Our work is over, in a very short time all our labor will bear fruit with the swearing in of Barack Hussein Obama.
It seems so long ago, that July in 2007 when I decided that Obama was the best of the candidates, and rather than sit on my duff like I'd always done, except for tossing some money to a campaign, it was time to get down in the dirt and work.
I sure sweated those first months, second guessing everything he did and said. But after Iowa, I figured he knew better than I how to win, so I stopped sweating and just went to work.
It's funny, the things you remember best, and I thought I'd share what sticks in my mind. Please add your own most memorable moments.
Oddly enough, the moment I'll remember best really had nothing to do with Obama himself. I was working an office in mushroom country, in the southeast corner of Pennsylvania, near the DE and MD borders. Mushroom country means lots and lots of Mexican laborers, and one day this Mexican gentleman in his 50's came into the office. He wanted some Obama stickers, but most importantly, he wanted to show us his voter registration, as he'd just become a citizen.
His smile was brighter than a 100 watt bulb, and he wanted to show that card off, so we all came over to admire it. I thought to myself how so many of us take the right to vote for granted, myself included, and that man showed me how very wrong I'd been. He is what this country is all about. An immigrant who came here, worked hard, became a proud citizen, and wanting to be a part of that great democratic process. I'll see that man forever.
During the primary, I worked almost solely in the office, almost every day from late February till we closed. But during GOTV, our field staffer (a wonderful slave driver named Shayna) decided it was time for xyz to canvass, whether I wanted to or not. So I got thrown out of the office, and I loved canvassing! I remember the African American woman, in her sixties, me assuming she was for Obama. Nope, she was for Hillary, and had a response for every one of my talking points. Finally, she said, 'Hon, men have been fucking this country up forever, it's time for a woman to fuck it up.' What could I say to that? I gave her a hug and said don't forget to vote! We worked so hard, our county was one of only three in the state that went for Obama, winning by 10 points. Yee haw!
I remember the rally in Philly, and someone telling the story of the elderly African American woman, driving with her son and getting stuck in the flow of people. She just kept looking around, most likely amazed that all these people, mostly white, came out to see a black man. I think of that woman, and I want to say to her, we didn't come out because he's an AA man, we came out because he's the best man. We didn't even notice his skin color, dear.
I was a volunteer coordinator during the general campaign, and after the grueling primary, it was so hard to get people motivated to come out again. I felt like an automaton on the telephone. All my begging and pleading got very little in the way of turnout. I sent out so many emails, AOL blocked me as a spammer. I irritated people. I irritated myself.
That ended when McCain picked Palin. That pick was such a gift to the Democrats. Our largest influx of new volunteers came right afterwards. I was standing in a parking lot, registering voters, and a woman came up, said she was an Independent, needed a change of address, and by damn, she'd been for McCain but with that pick she was switching. She described her most important issue being abortion, but was furious that McCain thought she was so stupid she'd vote for an incompetent woman. She was livid. OK, thank you very much, John McCain!
I could always tell the former Hillary supporters, the ones who stood loyally behind her and were loath to vote for Obama. I'd offer my sympathy, it was a tough fight but we all have to pull together now. One dear woman, elderly, had switched so she could vote for the first woman president. Then she said she resented all those who wanted the first AA. She could only smile when I reminded her they were only as excited as she'd been. Although, later I did want to smack the nitwit who told me she'd probably vote for him, even though it was fact that he'd been sworn in on a Koran.
The last five days are a blur, a million phone calls, which list are we using, people pissed cause it was their tenth call in the last few days. I told all the volunteers, apologize, apologize, apologize, but get that commitment! Tell them we're a critical swing state, they should be proud! One guy was so irate, I went into Vote Builder myself, put him as a supporter then deleted his phone number. He probably got a few more phone calls anyway.
The funniest moment was when I had 20+ volunteers making calls, I'm running around like a lunatic, training people, and my cell phone rang, it was someone calling to see who I was supporting. I looked around and asked, OK, which of you guys is calling me? It was someone in Maryland. That was when I figured we probably had the area pretty well covered.
When they called PA for Obama a minute after the polls closed, I knew it was over, but I was so tired I could barely take it in. I thought I'd cry, I didn't.
I'm so proud and happy to have been a part of this, along with so many millions of others. I'll never forget being a part of this, and I thank everyone who helped. Yes, we can!