We started the day a little later then I wanted to. We just needed sleep so badly that I could not get up at 3:30 AM. I woke up at 6:00 AM and got the kids going. It was a little harder today because we were so worn out. But excitement only took a few minutes to kick in. Unfortunately we just missed the bus and had to sit outside and wait not knowing when the next one would get there. It was a full 40 minutes and today was the coldest day so far here in D.C. We got our hand warmers in place and as we got on the bus, we saw everyone else on the bus with that same look on their face, the one I talked about in earlier posts. We knew we had done it, and what was happening but it was still just a thought roaming around our heads.
We got on the Metro Train and headed for the Capitol. Smiles and happy thoughts filled the train. People there were all covered in Obama gear, hats, scarves, bags etc. We looked at each other and commented on the great deals we made on our gear and who had the best looking things and asked what street we got them on. This great day had begun and we were among friends.
The feeling as we got off the train abated a bit as we saw the huge number of people who were already there. Many of the people had tickets as we did and had gotten off at the same stop because the "Purple Tickets" we had told us to get off at the Judiciary Square stop. We all started walking to Constitution and 1st. Oh yes! The line started several blocks behind the "purple entrance" sign we had seen yesterday when we came to check it out. But we knew we were later than we thought we would be by a couple of hours so we deserved to wait. It was about15 min before they said the gates were to open.
We waited for an hour in this line. We could see a big city bus parked sideways ahead and blocking the road. Everyone started chanting "move that bus!" It was pretty funny. Then we were doing the "OBAMA" chant and "fired up, ready to go". After about another 1/2 hour some people came through the crowd. I thought who thinks they can get ahead? We turned around and it was none other than Al Sharpton and his group. He smiled all the way by, but I only got a picture of the back of his head! dang!
Finally the crowd started moving and we were so excited that we had picked the right side of the crowd to be on. We were very dejected though as we got past the bottle neck just to find out that we had to go around another road and get in yet another very large group of humanity! The "yellow tickets" and the "purple tickets" had now been mixed! There seemed to be two very large lines, we went for the front of the on that started at Constitution and 1st, like the tickets said. We moved here and there for another hour and no one opened the gate. A tall guy told us that they were going in the "yellow" gate. So someone started a people train and we kept going until we got close to that gate. (they never did open the purple gate!) there was no one around with bullhorns or any other type of organization. It was very very disorganised as the police outside the gates could not tell us what was happening. This was at about 1030AM. When they finally started really letting people in we happen to have been on the right side of a light post that they decided to start funneling people in from. We had to have our tickets out and held up. It kinda felt like we were being released from a refugee camp. I am not kidding. We were lucky. A lot of people who were there before us did not get in from what I hear.
We went in the gate and got searched and moved to our area. We could not directly see the stage as the platform was on both sides and really obstructed the view. We were on the left side of the Capitol Building and the jumbo tron was there but obstructed mostly by a tree in one area and the large speaker "scaffolds". So we could see it, but yeah it was not a great shot. You will see my pictures when I get home. It was about 1045 when we got settled in. People from Alaska were in front of us and we had met a nice man that was part of the Parliament from the U.K. All around us was all of America. Waiting for this moment in time. We were there with 3 million of our friends!
As the list of people made their way to the capitol and were seated, you could tell it was a liberal crowd. Newt Gingrich did not get much of a response, but Bill, Hillary, Al Gore and Jimmy Carter were met with tremendous applause. Of course George W. got a big boo and a send off in his helicopter with "hey hey hey, good bye" I am sure that got played on the news over and over again. To me he looked like he knew it was coming. Some around said he looked smug. I like to say that he was happy to be leaving.
When Barack was walking down the receiving hall, he looked very serious. The smile that had always been on his face through the campaign was not there. At first I thought maybe he would run the other way and say "you got it Joe". I think of all the things that could be going through his head. What an awesome responsibility he is taking on, not only in this time of great troubles with the economy and a nation at war, but also at being the first African American President. Growing up I am sure he did not picture himself as this. No matter what his kindergarten paper said. This dream to African Americans was unobtainable until this day. How proud he and his family must be. Do his daughters know what this means? Can they? What of his beautiful wife Michelle? They are all so grounded. Did they jump up and down in their bedroom on November 5th? Smiling and yelling hooray under their breath so that their daughters did not hear them down the hall? And what of Michelle's mother? How would she have ever known that her daughter would marry a man who would become president.
The time ticked on and we got to about 10 min before noon. People were getting worried because the law states that the president must be sworn in before noon. Rick Warren got up and was booed and met with clapping. The people ahead of us turned their back on him. Then in quick succession Biden and then Obama was sworn in. As I looked around there was not a dry eye in the house. I did not realize that they shot off cannons as soon as the president is sworn in, so when the first one went off, I just about hit the grass because I thought something blew up. I think we were all waiting for something to happen for the entire weekend.
To note is that nothing happened that I saw. There were only two protesters there in open site. One group for Christians and one that had signs about Obama sending troops to Afghanistan. The rest of the millions were there to revel in the sites and sounds brought by the history.
Never again will America be the same. We will have always known a black man to have been president. My children will grow up knowing that there had been a black president. The door is open in America again.
I can say that I am proud to be American again. We as a people stood up and made our vote count. We put those who would see whole races of people as inferior and unfit on notice. The world is changing and they will be left behind if they do not listen. We activated the young to stand up and listen, make choices and make a difference in their community and in the world. I now pray that they will continue to keep it up.
Obama is in the white house, but he is just a man. We have to do the work on the ground, we have to be the ones that pay attention and hold our local governments accountable. Obama is going to make government transparent, we need to look up the information and give notice when there is something we don't agree with.
History starts today!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
The Humanity!
The Humanity is the word for today.
Every where we went, everything we saw was all about people. The people that Obama's campaign and ensuing presidency have brought out from all over the country and the world, we saw someone today that was here from France. He said he was here to see America finally make the best decision it had made in his entire life. He is 65 years old. He and his wife made this journey to see us. When is the last time you heard anything good about us coming from anyone from France?
People everywhere. Beyond compare was the look that we give each other. I can not explain it. As you walk down the streets of DC as you take in the sites you notice others looking at you and looking at the White House with such hope, such a knowing look in their eyes. A look that we all understand what is happening here on the 20th is something that will shake the world. We will all stand together on that day. We will hold our breath as the words are said. The words that for the first time will come from an African Americans mouth. "I do solemnly swear.." we will hear those words as we take a deep breath and let it out. Tears from our eyes will stream, our hands clasped over our hearts, taking pride in what we have come together to do. We have gone inside our hearts and opened a whole new place for the world to look upon. We can live with pride that we did this, each and everyone, for each other. For the hurting, poor, suffering, needy people. For our children and grandchildren. For the most and least of us. Even for those who do not believe or want change.
We voted for something we are not sure can happen, but as a people we have shown the capacity to believe in things we can not see. We feel it in our hearts.
I have been trying to restrain myself in fear of sounding like a crazed Obama supporter. But the truth be told, I can not hold it in because I see it everywhere. It surrounds me like a fog. A bright and shining 'thing' that sends chills down my spine and puts a song in my heart. Yeah that is really what it feels like. I start crying at any given moment because it is more than blind following. Maybe it has more to do with the people here than Obama. I think I am slowly coming to this conclusion. It is the humanity that inspires me.
We got up early, figured out the bus schedule and made the Metro. We did our thing in DC today and made it to the radio show. We actually transferd trains and made it to where we needed to go. Our legs were hurting so bad, OK, mostly mine I am getting old apparently. We let for the radio show about 2 hours early and when we got off the Metro the first thing we saw was someone getting pulled over and then we went to Wendy's to have a Frosty and the police were in there for an assault charge that just got done and there was a drunken man that kept coming up to the counter and asking for pickles and Katsup. For some reason we still felt safe and stayed. We went up to the radio station and met with Mark Thompson we had a wonderful time. I did not say a whole lot on the show, there was another guy on there and he was great to lisen to. Also there was a woman and her husband, he is a senator from PA. They are doing great work with HIV/AIDS. She is a great woman I will have to get her name later. She is a movie and TV star. Absolutly beautiful. And they are doing such wonderful work in the big cities.
We are up at 4AM tomorrow. I better get off to bed!
It is a new world tomorrow!
Every where we went, everything we saw was all about people. The people that Obama's campaign and ensuing presidency have brought out from all over the country and the world, we saw someone today that was here from France. He said he was here to see America finally make the best decision it had made in his entire life. He is 65 years old. He and his wife made this journey to see us. When is the last time you heard anything good about us coming from anyone from France?
People everywhere. Beyond compare was the look that we give each other. I can not explain it. As you walk down the streets of DC as you take in the sites you notice others looking at you and looking at the White House with such hope, such a knowing look in their eyes. A look that we all understand what is happening here on the 20th is something that will shake the world. We will all stand together on that day. We will hold our breath as the words are said. The words that for the first time will come from an African Americans mouth. "I do solemnly swear.." we will hear those words as we take a deep breath and let it out. Tears from our eyes will stream, our hands clasped over our hearts, taking pride in what we have come together to do. We have gone inside our hearts and opened a whole new place for the world to look upon. We can live with pride that we did this, each and everyone, for each other. For the hurting, poor, suffering, needy people. For our children and grandchildren. For the most and least of us. Even for those who do not believe or want change.
We voted for something we are not sure can happen, but as a people we have shown the capacity to believe in things we can not see. We feel it in our hearts.
I have been trying to restrain myself in fear of sounding like a crazed Obama supporter. But the truth be told, I can not hold it in because I see it everywhere. It surrounds me like a fog. A bright and shining 'thing' that sends chills down my spine and puts a song in my heart. Yeah that is really what it feels like. I start crying at any given moment because it is more than blind following. Maybe it has more to do with the people here than Obama. I think I am slowly coming to this conclusion. It is the humanity that inspires me.
We got up early, figured out the bus schedule and made the Metro. We did our thing in DC today and made it to the radio show. We actually transferd trains and made it to where we needed to go. Our legs were hurting so bad, OK, mostly mine I am getting old apparently. We let for the radio show about 2 hours early and when we got off the Metro the first thing we saw was someone getting pulled over and then we went to Wendy's to have a Frosty and the police were in there for an assault charge that just got done and there was a drunken man that kept coming up to the counter and asking for pickles and Katsup. For some reason we still felt safe and stayed. We went up to the radio station and met with Mark Thompson we had a wonderful time. I did not say a whole lot on the show, there was another guy on there and he was great to lisen to. Also there was a woman and her husband, he is a senator from PA. They are doing great work with HIV/AIDS. She is a great woman I will have to get her name later. She is a movie and TV star. Absolutly beautiful. And they are doing such wonderful work in the big cities.
We are up at 4AM tomorrow. I better get off to bed!
It is a new world tomorrow!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Here in DC It Is All About The Love
Today started out early again. We were up and out the door by 6AM. We walked to the Metro station about 1 1/2 miles away. It was still dark and we walked around the perimeter of NIH (National Institute of Health) We wondered while we walked what kinds of things went on inside those fences! What if the monkeys got out?
Of course being gone from the city for so many years I did not have the use of the Metro while I lived here so I did not know what the entrance looked like, so we stopped in a couple of places along the way to make sure we were going the right direction. We found the station and went down an enormous escalator that is at least ten stories down (I am not kidding) as we got down to the bottom some nice kids helped us to purchase tickets from the machines and a nice woman with an Obama hat helped us pick the right train, we followed her to the right stop and then waited in line with her and a million other supporters to get into the concert. All the roads around were blocked off with police cars or Humvee's and there were tons of volunteers everywhere with red hats and they were all so helpful. Everyone was talkative and along the way we somehow picked up this very talkative young black man, he followed us in and talked the whole way. He was trying to get my son updated on the latest rap music, of course my son knew none of it as he is into rock. It was pretty hilarious. But it became a little much after about an hour. As it turned out we picked the wrong side to go in and ended up behind a big tree and also on the side that was kept so far from the stage that we realized it just was not going to be worth it.
So we left and decided that we could spend the next 6 hours in DC going to the Smithsonian and checking out the White House rather than waiting there. Besides there were Jumborons every where and we could see everything that was going on from everywhere. We walked for hours and hours and met so many wonderful people the name of the game in DC today was "LOVE THY NEIGHBOR" or at least you would think it should have been. Not a bad mood, not an unhappy face. Everyone was looking at each other like they "knew" because I think we have all come to grips with the failing economy and the lost jobs. It is real and in our face right now. But at this time we look at the Obama family and find hope not only in just the color of their skin, but in the attitude that he brings to the White House. I know that many people have found fault with Obama lately. But as I listened to his speech on race over again on the way here and also his speech when winning the nomination I heard over and over again that he knew there were many things he was going to do that we were not going to always agree with, but there were things that needed to be done. There are always things that we as a people of so many different ways that there is no way that we will always be happy all the time.
We know that help is on the way. And you could feel it in the air today.
At the Smithsonian they had a young man giving a presentation of MLK and people sat around and listened to him as he spoke like it were MLK himself. He was awesome. People clapping and shouting. I could only pause and think of how MLK made the way for Obama. I thought of how maybe with the election of Obama, even if racism is still a big problem, maybe this put a crack in relations that were so hard before. I don't expect there to be a sudden healing of all wounds and a complete moving on from the past. But that maybe a bit of the pain and pre- conceived notions can be pushed aside to some degree.
As we were on our way to the Science Museum we saw the MSNBC broadcast area. We went over and it was a great time. We were on camera several times and actually I was interviewed one time and got great pictures with Nora and Dick Greggory. I was in awe of how incredibly nice and "regular" they were. Nora always came off as kinda uppity to me on TV. But she was the sweetest thing.
It was a great day all in all, and seeing the concert and Obama's speech today was a wonderful experience that will never be taken away from us. Tomorrow we go to Lathams office and get our inauguration tickets and then off to the Smithsonian again for a few hours, then off to Sirius Radio to be on Mark Thompsons radio show at 6EST. We are so excited.
Of course being gone from the city for so many years I did not have the use of the Metro while I lived here so I did not know what the entrance looked like, so we stopped in a couple of places along the way to make sure we were going the right direction. We found the station and went down an enormous escalator that is at least ten stories down (I am not kidding) as we got down to the bottom some nice kids helped us to purchase tickets from the machines and a nice woman with an Obama hat helped us pick the right train, we followed her to the right stop and then waited in line with her and a million other supporters to get into the concert. All the roads around were blocked off with police cars or Humvee's and there were tons of volunteers everywhere with red hats and they were all so helpful. Everyone was talkative and along the way we somehow picked up this very talkative young black man, he followed us in and talked the whole way. He was trying to get my son updated on the latest rap music, of course my son knew none of it as he is into rock. It was pretty hilarious. But it became a little much after about an hour. As it turned out we picked the wrong side to go in and ended up behind a big tree and also on the side that was kept so far from the stage that we realized it just was not going to be worth it.
So we left and decided that we could spend the next 6 hours in DC going to the Smithsonian and checking out the White House rather than waiting there. Besides there were Jumborons every where and we could see everything that was going on from everywhere. We walked for hours and hours and met so many wonderful people the name of the game in DC today was "LOVE THY NEIGHBOR" or at least you would think it should have been. Not a bad mood, not an unhappy face. Everyone was looking at each other like they "knew" because I think we have all come to grips with the failing economy and the lost jobs. It is real and in our face right now. But at this time we look at the Obama family and find hope not only in just the color of their skin, but in the attitude that he brings to the White House. I know that many people have found fault with Obama lately. But as I listened to his speech on race over again on the way here and also his speech when winning the nomination I heard over and over again that he knew there were many things he was going to do that we were not going to always agree with, but there were things that needed to be done. There are always things that we as a people of so many different ways that there is no way that we will always be happy all the time.
We know that help is on the way. And you could feel it in the air today.
At the Smithsonian they had a young man giving a presentation of MLK and people sat around and listened to him as he spoke like it were MLK himself. He was awesome. People clapping and shouting. I could only pause and think of how MLK made the way for Obama. I thought of how maybe with the election of Obama, even if racism is still a big problem, maybe this put a crack in relations that were so hard before. I don't expect there to be a sudden healing of all wounds and a complete moving on from the past. But that maybe a bit of the pain and pre- conceived notions can be pushed aside to some degree.
As we were on our way to the Science Museum we saw the MSNBC broadcast area. We went over and it was a great time. We were on camera several times and actually I was interviewed one time and got great pictures with Nora and Dick Greggory. I was in awe of how incredibly nice and "regular" they were. Nora always came off as kinda uppity to me on TV. But she was the sweetest thing.
It was a great day all in all, and seeing the concert and Obama's speech today was a wonderful experience that will never be taken away from us. Tomorrow we go to Lathams office and get our inauguration tickets and then off to the Smithsonian again for a few hours, then off to Sirius Radio to be on Mark Thompsons radio show at 6EST. We are so excited.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
On The Road-Making it To DC
After finding out that school was not on for Friday I decided that we should get going early. It did not turn out that way after getting to the store and getting the things we needed for the trip and getting things packed. It always seems that time passes by so quickly when you do not have it to waste.
We left at 230PM and drove for 10 hours till we got near Columbus, OH. by midnight. We stayed in a Holiday Inn Express and yes the beds were extremely comfortable, the commercials are true! We slept in until 7 AM our time and took off and as we got closer and closer to DC we saw more and more Obama stickers and when we stopped for gas I wrote on the back window "From Iowa to D.C. We got a lot of honks and waves after that. We saw people on and off again on the road. A car load of girls from Illinois and cars from California and even a car from Hawaii
We taped a few different areas of the trip on video. I hope we have a chance to post them somewhere soon. I want to make a movie out of it. We did have a great part with us rocking out to "Stayin Alive" by the Bee Gees. But some how it got erased. It was classic. I think Katie deleted it for possible embarrassing moments, she is 16 you know!
Tomorrow we are up early to head out to DC and see Obama's speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial. We are so excited! The begining of history in the making.
One thing I took from the travels this couple of days what that America, no matter what region, really has many similarities. Ones that pull us and hold us together. This inauguration is the beginning of a new America for all of us weather you voted for Obama or not. It is going to be a better world . It is going to take some time and that is OK. Time is all we have. Time is what it will take. I am willing to give it time.
We left at 230PM and drove for 10 hours till we got near Columbus, OH. by midnight. We stayed in a Holiday Inn Express and yes the beds were extremely comfortable, the commercials are true! We slept in until 7 AM our time and took off and as we got closer and closer to DC we saw more and more Obama stickers and when we stopped for gas I wrote on the back window "From Iowa to D.C. We got a lot of honks and waves after that. We saw people on and off again on the road. A car load of girls from Illinois and cars from California and even a car from Hawaii
We taped a few different areas of the trip on video. I hope we have a chance to post them somewhere soon. I want to make a movie out of it. We did have a great part with us rocking out to "Stayin Alive" by the Bee Gees. But some how it got erased. It was classic. I think Katie deleted it for possible embarrassing moments, she is 16 you know!
Tomorrow we are up early to head out to DC and see Obama's speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial. We are so excited! The begining of history in the making.
One thing I took from the travels this couple of days what that America, no matter what region, really has many similarities. Ones that pull us and hold us together. This inauguration is the beginning of a new America for all of us weather you voted for Obama or not. It is going to be a better world . It is going to take some time and that is OK. Time is all we have. Time is what it will take. I am willing to give it time.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Day of Departure 4AM.
Here it is Friday morning, the day of departure. The kids have missed most of the week of school because it has been well below 0 degrees. In fact my computer says -20 right now. That is with out wind chill. That is bad because they had missed days the week before because of snow and their semester tests were put off because of this and then now their Iowa Skills Tests will be moved back to next week and they will be gone. I don't want to be irresponsible having them miss school. If this were not history in the making, I would not be going. I have been feeling really bad about it, and going over it in my head everyday this week. My kids are great students and I am sure that they will make it all up. They are just students that always get perfect attendance, so I am kinda freaking out about it!
I am up at 4Am, not by choice, but because I have a horrible headache. Luckily my hubby is a early riser so we have had a chance to talk. He drives truck and is gone most of the week, he just got home yesterday night.
I asked the kids to write up "What Obama's Inauguration Means to Me" papers to read on the "Make It Plain" radio show on Sirius Radio, Sirius Left Channel 146 at 5EST on Monday the 19th. (Had to get a plug in there for us!). I read my daughters she is just not quite as taken with Obama as my son is. She is a lot less emotional than my son and myself. She is very analytical. Not that this part of history is lost on her, but she just doesn't convey it much in her words. My son will be writing it while on the road as he is my procrastinator.
I visited the Facebook site for the Make It Plain show, I missed a lot of the conversation last night because I was trying to get things done. It seems that the "conflict" "war" or what ever you want to call it in Palestine/Israel has been the topic of discussion for many. I wish I would have heard the discussion. My opinions have been all over the place with this issue, I will not go into it here right now.
I am excited today and my headache is begining to pass. I have been having this discussion with myself for many weeks. I want to be unconditionally happy that Obama is our president, I want to jump up and down and tell the world that I helped and I always knew he would win. But I can't. I have learned enough through the great people I have met that have been in this arena for a long time.
We have to look at Obama as he is. He is a politician, he is a politician, he is a politician. He has been and will always be. He is being introduced to the national securtity reports, the sins of the past and the troubles of the future and he is going to have to make some decisions and when you sit in a politicians suit, no matter how high you are in post, you have to make political decisions with information that the general public does not have. Listening to people jump all over him for the choices he has made so far has made me upset. I am guessing it is because I do not know enough about the people he is picking to judge. To my brian, he has not had the chance to do anything wrong yet so why jump on him. I want to hold him accountable when he actually starts making decsions.
I should tell the story of how the trip to DC came about. It is a good one, worthy of telling because it involved many people I have never even met.
I started out thinking for sure after all the work I did for the campaign that I would be a shoe in for tickets. But as I found out I had to put my name on a list like every one else( my next lesson in politics-unless you give large sums of money- your name is not on the top of anyones list). Thank God for people that know who to call. My good friend Connie Hvitved put our names on lists at Sen. Tom Harkin and Rep. Latham's lists. I got an email two weeks later after I had given up all hope of going, from Lathams office that I had won 3 tickets. Connie offered her daughters place to stay in Bethesda. Well, this was all well and good. My problem then was that my vehicle was in no shape to make the trip and due to many horrible things that happened to us in the recent weeks we could not afford plane tickets. So I put out a message to everyone I knew for frequent flyer miles. After two weeks I realized that I don't know anyone that makes trips to europe on a regular basis! The airlines wanted 60,000 miles for each ticket and there was no one in my immediate life that had that kind of miles especially on one airline, I did not want us all flying on different planes.
I gave up on going and resolved to myself that watching it at our local party would be better and warmer.
One night I got an idea. I had spent many many nights on the Barack Obama web site and knew that people asked for frequent flyer miles to get people to palces to help out with the GOTV and primary. I put up a post for that or for help monataraly that I could pay back. I did not know at the time there was a troll on the site and he jumped on me like crazy and made me so upset. It took a lot for me to put the request on the blog and to have this person affirm my inner feelings that somehow it was too much for me to ask only made my stomach turn. I did not go back for a couple of days, but then recieved email from Mary T. She turned out to be my cheerleader and several people sent me checks, enough to suppliment what I had saved so that I could buy train tickets.
Hooray! we were going on the train. Then the bad news. I get an email that they had over sold the train and my tickets would not be coming. My car started acting up and smelling funny. I decided to give up. We are not going! We are not supposed to go! My husband came through for me. He talked to the bank and we could trade in our car for a new vehicle with 4 wheel drive and pay the same as we were now for our old vehicle! Yet another miracle! We traded it in and we got the money back from the debunked train tickets and we are on our way.
I will never forget the people who donated to our cause. Just to get us to DC. It is incredable to me that there are people out there that are willing to help someone that they only know through a blog. I dont think of myself as anything but someone that tried my best to help Obama get in office. To get this help has at times made me cry and smile. These people will never know how much it meant and means to me and my kids.
Even though this is a long blog, it is a shortened version of the whole story.
More later...
I am up at 4Am, not by choice, but because I have a horrible headache. Luckily my hubby is a early riser so we have had a chance to talk. He drives truck and is gone most of the week, he just got home yesterday night.
I asked the kids to write up "What Obama's Inauguration Means to Me" papers to read on the "Make It Plain" radio show on Sirius Radio, Sirius Left Channel 146 at 5EST on Monday the 19th. (Had to get a plug in there for us!). I read my daughters she is just not quite as taken with Obama as my son is. She is a lot less emotional than my son and myself. She is very analytical. Not that this part of history is lost on her, but she just doesn't convey it much in her words. My son will be writing it while on the road as he is my procrastinator.
I visited the Facebook site for the Make It Plain show, I missed a lot of the conversation last night because I was trying to get things done. It seems that the "conflict" "war" or what ever you want to call it in Palestine/Israel has been the topic of discussion for many. I wish I would have heard the discussion. My opinions have been all over the place with this issue, I will not go into it here right now.
I am excited today and my headache is begining to pass. I have been having this discussion with myself for many weeks. I want to be unconditionally happy that Obama is our president, I want to jump up and down and tell the world that I helped and I always knew he would win. But I can't. I have learned enough through the great people I have met that have been in this arena for a long time.
We have to look at Obama as he is. He is a politician, he is a politician, he is a politician. He has been and will always be. He is being introduced to the national securtity reports, the sins of the past and the troubles of the future and he is going to have to make some decisions and when you sit in a politicians suit, no matter how high you are in post, you have to make political decisions with information that the general public does not have. Listening to people jump all over him for the choices he has made so far has made me upset. I am guessing it is because I do not know enough about the people he is picking to judge. To my brian, he has not had the chance to do anything wrong yet so why jump on him. I want to hold him accountable when he actually starts making decsions.
I should tell the story of how the trip to DC came about. It is a good one, worthy of telling because it involved many people I have never even met.
I started out thinking for sure after all the work I did for the campaign that I would be a shoe in for tickets. But as I found out I had to put my name on a list like every one else( my next lesson in politics-unless you give large sums of money- your name is not on the top of anyones list). Thank God for people that know who to call. My good friend Connie Hvitved put our names on lists at Sen. Tom Harkin and Rep. Latham's lists. I got an email two weeks later after I had given up all hope of going, from Lathams office that I had won 3 tickets. Connie offered her daughters place to stay in Bethesda. Well, this was all well and good. My problem then was that my vehicle was in no shape to make the trip and due to many horrible things that happened to us in the recent weeks we could not afford plane tickets. So I put out a message to everyone I knew for frequent flyer miles. After two weeks I realized that I don't know anyone that makes trips to europe on a regular basis! The airlines wanted 60,000 miles for each ticket and there was no one in my immediate life that had that kind of miles especially on one airline, I did not want us all flying on different planes.
I gave up on going and resolved to myself that watching it at our local party would be better and warmer.
One night I got an idea. I had spent many many nights on the Barack Obama web site and knew that people asked for frequent flyer miles to get people to palces to help out with the GOTV and primary. I put up a post for that or for help monataraly that I could pay back. I did not know at the time there was a troll on the site and he jumped on me like crazy and made me so upset. It took a lot for me to put the request on the blog and to have this person affirm my inner feelings that somehow it was too much for me to ask only made my stomach turn. I did not go back for a couple of days, but then recieved email from Mary T. She turned out to be my cheerleader and several people sent me checks, enough to suppliment what I had saved so that I could buy train tickets.
Hooray! we were going on the train. Then the bad news. I get an email that they had over sold the train and my tickets would not be coming. My car started acting up and smelling funny. I decided to give up. We are not going! We are not supposed to go! My husband came through for me. He talked to the bank and we could trade in our car for a new vehicle with 4 wheel drive and pay the same as we were now for our old vehicle! Yet another miracle! We traded it in and we got the money back from the debunked train tickets and we are on our way.
I will never forget the people who donated to our cause. Just to get us to DC. It is incredable to me that there are people out there that are willing to help someone that they only know through a blog. I dont think of myself as anything but someone that tried my best to help Obama get in office. To get this help has at times made me cry and smile. These people will never know how much it meant and means to me and my kids.
Even though this is a long blog, it is a shortened version of the whole story.
More later...
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
The History of Barack and I
One week out from the inauguration. OK, well it is really one day less than a week, I wanted to start this yesterday but did not have time.
I'll start with a little back history. I am 44 years old now. I started this journey over two years ago. I walked by the TV when a man was being introduced as presidential hopeful Barack Obama. I stopped dead in my tracks and looked at the TV. "who in their right mind would run for president of the USA with a name like Barack Obama"? Ill tell you right now, Baracks race did not enter my mind at that time.
I listened to him as he spoke, as he announced his candidacy for president. Before I knew it I was sitting on my coffee table, I liked what he had to say.....I never voted before because no one ever moved me (yeah I know, I am one of those!)
Fast forward....I joined the Barack Obama website and signed up to find my local office for more information. I waited...waited...Finally met a young man named Million Fikre (apparently names that made me think were a prerequisite). This brave young man was sent here to Iowa to get Baracks name on every one's brain. I could hardly sit in the chair as Million spoke to me, I was ready to get to work. I did not know then what kind of work I was asking for. I soon found out it meant knocking on doors, talking, calling, having meetings and other such things that would have me stepping outside what I knew of myself.
Little did I know that it was to be one of the biggest learning experiences of my life. Learning about the media, the bias, liberals, leftists, right wing, left wing, sea note, lies, truth and all the in between. I met and continue to meet some of the most interesting, infuriating , frustrating and inspiring people. More inspiring people than not.
The Iowa caucus time was upon us, you have to remember that I never even knew that Iowa voted first, let alone what a caucus was or how it worked. As I learned about the caucus I was excited. I was making more and more calls, knocking on doors it was cold but the news was getting better and better. People were paying attention, Barack had been in and around NE Iowa and the buzz of his plans were taking hold. Much of the negative things out there were sliding off Barack and it was like a miracle to me. Never being involved in politics I had a hard time understanding how it all worked, the lies and the meanness that was all around. The subtle and not so subtle racism. But somehow Barack was rising above it all by staying above it all. People were losing their minds because he was not jumping on the train and firing back.
I stood on the outside looking in and sometimes on the inside looking out. I went to work daily and talked about Barack and what I thought was the right way to vote. I talked about how I found him and about how politics worked. It seemed that all the people I worked with knew as little as I did about the process even though most of them had voted before. Those who had not voted I signed up and I had them sign supporter card for Barack. I invited them to meetings and brought in articles with new information. I know it wore on one or two of the people I worked with, but in general I got a lot of "thank yous" from my co-workers for helping them learn as I was learning.
The support crew the Obama campaign was beyond compare, once again because of being new to this I had no idea that it normally is not like this. The doors were always open, the attitude was positive and the people were lighthearted and open to conversation and full of information that I wanted and needed. I never got any encouragement to be negative or talk about any other candidate with any type of disdain. If someone volunteering started getting negative they were reminded that this was not what Barack would say or do. There was no room for any type of negative thoughts or deeds. Don't get me wrong there was a few people that wanted to stand up on their soap boxes and make there point. Everyone has an opinion you just have to weed through the opinions and choose which one fits inside your heart and go with it.
I brought in the most caucus goers that my site has ever had. The tiny school room started filling up with Clinton supporters then Edwards Supporters and one Richardson supporter (he left) I stood in the corner with my Obama signs hung on the wall. The Clinton precinct caption (the equivalent to me but for Clinton) came over because I had no one in my corner. I had told my people to come within the last 5 min before the doors closed(A lot of them were farmers or worked later so they could not be there if I did not give them the option) She was trying to be supportive of me by saying, "oh I suppose you have a lot of young people, they are hard to get to show up". She was right, I did have a lot of young voters, but I had a lot of older voters too, people she would think would be on her side. As the clock clicked away suddenly, here they came one after the other, as I stuck Obama stickers on them, the Clinton caption walked away with a scowl on her face and she never looked at me again. We took the caucus and it was to be the theme of the night for Iowa.
We won and I cried. My first political win. My toe dipped in the water of politics felt pretty good, I was ready to dive in.
I watched the news constantly CNN, MSNBC and what I could stomach of FOX. My husband and daughter were ready to shoot me. My son was the most supportive and he stood by me at many a door and talked about Barack with me. He is a believer. He was my biggest inspiration and still is to this day.
Then there was NH and the defeat that reminded us all that this was far from over. It was a good swift kick, one we needed. It pushed us through super Tuesday and super duper Tuesday and all the other dang Tuesdays that followed.
I can still see my sons face on election night. The look there was what I was really looking for I decided. Through all of this I found what I was looking for right there. The world has a chance to change for the good of my children. Through them I will see the world change for the better. I have opened their eyes to the things I never learned or thought mattered.
Don't get me wrong about this either. I do not think Obama is the messiah or the savior. I know quite well that he is a politician. It did take me awhile to move out of that stage that a lot of right wing blogger's and news casters called "kool-aid drinkers" state.
I started out with blind faith and not knowing why I had it. I have taken what I have learned and realized that what I saw in Obama was not a savior, but when I met him and looked in his eyes he was a man with a good heart. He was smart and kept his head up when he could have easily backed down or gone down the road of negative campaigning like I am sure so many told him to do. He lived a life that none of the presidents have lived. He lived a life like a lot of us had and currently are. The life of a true American. One that does not fit in a "normal" box, one that does not fit in every one's expectations but one that is worthy of a life time in the history books of what is America.
I'll start with a little back history. I am 44 years old now. I started this journey over two years ago. I walked by the TV when a man was being introduced as presidential hopeful Barack Obama. I stopped dead in my tracks and looked at the TV. "who in their right mind would run for president of the USA with a name like Barack Obama"? Ill tell you right now, Baracks race did not enter my mind at that time.
I listened to him as he spoke, as he announced his candidacy for president. Before I knew it I was sitting on my coffee table, I liked what he had to say.....I never voted before because no one ever moved me (yeah I know, I am one of those!)
Fast forward....I joined the Barack Obama website and signed up to find my local office for more information. I waited...waited...Finally met a young man named Million Fikre (apparently names that made me think were a prerequisite). This brave young man was sent here to Iowa to get Baracks name on every one's brain. I could hardly sit in the chair as Million spoke to me, I was ready to get to work. I did not know then what kind of work I was asking for. I soon found out it meant knocking on doors, talking, calling, having meetings and other such things that would have me stepping outside what I knew of myself.
Little did I know that it was to be one of the biggest learning experiences of my life. Learning about the media, the bias, liberals, leftists, right wing, left wing, sea note, lies, truth and all the in between. I met and continue to meet some of the most interesting, infuriating , frustrating and inspiring people. More inspiring people than not.
The Iowa caucus time was upon us, you have to remember that I never even knew that Iowa voted first, let alone what a caucus was or how it worked. As I learned about the caucus I was excited. I was making more and more calls, knocking on doors it was cold but the news was getting better and better. People were paying attention, Barack had been in and around NE Iowa and the buzz of his plans were taking hold. Much of the negative things out there were sliding off Barack and it was like a miracle to me. Never being involved in politics I had a hard time understanding how it all worked, the lies and the meanness that was all around. The subtle and not so subtle racism. But somehow Barack was rising above it all by staying above it all. People were losing their minds because he was not jumping on the train and firing back.
I stood on the outside looking in and sometimes on the inside looking out. I went to work daily and talked about Barack and what I thought was the right way to vote. I talked about how I found him and about how politics worked. It seemed that all the people I worked with knew as little as I did about the process even though most of them had voted before. Those who had not voted I signed up and I had them sign supporter card for Barack. I invited them to meetings and brought in articles with new information. I know it wore on one or two of the people I worked with, but in general I got a lot of "thank yous" from my co-workers for helping them learn as I was learning.
The support crew the Obama campaign was beyond compare, once again because of being new to this I had no idea that it normally is not like this. The doors were always open, the attitude was positive and the people were lighthearted and open to conversation and full of information that I wanted and needed. I never got any encouragement to be negative or talk about any other candidate with any type of disdain. If someone volunteering started getting negative they were reminded that this was not what Barack would say or do. There was no room for any type of negative thoughts or deeds. Don't get me wrong there was a few people that wanted to stand up on their soap boxes and make there point. Everyone has an opinion you just have to weed through the opinions and choose which one fits inside your heart and go with it.
I brought in the most caucus goers that my site has ever had. The tiny school room started filling up with Clinton supporters then Edwards Supporters and one Richardson supporter (he left) I stood in the corner with my Obama signs hung on the wall. The Clinton precinct caption (the equivalent to me but for Clinton) came over because I had no one in my corner. I had told my people to come within the last 5 min before the doors closed(A lot of them were farmers or worked later so they could not be there if I did not give them the option) She was trying to be supportive of me by saying, "oh I suppose you have a lot of young people, they are hard to get to show up". She was right, I did have a lot of young voters, but I had a lot of older voters too, people she would think would be on her side. As the clock clicked away suddenly, here they came one after the other, as I stuck Obama stickers on them, the Clinton caption walked away with a scowl on her face and she never looked at me again. We took the caucus and it was to be the theme of the night for Iowa.
We won and I cried. My first political win. My toe dipped in the water of politics felt pretty good, I was ready to dive in.
I watched the news constantly CNN, MSNBC and what I could stomach of FOX. My husband and daughter were ready to shoot me. My son was the most supportive and he stood by me at many a door and talked about Barack with me. He is a believer. He was my biggest inspiration and still is to this day.
Then there was NH and the defeat that reminded us all that this was far from over. It was a good swift kick, one we needed. It pushed us through super Tuesday and super duper Tuesday and all the other dang Tuesdays that followed.
I can still see my sons face on election night. The look there was what I was really looking for I decided. Through all of this I found what I was looking for right there. The world has a chance to change for the good of my children. Through them I will see the world change for the better. I have opened their eyes to the things I never learned or thought mattered.
Don't get me wrong about this either. I do not think Obama is the messiah or the savior. I know quite well that he is a politician. It did take me awhile to move out of that stage that a lot of right wing blogger's and news casters called "kool-aid drinkers" state.
I started out with blind faith and not knowing why I had it. I have taken what I have learned and realized that what I saw in Obama was not a savior, but when I met him and looked in his eyes he was a man with a good heart. He was smart and kept his head up when he could have easily backed down or gone down the road of negative campaigning like I am sure so many told him to do. He lived a life that none of the presidents have lived. He lived a life like a lot of us had and currently are. The life of a true American. One that does not fit in a "normal" box, one that does not fit in every one's expectations but one that is worthy of a life time in the history books of what is America.
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