Yesterday, Chuck woke up and said he felt like a kid on Christmas Eve day. Today, we're both still reeling with excitement. So many people around me were pessimistic about the election and thought that victory would be snatched from Obama in the wee hours of the morning. I'm so glad, and so thrilled that the pessimists were disappointed.
I think, for the first time in a long time, I'm proud to be an American and I'm feeling hope about possibilities.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Just jumping in ...
Yesterday, my husband and I went to the local Obama/Biden headquarters to make phone calls urging people in Pennsylvania to vote. It's the first time I've worked for a political candidate since the ill-fated McGovern campaign years ago.
Because I cut my political teeth on that campaign and another--a California initiative called the "Clean Environment Act," which was Proposition 9 in 1972--it was very easy to get cynical. Not only had I felt that the Watergate break-in wasn't given the attention it deserved before the election, I was witness to a lot of unethical behavior prior to the vote on Proposition 9. For example, there were rolling brown and black outs throughout California during the week before the election--warning people that if the proposition passed, and a moratorium was put on nuclear power, Californians could expect more brown and black outs. There were ads threatening that yellow fever would return to California--it had really never been there in the first place--if DDT was banned, as Prop 9 called for. There was a strange and eerie silence from the press about activities in support of the proposition, things like a protest outside the anti-Prop 9 advertising headquarters by Ralph Nader, which I learned about because friends in the Midwest and East sent me clippings. There wasn't a word about it in California media. Working these political campaigns was a civic and media lesson all in itself.
Amazing, really, that I should still be shocked by the actions of those in power who use their positions not for the greater good but for their own self-interests. Is jaded naivete at all possible?
Nonetheless, it's exciting to see the response Obama is inspiring in so many people who might not have felt empowered or interested in being a part of the system. My daughter attended her first caucus this year simply to vote for Obama. That alone inspires me with hope!
But it's also been difficult to believe the racism that keeps popping up, people saying, "I wouldn't vote for a black person ..." (though often the word used isn't "black.") I knew racism was alive and well in this country, but I am appalled that such hateful, blatant racism is doing so well.
I pray and hope that the election Tuesday goes well, that people aren't disenfranchised, ballot boxes manipulated or the "Bradley effect" doesn't come into play. If so, I pray for this country in the aftermath.
Because I cut my political teeth on that campaign and another--a California initiative called the "Clean Environment Act," which was Proposition 9 in 1972--it was very easy to get cynical. Not only had I felt that the Watergate break-in wasn't given the attention it deserved before the election, I was witness to a lot of unethical behavior prior to the vote on Proposition 9. For example, there were rolling brown and black outs throughout California during the week before the election--warning people that if the proposition passed, and a moratorium was put on nuclear power, Californians could expect more brown and black outs. There were ads threatening that yellow fever would return to California--it had really never been there in the first place--if DDT was banned, as Prop 9 called for. There was a strange and eerie silence from the press about activities in support of the proposition, things like a protest outside the anti-Prop 9 advertising headquarters by Ralph Nader, which I learned about because friends in the Midwest and East sent me clippings. There wasn't a word about it in California media. Working these political campaigns was a civic and media lesson all in itself.
Amazing, really, that I should still be shocked by the actions of those in power who use their positions not for the greater good but for their own self-interests. Is jaded naivete at all possible?
Nonetheless, it's exciting to see the response Obama is inspiring in so many people who might not have felt empowered or interested in being a part of the system. My daughter attended her first caucus this year simply to vote for Obama. That alone inspires me with hope!
But it's also been difficult to believe the racism that keeps popping up, people saying, "I wouldn't vote for a black person ..." (though often the word used isn't "black.") I knew racism was alive and well in this country, but I am appalled that such hateful, blatant racism is doing so well.
I pray and hope that the election Tuesday goes well, that people aren't disenfranchised, ballot boxes manipulated or the "Bradley effect" doesn't come into play. If so, I pray for this country in the aftermath.
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