Wednesday, November 4, 2009

yes we can. yes we did. yes he will keep doing.




As the anniversary of the night America changed, the night people danced in the streets, the night I smiled and cried as I drove home listening to Obama on NPR as he won the 2008 presidential election. This anniversary reminds me of the whole campaign I softly forgot about as the days past after his inauguration. It seemed on January 20th 2009 that my job was done and the time I spent on the campaign was more than memorable and as I sat back and let Obama make the good decisions I knew he would make, I always felt satisfied. The critics came in and watched his first 100 days closely, then nitpicked every word he said, passed judgment on him for being human and saying things we all thought and agreed with, just didn’t want our president saying them I suppose. for god sakes the critics, who lets face it are just the republicans, the GOP, the party who put Nixon in office, and furthermore put Gerald Ford in office only to pardon Nixon and leave the nation in question for years, heck decades to come. These same people actually criticize Obama for swatting a fly in a meeting, saying that Kanye West was an asshole when he interrupted Taylor Swifts speech to say “no you shouldn’t have gotten it, beyonce should have.” And for insulting him and saying his daughters got special treatment by getting the swine flu vaccine 2-3 weeks after it became available, even though there were no “droughts” of the vaccine in D.C. these critics make me laugh, they have to dig so deep to make him look bad, to be able to have a negative thing to say about him, and it really all is pathetic. Because I don’t care if he swatted a fly, or said a bad word because what I care about, is what he already did. His campaign was more important than almost anything he can do in office. Its repeated a thousand times to hear about his impressive campaign, the grassroots involvement was something you’ve never seen before, you know the story. But if you weren’t there, maybe you don’t understand. When I look back on the campaign, it was magical time. I stood in lines just to hear him speak, I spent hundreds of dollars to aid the campaign and to be able to wear a button and a t-shirt – and not only to wear it but to hear people say things like “I like your shirt” or “yes we can” when they passed me by wearing it. to be in a stadium full of thousands of people chanting “yes we can” gives you goosebumps, makes you smile, makes you wanna cry, it was something I’ll never forget. To know that I stood in the cold outside safeway to register voters, to know that I was a delegate, and I went to the meetings and I voted not just for Obama but for the people who were going to be there to represent him. To know that when I saw that number on the news for how many delegates he had, to know that I was one of those numbers. That’s something not a lot of people can say, I can truly say that I feel that I had a personal impact on this campaign. And I don’t follow Obama today blindly, although I don’t watch CNN and read the headlines quite as dedicated as I was during the campaign, I feel now that I put the right person in office and I trust his decisions and I trust the man and when he makes a mistake I actually find it endearing because his mistakes have not been those of Truman, Nixon or even Clinton but mistakes of human nature. To know that my president is real and seems less like a sleezy politican, means so much, and entrusts so much to me.





However, to those critics out there who say that he isn’t up to his campaign promises, I like to ask you, what were his campaign promises? Health care reform? Working on our environmental issues? Helping the economy? Building ties internationally? Because all of those issues are being addressed. I don’t want to make the list but you can check http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/rulings/promise-kept/ which is a non-partisan website tracking his campaign promises. But the one thing I want to point out on top of everything is that Obama was also blindsided with issues he didn’t know he was going to have to deal with. Issues that arose with the automobile industry, and the banks and these issues postponed and stalled the issues he had on his campaign platform, and beyond that. He is working for you and he always has been. It has only been a year, just wait and see what he can do in 4 years, and definitely what he can do in 8 years.

3 comments:

  1. You go girl. I'm not going to correct anything you've said here because it's minimal, (as in Gerald Ford. the Constitution put HIM in office).

    But i want to add that you and i haven't really even talked about this lately though we were both so involved in his campaign, but i am where you are and sometimes i feel alittle guilty about it. Do you?

    i've not worked beyond getting him in office and he was all about keeping us working together for the long run. And the only thing i have offered to do lately is the local Democrats asked if i would teach them how to register voters and i said yes, but they never followed up on it and i could have called them, but i never did. (BUT if they ever do, Kylee, i'm calling you to come with me.)

    Anyway, while i do love much alot about politics and i do like talking to like-minded people about it (and people who disagree when the conversation is respectful), i have found that i am a lazy worker when it comes to that real political commitment. I go full board when it's going on, then i flame out. I can't remember the last time i watched Meet the Press and MSNBC.

    I am a task oriented personality as a rule and that's the kind of political person I am too.
    Presidential politics are great that way. You work for who you want for about 6-8 months and it's all over in November. And while I do work on local house rep campaigns occasionally if there is someone i like, those are even less commitment than 6 months. Maybe writing a check, or working a phone bank a few evenings.

    What i don't do is stay committed beyond the time of the final election day.

    And Obama wanted more from us. So yeah, i feel a little guilty about that. But like you, i helped get him in, and i feel that i can sit back and trust that he will do what needs to be done.

    However, he can count on me when he runs again. I'll be there. (hopefully side by side with you.)


    i don't like to debate anyone over his health care plan (mainly because i don't know enough about it, though i want health care for more of us) and i don't like watching pundits talking about politics these days either. I am sick of the talking and shouting over one another. I will never talk about politics in that kind of way again. If someone wants to totally bring up an ignorant statemet about politics i am going to treat them as i do my own mother: (It comes from that book about Toxic Parents that my Aunt Marie gave me years ago to help me deal with her.)

    I am going to say to them: "I'm sorry you feel that way. I feel differently. What is your favorite movie that makes you laugh?"

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  2. I like that you linked the politifact website. . it's one we used to give out registering voters. That one and the factcheck one.

    I also wanted to ask you to break your post up in paragraphs. It's hard to read with how you bunch it all up together!

    Many paragraphs.

    Make it easier

    to read.

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  3. haha actually i caught myself on Ford after that i was just on a role when i was typing it lol but i can still blame the republican party. the same party that tried to rename themselves GOP and trick us all haha i remember my mom asked me once "whats the difference between GOP and Republican?" and my reply was "nothing." seriously. lol

    yeah my friend andrew tried to get me to do phone banking when we was working for OFA (organizing for america, hes now in DC working for greenpeace)

    but i will definitley be there in 2012! you can count on it, along side you, i just dont like phone banking.

    i dont feel guilty but in a small way i do, i like to think of it as confident.

    well i know i wouldnt listen to a negative thing about obama without proof, i wouldnt take a mccain voter seriously so i see the same credibilty from me. and i do love that website.

    it would be to hard to stay pumped up and excited year long, we need that break lol

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