As an Obama Canvasser, you are a special person.
You're unusual and distinctive, because you're working for the first candidate who has 2 million small donors. (Of course you know what happens when there are a thousand middle managers who each give the $2,300 maximum amount? Tax breaks for energy co.s, tax breaks for co.s who move jobs overseas, the requirement that the gov't pay full price for every unit of of prescription drugs - no price breaks, by law.) Does the voter know that the gov't buys a third of all prescription drugs, purchased in the US - for VA, medicare, and medicaid?
Moreover, you're unusual, because you're working for the first Presidential nominee who has one voter in a hundred out on the streets, talking to their neighbors, or otherwise volunteering for the campaign!
Please keep that in mind, and tell that to the folks who are watching the media coverage. They need to know that you are their neighbor and understand the depth of your committment to a nominee for President who wishes to build this nation from the bottom up.
You.
You are willing to get out there, and knock those doors - rain or shine - snow, or sweat. You have the guts, the energy, and the tenacity to take your values to the streets. In other words, you're converting your soul into shoe leather.
Did you know, that only one volunteer in 50 is willing to knock doors, and only one volunteer in 100 is willing to do so, repeatedly?
I can tell you ... with absolute certainty that somewhere out there, this last weekend, there was an Obama canvasser knocking doors in Idaho, Montana, or Wyoming , with no field office behind them ... because that was the right thing to do. Their fingers were cold, because winter comes early there.
I can tell you ... with equal certainty that somewhere out there, this weekend, there was an Obama canvasser knocking doors in Alabama, Louisiana, or Mississippi, with no field office behind them ... because that was the right thing to do. They were sweating profusely, and being attacked by mosquitos. You know exactly what those bites feel like, in the hot sun.
I know this, because I started knocking here in Indiana, back in the first week of June, when the rumor was that there would be no Obama office, here in Tippecanoe Co., IN. And no: I don't live near Gary, nor Indianapolis. (Our office did open in July. I first got confirmation at the end of June.)
This diary entry is especially dedicated to you - the lone Obama canvasser.
You have been tenacious, because you share a vision of building this country from the bottom up, that you wish to carry forth, to your fellow citizens, and most of all, to your neighbors.
So I say to you ... enjoy, and learn to love the "field honey" on which Obama canvassers live.
Wherever you are, in the coldest corners of Idaho or Montana, the dustiest, most obscure odd parts of Wyoming or Colorado's high plains, or the hottest and most bug-infested ends of Alabama or Mississippi, you must know that you are part of a movement that is much greater than all of us, because it is more than the sum of us.
Don't be afraid to ask for support. Don't be afraid to be tired. Don't be afraid to cry. Don't be afraid to feel as if it's too much, sometimes.
But remember that the work you do is unparalled. Remind yourself that this is a "moment in time."
This is your time. This is our time, because we're all neighbors, and we are all AMERICANS.