Thank You PA Obama volunteers

I want to take a moment and both thank and congratulate the many volunteers who spend time working in Pennsylvania during the last several weeks.  I will attempt to do so by telling a little story.

Around the time of Super Tuesday, and the month that followed leading up to the Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island, and Vermont primaries, I was particularly proud of my role as a voice for change in America.  As Barack racked up victory after victory, I got ahead of myself and became to cocky, thinking that Barack would simply steamroll to victory in Texas and perhaps Ohio, thus knocking Hillary out of the race.  

The weeks before the Ohio/Texas/Rhode Island/Vermont primaries Barack had a misstep.  I believe the media played a critical role in creating this drama, but that is another story (I believe all issues to this point have been media creations - Wright, NAFTA, Bittergate, lapel pins, ?).  But just before the Ohio and Texas primaries, I simply tuned out politics.  Call it overload, call it pessimism, call it what you want, I simply had to get my life back on straight.  Spend a little time in the yard, seeing a couple movies, spending some quality time with people, etc.  I knew that the dynamics of the race were such, that Barack Obama basically had the nomination wrapped up, and only a major clusterbomb could prevent the inevitable from happening.  

So with Ohio and Texas in the rear, Barack moved on and won another (or two) small state primary, and Pennslyvania was upon us.  Clinton, sporting a huge lead (15 - 20%), has held on to win that state by less than 10%.  But her margin of victory was much less than it should have been considering her built in advantages.  And let's face it folks (on both sides of the Clinton/Obama divide), her advantages in this campaign cycle were formidable.

So here we are on the backside of PA.  The media narrative has changed completely.  The talk is basically that Clinton staved elimination for another day.  The newspeople that I hear talk about how she likely can stay in the race now that PA is done, but she will need something dramatic to happen to avoid from going on past North Carolina and Indiana.  Poeple that I know, who have no interest in politics, now know that Hillary can no longer possibly win the nomination, without hurting Democrats chances at winning the White House.  People have begun to believe that Hillary is being selfish by staying in the race. The narrative has changed, this is a fact.  The few Pennslyanian's I heard interviewed said they liked both candidates.  Hillary voters would vote for Barack, and to a lesser degree, vice versa.

So thanks to the volunteers that worked in Pennsylania promoting Barack Obama.  I may have tuned out awaiting the inevitable to happen, but you people helped bring the end much closer.  In two weeks time, the primary season will basically be over.  At that time, I'll again get fired up and work my ass off for candidates in my neck of the woods.  And believe me, having Barack on the ticket will make that a much easier task than would Hillary.