This is my first diary, so please be gentle...
When this campaign began, I was a Gore person all the way. I'd vote for the democrat, no matter who it was...but I was completely apathetic as to who it would actually be...I wouldn't work for them, I wouldn't donate to them...I'd vote - simple enough...
Over the course of this campaign, I have gone from apathetic observer to fervent, active, donating supporter...this is my story...
For the first time in 3 years, I was able to go to the Take Back America conference in DC in June 2007. I was excited to see Kucinich, because I'd seen him speak before and really enjoy him, I was thrilled to see Howard Dean - and actually got to tell him how much his 2004 campaign meant to me - very exciting, but I wasn't THAT excited about the frontrunners.
What stood out and surprised me was seeing Obama...he came out right before Edwards, and I mean, wow...his speech was incredible (tv doesn't do him justice)...I remember after that speech rushing to shake his hand (and to get an autograph - I missed the autograph, but I did shake his hand), simply because the speech had so much power to it, that I knew that I was shaking the hand of someone very special...the other cool thing was that he jumped down off the stage, and went across the whole entire aisle at the front, and greeted more people than any other candidate...poor Edwards who had to come right after him was good, but honestly, it just couldn't compare...
Clinton spoke the next day...it sounded good...she was a better speaker than I thought she would be, which is...good...but...it was disappointing, majorly because, it seemed like she wanted to be like the Republicans on National Security issues - because they were the ones who polled better on National Security issues...other than that, it was the same old, same old, that politicians always say...
After coming back home, over the course of the next few months, the excitement about seeing Obama faded, the "inevitability narrative" of the Clinton campaign pushed me back into the apathetic column, and I basically followed the campaign as a fairly detatched observer...
What shocked me back into focus was when Obama won Iowa...and his victory speech...wow, that was refreshing, and brought back positive memories about my TBA experience - not using Republican frames, actually changing the narrative...then he lost NH...and I thought, oh well...it was Hillary's nomination to win anyways (after Dean in 2004, I didn't want to get my hopes up to get knocked down over something so silly as a scream or whatever the media dreamed up)...but, something changed going into South Carolina...Clinton overplayed her hand...I began to really HOPE that Obama would do well, and he did...about 2 weeks later, I donated to the campaign, cause at that point I really wanted him to win...
What drew me in was the difference between what Obama was doing, and what every major player on the political scene has been doing for the entire time that I have been aware of politics...though Dean definitely started this change...these are what I see as the big differences...
- Obama is exciting people about politics...20,000 people waiting in the snow and rain to see a politician...this hasn't happened in a LONG time...
- Because of the Internet, people can contribute to the political process in ways and by means that has made him very beholden to the people. In the same way that other politicans are built up by and in turn give favors to the corporations, Obama is built up by the people and when he gets into the office of the Presidency, he "owes favors" only to the millions of people who got him there...I kinda like that:)
- Obama has not sunk to dirty politics against his opponents - and with Hillary Clinton, he has had many opportunities, combined with the fact that he was nearly a political unknown - his candidacy should have – by all calculations - failed...and yet he has still been able to take the lead, that in itself is shocking...
- It wasn’t just about him. In the same way that Obama graciously was able to keep from insulting the Kerry-Edwards vote on the Iraq war during the 2004 campaign. Obama was running in a way that would help down-ticket progressive Democrats, because the more people who got excited about Obama, the more people (Democrats) would vote in the election. For example, in the primary in Maryland, Wynn (a conservative democrat who many have been wanting to get out for a while now) was defeated by Donna Edwards (a progressive democrat - who had herself been narrowly defeated by Wynn in the 2006 primary) – many think she won because of Obama’s coattail effect. Obama was following Dean’s 50-state-strategy which is the ONLY way that Democrats can really take back control of this country.
- Finally, someone was reframing the narrative. I love Lakoff, and "Don’t Think of an Elephant" was the most eye-opening political book I've read. This was the only (frontrunning) Democrat who finally had the guts to say that it wasn't about the same old same old, it wasn’t about being tougher than the Republicans or giving into them on national security/moral issues. Obama gets it: "I don't want to just end the war, but I want to end the mind-set that got us into war in the first place."
And, this is why I support Obama so enthusiastically...It doesn't even have to be about actual policies - cause yes, many of his are very similar to Clinton’s, it has to do with a change back to honest politics, where the best man will get elected instead of the one who can find the most insignificant nuances that can hurt their opponent...and wow have those insignificant nuances been thrown at him...
The "Wright issue" was by far the worst thing that could happen to the Obama campaign...but not only did they survive that, but it started a narrative...an important narrative, a REAL narrative about race in this country...
This "bitter"/"clinging" thing was probably the second worst thing to happen to the campaign...and again, instead of ducking it, getting angry that it was recorded, pointing his finger in people's faces, blaming the news media, then apologizing for ever saying it...he explained it, and again started a narrative, a real narrative about why people are bitter with the politicians in Washington...
In this respect I'm grateful to the Clinton campaign...
I certainly don't think that they planned it this way...
But, dumping the kitchen sink of dirty politics on Obama like they have has shown to me, and many others how different and how special, and how needed Obama is, at this moment - at this time...
Let me be clear...NOT to "worship at the altar of Saint Obama" as Republicans and Clinton supporters so often like to imply, but because he has PROVEN that he is the leader that we need now...
YES.WE.CAN.