaker is a woman in her 60’s who says she worked for JFK’s campaign and then for RFK’s campaign, that her mother also worked for the RFK campaign and was there on the night in June when he was assassinated. She says she was so disillusioned that she drifted away from any political involvement, married, moved to Simi, raised kids, supported her husband’s career, and held a cynical view of politics and politicians. Until Obama. Her words: “I feel like a kid again!” I can tell she means it.
Dick Phillips is the final speaker. He is the president of the Camarillo Democrats Club and was supposed to be there to lead everyone in the Pledge of Allegiance. He is late because he was with a group picketing a Strickland event with Mitt Romney in Thousand Oaks where they were highlighting the Stricklands’ acceptance of the Big tobacco lobbyists’ money to fund their campaign. In the course of their picket, their group was assaulted — physically — by several Strickland supporters. He had to stay to give police reports. This is the politics of bedroom communities that are struggling to change from the old to the new. It’s not just here, it’s all over the nation.
The rest of the meeting is spent describing opportunities and upcoming needs for phonebanking, voter registration, house parties and the like. Despite the everydayness of the topic, there’s an underlying river of enthusiasm and creativity flowing. People have come from all over, as far away as Ojai, Simi Valley and as near as Camarillo. All of us have the sense that we are, as a collective whole, on the brink of doing something important, life-changing, even world-changing.
Though it’s understood that California is solidly Democrat and trending toward even more solid standing there, that doesn’t mean there isn’t work to do. People are planning already for trips to Nevada and Arizona, to other swing states where they will canvas and help organize other groups. This small group of people turned Santa Barbara blue, and thanks to the hard work they put in with voter registrations, for the first time in years, there are more Democrats registered than Republicans.
The work to be done, the ground being laid, isn’t just for Barack Obama. It’s the work of building this movement into a nation-changing groundswell where we send Representatives to Congress that won’t compromise on the FISA bill, aren’t afraid to stand up for the Constitution they pledged to defend, won’t waver on doing what’s right. There are at least 200 people fired up and ready to go to accomplish just that.
When you hear Barack Obama give his speech about how one person stood up in the room, and then the room stood up, and then the city, and then the state, and then the nation, believe it. Believe it with all your heart, because I saw it with my own eyes. Young, old, red, blue, veteran, housewife, worker, retiree…all standing for change in one room in a community where I hardly believed change was desired, much less possible.
Hope. All kinds of hope, bundled up in one room, focused on taking the hope out of the room, into the community, into the cities, into the states, and into the White House.
Believe it. Change is coming.