This is a bit outdated and self-reflective, but indulge me.
As with many of you, the Obama campaign was the first one that I threw myself into. Sure I wore buttons and made donations before, and was glued to the TV on election night, but that was about the extent of it. This campaign was different and I was very invested and involved.
But, as we all know, it's easy to blog all day, make a few phone calls, and feel like you've done a lot. Although I know I did more than that, especially before the primary, I started to feel guilty at not doing more. And then when I did more, I didn't think it made much difference.
I just found out I was wrong.
One small thing I did, I've learned, had ripple effects. I didn't know, and I am just beaming with satisfaction. I'm sure many of you had the same feeling, not knowing if your actions had an impact, reminding yoursleves "one voter at a time"...and then discovering that you made something happen.
A few weeks before the election, I copied some information here about lawyers serving as poll watchers and attempted voter fraud, put it into a letter with an intro about how important this election was to me, and emailed it to every lawyer or spouse of lawyer in my address book. (I think I even posted it as a diary here, hoping others would copy and send.) It's not like me to be particularly open with my opinions or feelings, and I almost immediately regretted putting myself out there like that.
And that regret got worse with the response. Of silence. And more silence.
Then one reply trickled in "You already know I'm doing that, but thanks."
Then another, not as positive. Turns out my husband's cousin didn't actually give up his neocon ways when he and his neocon wife divorced and he married a radical liberal, and we got into a heated battle about "your guy" and which side perpetuates fraud more. That was fun.
And then more silence and I just shrugged, a bit embarassed and disheartened.
But since then, I've learned more. It turned out one friend, who will never ever ever acknowledge I know more than she or am better informed, became a poll watcher too. When we met for a beer election night to watch the returns, it turns out this was her first time. She won't admit that my email made a difference, but I'd be shocked if that's not what motivated her, since she had been a staunch Hilary supporter for a long time.
Then I heard about someone who had forwarded my email, and that recipient had volunteered.
And over the holidays, my proudest moment. One of my dad's cousins in a prominent DC attorney, and worked for many years at a fairly senior level in the government. He's been cynical about the experience for years, so I put him on the list on a whim thinking he would scoff at me or just delete.
Well, it turns out that dad's cousin got my email, decided to do something about it, volunteered, and because of his vast legal experience was assigned to the central Boiler Room of his area, fielding calls from poll watchers and spending the day magnifying his impact and making a difference. He told my parents that he would never have done it without my email and that he felt really good that in several instances it was directly because of his efforts that someone's vote counted.
How great do I feel now?
It's also given me confidence that something else I did, during the primaries, might also have made a difference. I knew that some Jewish organizations and members were receiving anti-Obama mail, so I decided it. At vast expense and cost, I compiled 10 pages of quotes from Jewish leaders, newspapers and citizens about why they support Obama, then tracked down work addresses of 500 Jews (through synagogue and organization website links) and, with a cover letter, snail-mailed the document to Jews in North Carolina and Indiana (the upcoming primaries) I sent the letter anonymously with no return address, so I will never know the impact (although I did google it for a while after).
But today, I believe that someone read my document and either changed their own mind, or used it to change someone else's.
It's the start of a new year and a new administration. And we all, however much or little we did, made that happen.