I have been a staunch Edwards supporter, to the point where I didn’t even want to hear anything the other candidates had to say. I gave more money than I could afford to the Edwards campaign (shhh. don’t tell my husband), I argued with my 27 year old daughter over her vote for Obama on February 5th here in the Connecticut primary, and then after Obama won the CT primary, I moped for a few day thinking it truly didn’t matter whether it was Hillary or Obama after Edwards dropped out of the race.
BUT IT DOES And I believe I owe my change of heart to my daughter. For many years our children have listened to us, sometimes through glazed eyes, to my rants about whom they should vote for. And, most of the time, they pulled the lever (or now in CT they can scan the optical) for “my candidate”, mostly to keep me quiet and happy, but also because they just hadn’t gotten involved and often didn't care about what was at stake. But something changed this time. That something was Barack Obama.
My daughter listened to my pleas to vote for Edwards, but I could see something different in her eyes. She is such a loving daughter that she never likes to displease us, but I knew, I just knew, that Obama had struck a nerve with her. And if he had done that with her, then he must have done the same with many other young people who never really thought it was imperative that they vote at all.
Me, I wrote a really stupid diary about Ned Lamont’s support of Obama over Edwards here on DKos. I won’t even link to it because, in retrospect, I wish I hadn’t written it in the heat of the moment. But I shut down, felt lost, and acted like a really bad loser. And I don’t like bad losers at all, especially when we have a winner right in front of us.
So, here I am, hoping all past Edwards supporters will donate to Obama’s campaign or take time to make calls on his behalf. Obama didn’t have to do what he’s doing. He could have stayed quiet and let the usual suspects run this campaign for us. But he didn’t. And it’s time to thank him and Michelle. And it’s time to pave the way to help him become the next President so we can all stand tall and be sure that we have the right man at the right time to make this country right again.
There is hope out there. And his name is Obama.