"Clinton" is in Iraq

Fair warning:  In addition to believing that the title may increase readership, I thought it was catchy and it actually does relate to the diary but, to be clear, this diary is not about Hillary Clinton's whereabouts or her views on Iraq.

Okay, so I'm calling Pennsylvania today to help get out the vote for Barack Obama.  Two calls of the 50 I've made so far today really stood out.  both of them shook me up a bit, hence this diary.

I had gotten most of the way through my first block of phone numbers.  A lot of busy signals for some reason -- I'm guessing some kind of phone circuitry or call volume issue since they were all to the same phone exchange.

I left a few messages reminding people about the primary today and had several actual conversations with PA voters.

The first call of note started something like this:

Me:  "Hello, is Clinton there?"

PA household:  May I ask who is calling?

Me:  "I am a volunteer calling on behalf of Barack Obama's presidential campaign."

PA household:  "Clinton is in Iraq."

More over the flip, as the bloggers like to say...

At that point, I let her know I was just calling to encourage people to get out and vote in the PA primary.

I didn't get the name of the woman who answered the phone, but it sounded like someone who might have been Clinton's mother.  I had a brief conversation with her and she did report that she had voted for Senator Obama.

I don't remember everything we said, even though it was a short conversation.  I expressed gratitude for Clinton's service, wished her a happy Earth Day and we closed on a pleasant note.  Almost immediately after getting off the phone with her, I started to cry.  "We have to stop this war," I thought as some tears rolled down my face.  The thought of what that mother must be going through with her son over there hit suddenly and hard.  I had started calling just to pitch in and help GOTV from home while my wife is off in PA volunteering with the campaign, but I wasn't expecting the emotional moment.

It hammered home one of the big reasons why what we are doing to elect Barack Obama is so important.  To have the war ended by the only contender who was wise enough to oppose it before it even started.

Clinton is over there, away from his family and friends because George W. Bush and John McCain won't listen to the American people.  About all I can do to try to keep Clinton from harm's way is participate in the election and try to get my chosen candidate elected.  

As if that call wasn't enough, a while later, as I was sitting in front of my computer, my phone rang.  It turned out to be a guy who I had called earlier, but who wasn't there and I had left a message.  He took the time to call me back and told me that, he would love to vote, but that he was in Iraq.  

I don't know if he had some sort of special phone or maybe he was just checking his voicemail and was able to figure out my number due to Vonage or something like that.  Anyway, I was completely unprepared.  He asked a question about voting absentee, but I'm sure it's too late to do that.  After a brief and awkward conversation, the call ended.  

I have been thinking about what I should have said to him and I am still stuck for words.  I'm still mad at myself for telling this person to "stay safe."  As if he has any say in where he goes or what mission falls to himself and the others in his unit.  I don't know why he didn't respond with "hey there guy calling from the comfort of his own home, that's great advice.  Stay safe -- what a good idea, why didn't I think of that?  Hey, by the way, while I'm taking your advice and staying safe, should anyone else over here do the same?"  I guess it was just one of those phrases that gets voiced by part of the autonomic nervous system or something, but I felt like an idiot after getting off the phone.

Of course, I really don't know if either Clinton or the other guy have military jobs that actually put them in harm's way or not but I figure, if you are anywhere in Iraq, that definitely qualifies regardless of what you are doing.  

I don't know that I have a point to make here -- all I can say is that I started feeling reflective after these two conversations and came here to write about it.  

If there is a point to make, let it be this:  to borrow some phrasing from a great American statesman, if there is a child somewhere who is getting a poor education, that matters to me, even if it's not my child.  Likewise, if there are two men in Iraq that I have never met before and they shouldn't be there, that matters to me, even if it's not my war because we are connected.  I am my brother's keeper, I am my Clinton's keeper.

As I post this, there are about 2.5 more hours until the polls close in Pennsylvania.  The polls are open until 8pm and registered voters have the right to vote as long as they are in line by 8pm.

If there is any more vote to get out today, let's go and get it.  

•  Tips for Clinton and others like him

  Come on, Pennsylvania, please, please, pretty please, drive the stake through the heart of Hillary's campaign and help stop this madness.

  by Michael James on Tue Apr 22, 2008 at 02:39:19 PM PDT

•  Obama is in the White House

  and this comment has nothing to do with your diary.

  by Prof Dave on Tue Apr 22, 2008 at 02:42:25 PM PDT

•  Good story

  but the title really isn't fair.  Is the recommended list so important that you have to do a bait and switch?

  by peregrina on Tue Apr 22, 2008 at 02:43:57 PM PDT

  •  Put your title in quotes, maybe.

    Good diary, but make the title point a little clearer.

    by mspicata on Tue Apr 22, 2008 at 02:45:28 PM PDT

    •  Probably should

      use the quotes but since Clinton really is in Iraq it's a truthful title.  I hope it gets folks to read this diary.  It reinforces why we are all so invested in this process.

      by luckylizard on Tue Apr 22, 2008 at 02:49:46 PM PDT

  •  asdf

    I'm pretty much a newbie when it comes to writing diaries.  

    Point taken and I did update the title, but I figured the "fair warning" in italics right at the very beginning was good enough.

    by Michael James on Tue Apr 22, 2008 at 02:55:15 PM PDT

•  It always amazes me that Bush does not send ...

  ... any of his own family to fight, but he has no qualms about sending guys like Clinton three, four or five times. After seven years of the Mega Creep, I still can't wrap my mind around the unfairness of that.

  by highfive on Tue Apr 22, 2008 at 02:47:25 PM PDT

•  stop crying

  Will you stop crying if these guys who are currently in Iraq are sent over to Afghanistan instead per Obama's promise to fight that "smart" war with more troops? A vote for Obama isn't a vote against the war, it's just a vote against one theater in the war. I'm sure that soldier's mother will feel a lot better knowing her son is still risking his life and committing acts that will haunt him for years, but in a smarter way.

  by Marcion on Tue Apr 22, 2008 at 02:51:47 PM PDT

  •  Yes, the focus should be on Afghanistan

    First, with respect to your question, I'm not sure I understand where you are coming from.  Are you suggesting that we keep fighting in the same way we have been doing it to date?  

    I never claimed anywhere that Obama was going to end the war as a whole but I do agree with Barack Obama's assessment that we should get out of Iraq and finish the job in Afghanistan.

    If Iraq is the wrong battlefield, then, yes, I will feel better knowing that lives are not being risked there, even if it does mean that they will end up getting risked on the correct battlefield.

    I started actively supporing Obama after his "The War We Need to Win" speech which, if you haven't seen it or read it, I encourage you to check out:

    http://www.barackobama.com/...

    ...It is time to turn the page. It is time to write a new chapter in our response to 9/11.

    Just because the President misrepresents our enemies does not mean we do not have them. The terrorists are at war with us. The threat is from violent extremists who are a small minority of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims, but the threat is real. They distort Islam. They kill man, woman and child; Christian and Hindu, Jew and Muslim. They seek to create a repressive caliphate. To defeat this enemy, we must understand who we are fighting against, and what we are fighting for.

    The President would have us believe that every bomb in Baghdad is part of al Qaeda's war against us, not an Iraqi civil war. He elevates al Qaeda in Iraq -- which didn't exist before our invasion -- and overlooks the people who hit us on 9/11, who are training new recruits in Pakistan. He lumps together groups with very different goals: al Qaeda and Iran, Shiite militias and Sunni insurgents. He confuses our mission.

    And worse -- he is fighting the war the terrorists want us to fight. Bin Ladin and his allies know they cannot defeat us on the field of battle or in a genuine battle of ideas. But they can provoke the reaction we've seen in Iraq: a misguided invasion of a Muslim country that sparks new insurgencies, ties down our military, busts our budgets, increases the pool of terrorist recruits, alienates America, gives democracy a bad name, and prompts the American people to question our engagement in the world.

    By refusing to end the war in Iraq, President Bush is giving the terrorists what they really want, and what the Congress voted to give them in 2002: a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences.

    It is time to turn the page. When I am President, we will wage the war that has to be won, with a comprehensive strategy with five elements: getting out of Iraq and on to the right battlefield in Afghanistan and Pakistan; developing the capabilities and partnerships we need to take out the terrorists and the world's most deadly weapons; engaging the world to dry up support for terror and extremism; restoring our values; and securing a more resilient homeland...

    by Michael James on Tue Apr 22, 2008 at 03:23:27 PM PDT

    •  my point is

      Will be any less tragic for the soldier's mother when her son dies in Afghanistan rather than Iraq? Why should we expand one failed occupation while giving up on another, it's absurd. We could stay i Afghangstan 100 years and still not eradicate Muslim radicalism or stabilize the situation in Pakistan, which is the real base of al Qaeda right now and which has to be solved internally. I am against all stupid wars of American aggression, not just the ones that are unpopular, and the Democratic Party is not giving me the option of voting for an anti war candidate.  Thereofre, it is inappropriate for diaries like yours to play on people's heartstrings regarding the losses in Iraq, the tragedy of our soldiers there and their loves ones here, while advocating an expansion of the war in another theater, where these same soldiers will suffer in the exact same way, but with your full approval.  

      by Marcion on Tue Apr 22, 2008 at 04:19:26 PM PDT

      •  Thanks for clarifying

        The moment honestly did affect me, so I posted something.  My apologies if you felt it was inappropriate, but if you don't believe we should be in Afghanistan at all, we don't seem to have much common ground on that issue.

        One can debate whether Afghanistan is a stupid war or not.  Personally, I don't think it was wrong to go after Bin Laden there and that effort suffered severely due to gearing up for Iraq.

        Obama is not all about just pouring more troops in there and bombing everything he can.  Part of that "war we need to win" speech touches on how we need to do a lot more than just use our military:

        http://www.barackobama.com/...

        ...We know where extremists thrive. In conflict zones that are incubators of resentment and anarchy. In weak states that cannot control their borders or territory, or meet the basic needs of their people. From Africa to central Asia to the Pacific Rim -- nearly 60 countries stand on the brink of conflict or collapse. The extremists encourage the exploitation of these hopeless places on their hate-filled websites.

        And we know what the extremists say about us. America is just an occupying Army in Muslim lands, the shadow of a shrouded figure standing on a box at Abu Ghraib, the power behind the throne of a repressive leader. They say we are at war with Islam. That is the whispered line of the extremist who has nothing to offer in this battle of ideas but blame -- blame America, blame progress, blame Jews. And often he offers something along with the hate. A sense of empowerment. Maybe an education at a madrasa, some charity for your family, some basic services in the neighborhood. And then: a mission and a gun.

        We know we are not who they say we are. America is at war with terrorists who killed on our soil. We are not at war with Islam. America is a compassionate nation that wants a better future for all people. The vast majority of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims have no use for bin Ladin or his bankrupt ideas. But too often since 9/11, the extremists have defined us, not the other way around.

        When I am President, that will change. We will author our own story.

        We do need to stand for democracy. And I will. But democracy is about more than a ballot box. America must show -- through deeds as well as words -- that we stand with those who seek a better life. That child looking up at the helicopter must see America and feel hope...

        by Michael James on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 08:56:16 AM PDT

•  I got

  an awesome block of 215 numbers in a seemingly African American neighborhood today.  Everyone I got to talk to had already voted and was all fired up.  I left a lot of messages and got a ton of busy signals.

  I keep telling myself "Clinton by 8" so that I won't be too disappointed tonight.  I so want this to be over NOW!

  by doctorgirl on Tue Apr 22, 2008 at 02:55:57 PM PDT