Jamie Diamond and I have been friends since about the start of our freshman year of college. She was always engaged in politics, and even after she moved to Buffalo, NY, she kept an ear to the ground. We didn’t always agree, but when we both found ourselves interested in the ascent of Bernie Sanders, I approached it from more of an analytical (if enthusiastic) approach, while she took the plunge into organizing a cold-assailed rally in January, as reported by WGRZ, also known as NBC-owned Channel 2 in Buffalo.
Jamie is with Buffalo For Bernie, a New York group advocating for Sanders to be placed on the ballot for the April 19th Primary. They have the backing of activists such as Brian Nowak, Tamara Knight, John Mudie, along with the backing of CWA Local 1122. They will be phone-banking and registering voters as the campaign progresses, but their March For Bernie (#Marchforbernie) is probably their calling-card, so far.
A similar event in New York City was postponed due to a tiny little blizzard breaking only a few records, and other groups around the nation chose today to launch rallies as well, but the Buffalo one earned a praise-laden mention in U.S. Uncut’s article on similar events taking place nation-wide. They also earned acknowledgement on Time Warner Cable’s website, ABC Affiliate WKBW, and more. With Brian Nowak helping out, Jamie put together a pro-Sanders event that earned significant air-time with a positive message.
Thinking emotionally, wow, that’s a friend of mine up there with a megaphone!
Thinking strategically, this is exactly what Sanders needs: He needs to keep generating huge crowds that overcome difficult circumstances, mainly to keep his name in the news as we approach a week before Iowa. According to video by Our Amazing World, Elizabeth Warren is now chiding leaders who fear change by saying they are “in bed with the billionaires who want to run this country like some private club.” Given Hillary Clinton’s arguments that Sanders would tear up Obamacare whereas she would work to improve upon it, it sounds very much like Warren has taken a side, at least on that issue.
Would continued positive press for the Bernie camp convince Warren to make a night-before-the-Caucus election? That’s hard to say. However, is a friend of mine from college helping to test that theory by, with many other hands helping out, setting up a not-so-tiny event up in Buffalo that is making waves in the media? There is absolutely an impact. The very people who wanted to “draft” Elizabeth Warren have decided that Bernie’s grassroots approach is the correct one: The memberships of Moveon.org and Democracy for America, the main actors in the Draft Warren movements, both overwhelmingly voted to endorse Sanders. It’s a stretch, but it is as clear a signal to Warren about what her supporters want as the change.org petition pleading with Warren to endorse him. In fact, it’s more than that: These incredible turnouts are proof the Sanders movement can win the nomination, can stand up in the Presidential election itself, and — most of all — can manage to convince powerful party figures to support them fully. After all, I consider Keith Ellison to be a pretty significant ally.
Iowa will no doubt be a challenge to the Sanders campaign, but I’m not surprised that I’m more happy to see a friend of mine in her element, and hope she’ll find even more ways to help get her ideas heard.
Jamie Diamond and Brian Nowak work for Buffalo For Bernie, a group that can be found here:
Jesse Pohlman is a writer from Long Island, New York. His latest novel, a science-fiction space opera involving artificially intelligent machines who question the nature of God called Protostar: An Automatic Apocalypse is available on Amazon’s Kindle, exclusively. Check it out for an enjoyable read!
Sunday, Jan 24, 2016 · 11:46:01 PM +00:00 · Jesse Pohlman
So I talked with Jamie a bit, and she wanted me to add her thoughts: “ THANK YOU for writing this! I kickstarted the thing. Tamera Knight of Buffalo for Bernie and John Mudie along with the rest of CWA Local 1122 did most of the legwork. Buffalo for Bernie is actually working hard to help get him elected and working to get and keep people involved, not just to get him on the ballot.”