Yes We Could

I have some friends who don’t share my political beliefs and some who do. We’ve been emailing articles back and forth during this divisive campaign season. I’m sure the rest of you have been going through the same experience. While I’m not ready to pretend the last eight years never existed (how can I? we’ll be living with the damage forever.) But as the Thanksgiving season approaches, I want to reach across the table with an image of a barn. It’s time to join hands and rebuild. Here is the email I sent round today.

We did it. OMG. Our oldest called twice from Germany, on the land line! There were lectures at some university building all day Tue/Wed AM about the American political system. She said McDonald's was giving out free hamburgers. Virtually no one was for McCain. She phoned just as Wolf Blitzer was calling PA. They were watching CNN too and cheering as the states were called for Obama. We were watching CNN and talking to her at the same time. Is that too cool for school? Her second call was after 8pm our time so it was 6am their time and she was heading back home, all screamed out.

I don't know what makes me happier, having an African-American president, first lady and first family, or getting rid of the Republicans and installing the Democrats once again. I have hope that we can move forward to rebuild and repair our country - the economy, the health care system, the environment and our image in the world. I pray that we can reverse the harm that Reaganism has done to this country.

True, I wanted Hillary, partly because I thought she was the right person for the job, partly because she was a woman and I wanted to see that in my lifetime and truth be told, partly because she was a boomer and I'm not ready to pass the torch. But if this is what it takes to make change happen, so be it. We need a new New Deal. Besides, now she can go off and channel Eleanor to her heart's content and become the new Teddy Kennedy in the Senate.

We stayed home to watch the returns so we could be with our youngest. She cried during Obama's speech and told us she was so inspired. When I made calls and drove to Nevada I remembered why I was doing this. It's not easy making cold calls. But as I cradled my cell phone and hesitated over punching the buttons, I pictured my two girls and the future I wanted for them.

About six years ago I was driving down Kanan and Thousand Oaks Blvd. with them in the car and the Simon & Garfunkel song about going off to look for America came on. I started to cry. They asked me why and I said I wanted my country back. Now, after years of fear about how much worse it could get, I can be proud of my country again.

With love and respect and to a future where we all work together once again.

The Birth of a Community Activist

This morning I made calls at an Obama house call center just like I’ve done the past few days. All ages, colors, ethnic groups, people I’ve never seen before sitting on living rooms couches, patio chairs, kitchen benches hunched over their cell phones and scripts. It was such a moving, spirited feeling to be surrounded by others committed to the same efforts as me. The conversations swirling around me spurred me on. All of us calling because we knew this was the moment to take our country back.

I learned that our district has made the most calls in California and that California has made the most in the nation for Obama. I am so proud of my state. We are not a bunch of nuts that have rolled to the coast. We are proud Americans working for what we believe in, a country that will return to the principles of democracy and opportunity that I was taught in school.

My daughter is in college in Germany for her junior year. She sent an email saying the university is putting on lectures today and tomorrow about the American political system. Virtually everyone she meets is for Obama. The whole world is watching.

I’ve been glued to the TV as I work as best as I can on a day like no other. I write an email pitch as I click back and forth from CNN to MSNBC. At the last minute I remember to join a client conference call. I mute the set and watch during the call, checking Huffington Post as I take notes. We’ll start hearing some results soon because it's now after 6pm in the East and Wolf Blitzer says some polls in Indiana have closed. At MSNBC, 30 Rockefeller Plaza is partying like it’s the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Can two years of kitchen table politics really be ending?

The long lines and energy for this election makes me hope that we will all work to undo the damage of the last 8 years, really since 1980, and repair our economy, our healthcare system, and our environment. No matter what happens I know that the seeds of community activism have been sown. For me and for others I’ve spoken with at meetings and driving to Nevada, there’s no going back.

My high school daughter told me she was proud of my efforts. I'm proud of me for walking the walk, not just talking the talk. I decided we should stay home with her to watch all the returns instead of going to a neighborhood election party. And we’ll Skype her sister at midnight to celebrate.

We are the change, the infrastructure, the community we have been waiting for. I just can't believe it. Where are the tissues?

News Flash - Report from the Trenches

My uncle and aunt live in South Florida. You know, Sarah Silverman Country, the Big Schlep, bubbie and zayda land. They called to tell me they got the Obama bumper stickers I picked up for them in Nevada. Not that they couldn't get some in Florida. I just wanted to make sure I did my part for getting the word out to the altercockers (look it up on Wikipedia!)

So the news from the front is that the early voting lines are so long that my family couldn't get into the library just to pick up a few books. That's what my uncle told me. So where was my aunt? At Obama headquarters picking up a few buttons. And the stickers? Well my uncle is putting his on his scooter! Is that too cool?! He's going to whiz around the senior citizen complex, to the bank, to the market, canvassing for Obama.

2008 won't be a replay of 2000 if my family hasn't anything to say about it!

To Live Local – First Hand Experience

If you’ve been wondering where I’ve been, it’s been a busy week or so, what with fires and political activity. Yes, I was sort of near those fires that you may have heard about in Los Angeles last week. Our little valley was more ‘in the path’ of the Simi Valley fire via canyons and wind patterns than directly affected. But once you get those embers flying and if the Santa Ana winds kick up, the potential for spreading is enormous. And it goes quickly.

I spent time on the computer trying to figure out exactly where we are in the county and where the Santa Susanna Mountains are, trying rather unsuccessfully to place myself in a geographic sense. I still don’t know if I’m east county or west county.

Note to self: Must get county map to go with the world, California and regional wine tasting maps I’ve got plastered on the office walls.

So last Monday I was glued to the television as I worked. Thank goodness for local news. They were finally serving a purpose other than being trash news wires. Then when our community website folks sent out an e-blast about a fire alert and suggested we pack up important stuff just in case, ever the good little girl, I spent the evening running around grabbing boxes of files that I had previously organized for just such an exhilarating occasion.

And let me rave about our little newsletter staff. Kuddos to Harvey for the e-alert, underlining the importance of community and looking out for each other. And I clicked on the fire department website every little bit as they suggested to check for updates. (a shameless plug from this former poli sci major for why government was invented and just one example of why we pay taxes)

So that was certainly a fun way to spend my time, and of course, what one takes out of the house, one must put back. Thankfully I’ve learned from past near evacuations that the only things you truly need are the papers, the pets and the kids. If you haven’t organized those photos, too late now.

Then the really meaningful part of my week came at the end – The Drive To Nevada For Obama! Yes, this past weekend I jumped in a van with 5 other local political fanatics and schlepped to Las Vegas to walk precincts for That One. What an inspiring, albeit hot and dry, couple of days I had.

Folks from all age and ethnic groups came from everywhere in California to help get out the vote. Nevada has early voting for 2 weeks before the election where people can find a polling place parked in a supermarket or school and do their civic duty.

This was summer camp for grown-ups. I met and talked with people during breakfast at our motel, able to pick them out because we all had our Obama buttons on. And can you imagine the political conversations we had driving there and back? It was a wonderful opportunity to get to know new people in my community and work together for a common cause.

I would be remise if I didn’t mention the Tent City Blocks we saw in North Las Vegas. It’s my understanding that Nevada has the highest foreclosure rate of all the states. Well, I saw evidence of that, or at least the ‘recession we aren’t in yet but really are’. Imagine people camped out, one right after the other, like sleeping on Colorado Blvd the night before the Rose Parade staking out a good view. Now visualize men, women and children in mini tents or just curled up on the sidewalks in sleeping bags.

But who needs a New New Deal and social safety nets and a civic will to pull together? If you can’t make it on your own, the heck with you. Where did I hear that? Oh yes, the last 8 years. No, make that since Reagan and the rise of the GOP Nation.

This weekend I did a little something to take my country back and strengthen the community muscle. What did you do while I was gone?

News Flash – Is Nevada Leaning Blue? Tip It Over!

Democrats are on a roll in Nevada. Yesterday’s LA Times article explains the hopeful trend with maps, pie charts and issues.

Nevada now has more registered Democrats than Republicans – 76,000 more. In 2004 when the state was red, Bush won the state by 21,500 votes. And Nevada has sided with the winner in all but two presidential elections over the last century.

So … you do the extrapolating. We have a chance!!! But every vote will count so this is not the time to sit on your tushes. This is the moment of meaning you’ve been waiting for.

California Democrats, join the carpool caravan to Nevada and our sister districts. Here’s the direct link to our home page on the Obama site. I’m going October 17th. I’ll be the short one with curly brown hair, glasses and a sense of humor. You’ll want to walk with me.

So are you coming along? Or do you know anyone who’ll be going to Nevada? Let me know and I’ll post something; I’ll include your blog.

Off the couch, away from the computer, out of your comfort zone.

Tikkun Olam Fridays - Repairing the World One Step at a Time

Another Friday, another post on tikkun olam – to repair the world. Remember, you don’t have to finish the job, but it is your responsibility to start.

What action did you take this week, big or little, to make a difference?

Last Saturday a few of us Obama supporters in Ventura County made phone calls to our sister district in Nevada, working to get out the vote. Let me tell you, it was scary, even though I make phone calls all week to editors and reporters I don't know and who would rather not hear from another publicist.

Some of these folks could be angry Republicans. How would they react when they heard I was with the Obama campaign? You know how you react when a telemarketer calls. I had been building up good karma all week, being nice to whoever bothered me, even if they called during dinner.

The campaign was organized. We had our script, our list, our talking points. The host had laid out some nice noshies. We took our cell phones to different rooms, even outside on the front step. I would have called from the bathroom except for the sound bouncing off the tiles.

All went well. I spoke to 2 supporters, one undecided who was anxious to hear the debates and a few Republicans who got off the phone quickly. No one was rude and besides, I realized that I was representing the candidate. I was going to show them that Democrats were polite no matter what.

The six of us made 200 calls. Most of the people weren't home or the numbers were wrong. But our job wasn't just to connect and gauge support. We were culling the bad numbers so teams calling down the road wouldn't be wasting their time.

One of the coordinators gave us some visual help. He said remember why you're doing this. Well, I kept a picture of my kids, 19 and 16, in my mind. It was just a little tool but it worked. And I kept saying to myself, every vote counts, every vote counts. Which meant that each call, each effort I made to dial one more time, counted. I liked the sense of efficiency and accomplishment.

And I liked how we were working with folks from the neighborhood. A few of us had kids in the same grade in school or had worked on the high school's performing arts booster group together. But we didn't really know each other very well.

So the afternoon wasn't spent just reaching out to Nevada or working on a national campaign. We were building community. All those collected emails will come in handy.

Because no matter the outcome on November 4th, on November 5th the fight will continue. Taking back the country, and turning it around, one vote at a time.

Shut Up and Drive

Have you signed up yet? Why not? The road map to change starts with us. Find a Travel for Change Weekend in your home state. Go door to door in a sister district. The 24th Congressional District of the Great State of California is going to Nevada. Obama Biden 08