If you've paid attention to my comments, the title of this diary may not make much sense. Obviously, JMS is for Obama, right? Well sure, at first a little reluctantly (I had not intended to support anyone this year), but with more rhetorical firepower as time moved along. But until now it's been blog-comment support, which is about the same as no support at all. Soon, however, I will join the trillions of small donors who have contributed to Obama's campaign, and thus, I suppose become a real-world Obama supporter. Why?
The story starts on a personal level. Obama and I both grew up in Honolulu--I a bit later, but there's a good chance he played high school basketball against some of my cousins and I believe he lived a few blocks away from my grandmother. Hawaii people, even those who have moved away, have a weird sixth sense about each other. This was enough to get me intrigued. There were a few other coincidences--he taught at the University of Chicago, I have a degree from the University of Chicago--his wife is a Princeton graduate, I am a Princeton graduate (he and Dr. Dean have good taste in women, apparently). So a good start, but not enough to guarantee support, yes?
Like most of us outside of Illinois, I didn't hear about him until the 2004 primary. In 2004, I became a Deaniac, which was my first actual foray into supporting a presidential candidate. I gave to the bats and even wrote letters to Iowans (I did not get an orange hat).
However, during the course of taking an increased interest in politics (and through support from DFA and other outlets), I became aware of Obama as he was running in the primary and before the 2004 convention. Being as susceptible to emotion as the next person, I was at first irritated that people were praising Obama so much, irritated that it looked like he'd win easily, then irritated that other people thought he was too arrogant--since he couldn't have suddenly gone from hero to zero, he must really be somewhere in between, I figured.
Then Obama announced his primary bid for 2008, and I was conflicted again. I liked him well enough--I was becoming disillusioned with Clinton, but was it too soon? Was he trying to coast on his rock star status? And frankly, all of those mind-boggling fundraising totals that he kept racking up turned me off. He didn't need my money--if he won, he could do it without me, clearly. Also, especially through the fall, it didn't seem like he was fully engaged, and if she were going to win in a cakewalk, there was no point in my going through Howard Dean-like crushing disappointment again. So, although I could never actually dislike him, I tried to keep some distance.
That changed with Iowa--and changed again with New Hampshire. It's a real race now. He may win, he may not win, and I think (maybe?) I'll survive if he doesn't win, (at least we won't have John Kerry again). And who knows--maybe he does need me and my small donation after all. OK--I'm in.