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Hope is such an intangible and having hope, even a great deal of it, does not ensure that the person who is full of hope will realize in the end what has been hoped for.
Thus, there are people who view Obama supporters as kind of Pollyannaish: Full of hope that will simply in the end be dashed by the reality that Obama is just another politician. Even Rev. Wright suggested this in his Bill Moyer interview last week.
However, having volunteered for countless political campaigns, local, statewide, and national, my experience yesterday volunteering for the Obama Campaign in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, provided tangible proof that Obama is not some figment of his supporters' collective imagination: He is not just another pandering politician or some fluff with no substance. However, he is a force that should be feared by those who have come to think that they can control and manipulate the American people and retain power in the hands of the few.
A friend and I took off in the wee hours of the morning from Virginia Beach, Virginia, and drove about an hour south to Elizabeth City, North Carolina, where we volunteered for the Obama Campaign with people from all over the East Coast and North Carolina. What a crowd (and I mean crowd) of enthusiastic people and what diversity!
As soon as we walked into the crowded headquarters, someone greeted us, signed us in, and assigned us jobs: Me canvassing a neighborhood to get out the vote with a woman from Newport News, Virginia, who had taken a vacation day from work to volunteer, and my friend, who has some serious health issues, to call voters to get out the vote.
Volunteers kept bringing in food and drinks that were easily portable so those going out to canvass had something nutritious to eat and drink!
I canvassed a trailer park in the morning. It was a such an eye-opening experience! Unlike Virginia where if you don't vote in a couple of elections, you are dropped from the voter registration rolls, it seems that in North Carolina you continue to be carried on the rolls no matter what your voting habits. Thus, I encountered so many people who had never voted before. I approached one trailer where a man was sitting outside watching a toddler play. I approached and asked him if he had voted yet. He said that he was not registered and had never voted before in his life. I explained how and where he could register to vote in the State of North Carolina and urged him to do so before the general election in November.
I then asked if so and so (the name of the registered voter listed for the address of the trailer) was home. The man said that he was so and so! This being the first person I had met who said he was not registered to vote but appeared on my voter registration list, I asked him if he was 47 years old. He was. In fact, he was the registered voter I had come to see!
I told him that he was registered to vote and urged him to do so, explaining the procedure and telling him to bring one of the forms of ID recommended. He said he had no way to get to the polls. I gave him the number to call headquarters for a ride and left him as he went back into the trailer to do so.
About 10 minutes later, the Obama ride van passed us and the man yelled a "thank you" to me as the van passed. He was smiling one of the the biggest smiles I had even seen! Later, when we had ended that canvass and had returned to the Obama headquarters to grab some lunch and the material for another neighborhood to canvass, the van driver came over to me and said that the man was so excited and thrilled to vote for the first time in his life and to have the opportunity to vote for Senator Obama.
Throughout the day canvassing, I encountered so many people who had never voted before in their lives, who had felt disenfranchised from the political process, but who voted or were going to vote for the first time and who felt finally that their voices and concerns counted.
The last canvass of the day, I worked with a woman from New Jersey who had taken a week off from work to volunteer in Elizabeth City and was staying at her own expense at the local Days Inn. We were canvassing, as were at least 100 other volunteers, those people who weren't home or hadn't voted yet when canvassed earlier. In that last hour before the polls closed, I was able to reach about 80% of those people who hadn't been home before or who hadn't voted earlier and 100% of them had voted! And so many of these had NEVER voted before.
If the Obama campaign did nothing else but bring these people into the political process, then the Democratic Party would owe him a huge debt! And, frankly, as Americans we should all be thankful that so many people are getting involved and paying attention--and so many for the first time!
Having volunteered for numerous campaigns, what impressed me with what I experienced yesterday in North Carolina was the high level of professionalism and organization I encountered even in this campaign office that was in a small town in rural North Carolina. Having volunteered for the campaign before the February 11th primary vote in Virginia, I was also impressed with how much more organized and professional the campaign had become in just those few months (and I was very impressed with the campaign professionalism and organization when I volunteered in Virginia).
I was also impressed with the ability of the campaign to bring people together. While a large percentage of those volunteering in both Virginia and North Carolina were Black, there were many Whites, and even Hispanics and Asians--Young and old, rich and poor--but all enthusiastic and very professional!
We worked getting out the vote right up until 15 minutes before the polls closed. The office coordinator to the end was right there as soon as someone walked in the door to assign a task and get the person or persons out getting out the vote!
I was surprised to learn that one of the coordinators was from Pennsylvania and the other from Virginia. I was surprised because both knew the issues concerning the people of North Carolina; the voting laws, procedures, etc.; and the other candidates on the ballot yesterday and their positions! In other words, they were well prepared.
I was also gratified at the level of knowledge of where Obama stands on the issues of all of the people who were volunteering. Each was articulate and knowledgeable. Obama obviously speaks to what is important to each of his volunteers and thus each can passionately and persuasively explain why he or she is voting for and supporting Obama.
The number of people who were giving up vacation days and spending their own money to volunteer also surprised me. Many of these people, I learned during my day spent working with them, had volunteered and worked for Obama in several states, including their own. None of this money spent gets counted in all the donations to the Obama campaign but it is significant. This is also reflected in the quality and bounty of the food and supplies donated to the campaign office. I have never seen anything like it.
One final encounter that also gives me tangible reason to believe that Obama is the change that this country needs came during my lunch break in the campaign office. A young Black girl admitted that she had voted for Bush in 2004 because her pastor had led the congregation to believe that only the Republican Party reflected the core moral values that the congregation believed in and that to vote for a Democrat was a vote to erode those values!
The young lady said that she and others had been fooled once but that they would NOT be misled again: That they would not vote the issues! This does not bode well for the Republican hate and disinformation machine!
I drove back to Virginia confident that if Obama runs the presidency as he has run his campaign, then it will be a great era for the United States and our best days as a country will once again be before us!
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