Tuesday, September 16, 2008, 1730 – The Beavercreek, Ohio office of Obama/Biden for President held its Grand Opening in a neighborhood where some 25% of the residents still lack electric power after Sunday’s storm. Although only 16 people were pre-registered to attend on the Obama website, upwards of sixty actually showed up at the door. Nevertheless, parking space was found for all, and neither food, drink, nor toilet paper ran out during the course of the event. In addition to a free meal, David King, the field organizer, thoughtfully offered attendees the opportunity to recharge cellphones and other power-packs from the office outlets. For this attendee and others, what was most clearly recharged at this event was HOPE.
Having written several progressively more pessimistic reports from my location recently, I am delighted to have the opportunity to say, "Yay, TEAM!" Not only was everyone at the event surprised by the turnout, but the mix of people, the sufficiency of all the necessities, the lack of disorganization and last-minute desperation, the sheer friendliness of everyone involved and the smooth functioning of everything from street visibility to parking directions to the separate grilling of the Indian family’s veggie-burgers was a visceral pleasure that can only be experienced emotionally. "This," said one woman I spoke with, "is AMERICA." Black people, brown people, old people, young people, children playing on some playground equipment rounded up from who-knows-where, and yes, nicely-dressed white gentlemen with cellphones holstered at their belts who clearly had just come straight from fairly good jobs. "I don’t know," I replied. "This isn’t exactly the America I see every day. But it’s the America that should be."
Watching the Obama team in action demonstrated on the ground what had before been only words on the internet: that Obama began his career as a community organizer. Organizing group events of a dozen to a hundred isn’t anything a good college student can’t do, but it is a job, and one I’ve seen done poorly before. This was anything but. Three people progressively waved me into the appropriate parking space (additional space had needed to be set up behind the picnic for the unexpected surge of visitors). Guests were gently herded into a friendly entrance line, where they waited patiently chatting with each other to get to a table without really knowing what you were doing once you got there, but everyone was happy and mellow, so who cared? Volunteers came around with clipboards; it transpired that the price of your dinner ticket was to sign your name and contact information and, ever-so-suggestively, to volunteer to do SOMETHING or other for the campaign. Which wasn’t exactly a problem, since most people (except, of course, the fellow on TDY from Northern Virginia, and the family from Chicago visiting relatives) who showed up, had every intention of volunteering; many already had, or, like myself, were trying to make contact so somebody would call them. A name on the sheet earned you an Obama button, a name tag, and a little red ticket for the dinner line. The tickets assured that everyone would get a trip past the food before anyone could go back for seconds if food was left over; a wise arrangement given both Ohio appetites and the unexpected influx, but unnecessary in the end, as the table was eventually thrown open to all comers. The food was not as imaginative as I have seen at more esoterically liberal potlucks (no tabouli or couscous, sigh), but there was a good selection of fresh vegetables, watermelon, strawberries, and a wide range of baked goodies at the end. David had the excellent sense to make sure everyone had food before starting the speeches, which were short, to the point, and cheerful. The sound system wasn’t loud enough to overshout the crowd once people got enmeshed in talking, but as an experienced party host, I have to call that a measure of the crowd’s enthusiasm and comraderie. Many people knew each other; others, like myself, managed to make shift by eavesdropping and chiming in, or actually introducing themselves. Children and dogs were present to assist in breaking the ice.
And, oh, what a joy to spend an hour talking to people with a grasp of issues and college educations. I admit it – I can love my neighbors, I can respect them for their kindness, generousity, tenacity and will to survive – but sometimes, I really just have to talk to people who have also been taught how to use their brains. So after weeks of feeling alone in a redneck universe, I hopped in the car and drove nearly an hour to be with people "like me" – and found a lot more of them than I had ever expected. And found that Barack Obama isn’t just a Harvard professor with a grasp of economics ... he’s a leader who has grasped and implemented a kind of organization I have never seen before: bottom-up and ORGANIZED, as opposed to either top-down or chaotic. I’m not a groupie, not passionately or emotionally committed to this candidate, but everything I see of him points to him as the most RATIONAL choice we could make in selecting a leader. I know the average voter votes by guts and emotions, and I’m glad that for many people, Obama appeals to those as well. But I will work for him and his organization because he’s the most qualified candidate I’ve seen nominated for the job in thirty years.