It's been snowing off and on since Sunday here in northern New Mexico. Scheduled responsibilities today got cancelled in the afternoon thanks to the weather. I have a high clearance 4WD with good tires, so I volunteered to drive some voters to the polls. It was an adventure! I drove about three miles up this road:
It was a lot of effort just for three voters. But all around the country, thousands upon thousands of others put aside their own lives to help get the vote out in various places, in various ways. All these efforts together start to add up.
I only got stuck once: Gallina Canyon Rd. wasn't plowed 2 vehicles wide and so there was a little problem when meeting an oncoming vehicle. And the snow came down as powder over hard ice and warmed up enough to get wet during the day. Slick as snake snot! This guy, Daniel, stopped to help dig me out. And thank goodness I'd just purchased kitty litter. Pootie (and Daniel) saved the day!
The snow was knee deep, and as I made my way up the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains (southern Rockies), I started worrying how I'd ever be able to turn around. The three people I was assigned to drive hadn't dug out of their driveways, and had slogged out to the main road (Gallina Canyon above Valdez for those who know the area).
They said it was the first time they'd been snowed in since it snowed three feet in 1990 and the plows couldn't get up there at all. The county finally sent a full-sized bulldozer up that time. This time wasn't so bad, and we managed to get out, and back in. And, obviously, made it home safely in the end. I don't often use 4WD low, but today was one of those days. (One wants to avoid stepping on the brakes when heading downhill in these conditions.)
It took most of the afternoon, and it was only three votes. But a good time was had by all.
I take some comfort, in these difficult times, how many people have shown creativity and resolve in innumerable ways in these primaries. I went to the Santa Fe Obama rally last Friday night, and got a kick out of some "Obama girls". Five of 'em - teenagers all - had hand decorated their t-shirts to say "We believe in fairy tales". One word per girl, and they were very disciplined about staying in order to make their personal commentary on Bill C's "fairy tale" comment. They were black, white and hispanic, these girls. I never took cell phone pix before, and this one doesn't do justice to the "fairy" wings they'd made to go with their message and their magic wands.
We're still waiting for results from our state. It has a the nation's highest percentage of Hispanic voters, and is near the top of the list for Native Americans, too. But blacks are relatively scarce. It's a demographic suite that might favor Clinton. No one really knows, cuz it's barely been polled, and the other campaigns stayed out of "Richardson territory" till the last minute.
That rally in Santa Fe? It had a thorough mix of ethnicities, cultures, ages, etc. I think Hispanics were under-represented, maybe. But there was plenty of Spanish around, including a big Si Se Puede banner on the wall. That line about "We are the ones that we have been waiting for" comes from a Hopi prayer, we were told in Santa Fe.
This is not Chicano music, and I have no idea what June 9 is about (so please ignore). But I like its energy, and I like that it rhymes "la gente" with "differente" and "presidente". So enjoy.
Anyhow, I ended up an Obama supporter. Never could decide between him and Edwards, so my support came late - by default when Edwards stepped back. I volunteered a little over the last week, and finally started talking about the candidates with people.
One of our deep problems these days is what's happened to the courts. It dates at least back to when Clarence Thomas won confirmation to the Supreme Court in Thurgood Marshall's seat. I still can't get over that.
A couple of reasons I like Obama over Hillary are that (1) I think Obama will appoint judges less corporatists than will Clinton, and (2) I think Obama will more effectively set the stage for a Democratic successor. It's gonna take more than a decade of holding both the Executive and Legislative branches of the government to see some improvement in the courts.
A problem that I have with Hillary is that she's running on the record of Bill's presidency. Unless it's something you can find a problem with. I was in a weekend meeting with a Clinton field organizer on Saturday. It was an on-reservation meeting and he was talking about Hillary's tribal policies. (He didn't have anything in writing, but the Obama rep did and it was a cogent if sketchy position paper.) Anyhow, the presentation included the phrases "self-determination" and "government to government relations". That dependent sovereign oxymoron.
And suddenly I remembered working at that same tribe's environmental program during the last 2 years of the Clinton Administration. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has funds for "self-determination" contracts, where the tribe can specify what program priorities the money is for. We had a radon problem, one of the highest radon areas in the country, in fact. So I broached the subject of getting some money for radon work with my BIA counterpart. His response: "We only have self-determination money for underground storage tank remediation."
Classic Newspeak.
So I asked the guy about it, asked if that was the kind of Native American policy to be expected under Hillary, too. Since he'd been suggesting that Native people should support her on the strength of President Bill Clinton's track record and all. Of course, I stumped him with my question. He didn't know what to say. He'd not pointed to any specific proposals like Obama has - such as adopting Richardson's promise to appoint someone in the White House tasked with tracking tribal matters. Hillary's field rep didn't really know much about the relevant issues, and I'm guessing that Hillary doesn't either. (Nor did Prez Bill, for that matter.) I think Obama's background in community organizing means he knows better how to listen to issues from the grassroots. His position paper on Native American issues told me that.
I deeply respect Edwards' gut instincts on class, too. And I was sorry to see him leave the race. I wished he had gotten more votes. Had he stayed in, and Obama withdrawn, I would be volunteering for his campaign. Because, like I said, I couldn't decide between the two.
The netroots on the left is more powerful than its counterpart on the right because of its bottom up nature. It encourages individual creativity. Hell, it depends on it to survive. I feel at home here on Daily Kos because of that very nature of this community. Obama's candidacy has done a remarkable job of inspiring people to find in themselves new reserves of creativity and accomplishment. He has been a community organizer, and it shows in his campaign. It's part of what defines his being, as surely as class is the prism through which John Edwards looks at the world. For me, that extra bit of "creativity" took the form of tackling a treacherous road in a snowstorm to get three more voters to the polls.
And so, three more votes were cast for Obama. The same story has repeated itself countless times across our country. It is a good thing that people are stirred into action. I have met many people who have never been involved in a political campaign before, others have.
I've posted the following poster in several comments. I found it abandoned on the floor at last weekend's Santa Fe rally. Even though I chose my candidate through a combination of default, and a certain distaste for more Clintonism, I'm finding that there's a lot to like about the Junior Senator from Illinois.
I'll vote for Hillary if she ends up the nominee. But without the enthusiasm I've discovered for Obama. She would never have appointed Brownie to run FEMA, at minimum. But I also worry about what the behind-the-scenes dynamics would be for her Secretary of State and Vice President, with former President Clinton in the White House. (I didn't like him a whole lot as president, either.)
Obama ain't the perfect candidate, but he's got a lot going for him. So, I pitched in to help in New Mexico. No telling how long I'll have to wait to find out how that effort came out. Chuck Todd says it will take all night to get NM results.
Final random note: If I never hear anyone utter the phrase "Day One" again, it will be too soon!!