I did get-out-the-vote canvassing for Obama in a wildy pro-Obama neighborhood of a wildly pro-Obama midwestern city this morning. It was sunny, it was warm, and the neighborhood was friendly - lots of Obama signs, "I voted today" stickers, and friendly folks coming to the door. It was almost boring - although a couple of roofers on a nearby house gave us a good natured shout of "hey - vote Republican" as my canvassing partner and I passed by. We kept walking, but my partner said, "I want to go back and talk to those guys when we're done."
Although she never talked to those guys, she did make a point of talking to some other tradesmen we met a block away. And the story she told them about her husband's battle with cancer turned two undecided voters into two potential Obama voters. Follow me for the rest of the story...
My canvas buddy, Cameron, saw these workers and immediately crossed the street to chat them up. Since it was obvious that we were working for Obama (my hat, her button, and the Obama door hangers were a dead giveaway), she started by asking them who they were voting for. They said they were undecided, and she immediately asked them what their concerns were. One of them mentioned gun ownership, and Cameron said, "Well, if you want to shoot deer with assault weapons Obama's probably not your man, but he supports gun ownership and is even endorsed by The American Hunters and Shooters Association." They seemed to like that...
And then out of the blue she asked, "Do folks have health insurance?" When they said no, she proceeded to tell her story - of how her husband Greg, a builder and carpenter, got cancer while he had limited private insurance of the kind John McCain wants to push on folks, how hard his insurer made it to get the tests needed to diagnose his lymphoma, and how, while the private insurance eventually paid for chemotherapy, it would not pay for a bone marrow transplant - usually the best hope for this type of cancer... It was a harrowing tale, and at the end of it she had basically convinced the guys she was talking to that a vote for Obama offered them a chance at avoiding her husband's fate. It was the most satisfying voter interaction of the day.
Afterwards we were talking about her conversation and Cameron decided to post her husband's story on YouTube so that everyone could hear about it. For those of you who are interested, here it is:
The sad part of the story is that Greg didn't live to vote for Obama. As Cameron says in her video:
By the time he was done with his chemotherapy, and in remission, I had a good job and I could afford to put him on my healthcare plan. When the cancer came back a year later, Greg was eligible for a bone marrow transplant because I had employer-provided health care insurance. [...] Unfortunately, what had gone on during the years he didn't have good insurance had damaged his body to the point where he couldn't survive a bone marrow transplant. In the mean time we went bankrupt because of $60,000 of unpaid hospital bills from the first six months of his cancer treatment.
After Greg died, Cameron's work eventually led her back into regular contact with cancer patients who are fighting to make sure they can afford to pay for their treatments. Cameron concludes her video testimony talking about what she's learned from them:
The one thing I've seen is that if they have Medicare or they have Medicaid, or if they have employer provided health insurance, they are not discriminated against. They get the test and the treatment that they need, and they have the chance to live a cancer-free life. A chance that Greg never got. Greg didn't get that chance because he had what McCain wants you to have, and he would tell you 'Don't go for a private plan, because once you're sick, you're doomed.
And she ends with a plea that pokes old Joe the Plumber right in the eye:
So builders, vote for Obama, do what Greg would have done. Vote for Change.
If you can't see the embedded video, you can find it on YouTube here. Share the story of Greg the builder... and let's get out there and VOTE!!