I fell in love with Obama, so I got involved for the first time to help Obama & my local Congressional Candidate, Steve Young, of the 48th District of California.
I must report that I am shocked & appalled at the ABSENCE of any Obama money at the grass roots level. The Obama Campaign needs to get its sh** together & get some supplies to the volunteers.
With Obama fever, I re-registered from Independent to Democrat & I listed myself on the local Democrat's website, prepared to do my part in bringing change, acting locally.
Then my dream got caught in the gridlock of ineffectual reality.
It took my local Democrat 2 months to recognize my presence.
I've now gone out for 2 events locally and the Obama campaign needs to get organized if they want this tidal wave to happen.
July 4th
The first was the 4th of July Parade in Lake Forest, Orange County, CA. Steve Young was out on the crowded streets. There was no table, no Obama stickers, no Obama hats or T shirts to sell, NOTHING. I asked where these things were and I got a vague "gee we had some but...." response.
I asked what the Steve Young campaign was doing to hook into the internet Obama groups and I got "ummmmm.....". I am 44. The average age of the volunteers was 60+. This is OK since my community has a lot of seniors & we want senior turn out. But I couldn't help thinking that this was a tired campaign that needed A LOT more internet savvy. There are hundreds of O.C. for Obama group members & Students for Obama web-members. I never got an email asking me to attend at these events. My efforts got me there. There is a well of internet goodwill that has not been tapped.
Our Republican Congressman, riding IN the parade.
July 26th
I went out again to a meeting locally at Steve Young's headquarters. This time, there were about 30 people there. This time there were OC for Obama representatives & Democratic Party of OC representatives but NO Obama stickers, pins, bumper stickers, NOTHING. Where is the Obama money going ??? If we are going to canvas -- $20 on stickers is a better buy than a million dollar ad campaign !
OBAMA --> get a budget together and get it to the volunteers for street work. Buy product and DELIVER IT to local people !!! Where is this fabled organization ???
A woman asked about bumper stickers and the garbled response was "Well we might be able to get them at cost". Obama --> I am telling you to make sure the local areas have fricking stickers to hand out when they canvas !!!
They wanted us to meet next Saturday to go door-to-door in Tustin. They argued about meeting at 9 o'clock or 9:30. They decided on 9:30. I felt I had missed something so I stuck my hand up (pen in hand to write down the answer) "Sorry, where are we meeting?" Answer "Well we haven't decided yet." The event is next Saturday. I re-sheathed my pen.
The Republicans say "there are no safe seats". I WANT to push for change. But I have to say that until more "change" reaches the grass-roots, that this campaign is going no-where fast.
Obama, put some gas in the car.