I have been making calls to Ohio for the Obama campaign the last two days, trying to make my small contribution to the campaign's "GOTV" effort. Of course, much of the time I am leaving messages or listening to folks hang up on me, but every now and then I make a connection that seems to make the time sacrificed from my family worthwhile. This is a story of a few such calls that I offer in the hopes that they will encourage a few more people to sign up and make some calls for the Obama campaign.
In my calls to Ohio I have run into a few sentiments that I consider offensive. Some older voters have irrationally called Senator Obama a dirty "muslim" or similar sentiments, but in the course of this I run across a few calls that seemed interesting enough to share.
I spoke with one senior citizen from Ohio. He was enthusiastic about receiving my call and he and his wife were strong supporters for Obama. Nothing too unusual there, but it was the way he expressed it. He said:
"Yes sir, put the Coon right in there."
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When white voters who use words like "coon" are big Obama supporters I think we have change. Many of us may prefer that such words were not being used, but when a senior citizen is using that word to describe the man he enthusiastically wants to be the leader of America, I think we are seeing something miraculous beginning to grow. For me it is an unexpected type of change, but it makes me pause and wonder what changes have taken place in people's hearts that they can now vote for someone who they describe with such words. Maybe I am naive, but to me it is almost as if the sting of that word is beginning to die given that people are beginning to use it for a man they look up to and admire so much that they want him to lead America.
Another man in his 70s was giddy to get my call and said:
We are voting for AliBama. I just call him that, but Ima gonna vote for him.[laughter]. He is our choice for president.
Something is going on here in my humble opinion. It is change. It is growth. And I for one would not have anticipated change to come in this form.
Folks, making calls may seem like something to avoid, but it has its rewards. Sometimes you make a genuine connection and help someone. One senior citizen lady was very concerned that Obama was born in Kuwait and just wanted reassurance about where he was born. Once I explained that he was born in Hawaii, she seemed relieved and said "Thank you. I was scared, but you have put my mind at ease."
Count her as another vote for Obama in a big state [Ohio] that really matters. Each one of those votes is precious. Had we done this in Florida in 2000 we might have never had to live through the horror that has been the Bush years.
Don't wait. Make calls for Obama. You can do it from home. Just go to barackobama.com and sign up and you can be making calls from home in five minutes.
Change may be here, but it may also need a little push from you and me to make it into this world. Won't you donate some time to do that?