On Saturday, I went to the big Obama rally held in Oakland. Obama gave an excellent speech, and the 10,000 people who came left very pumped up. Femlaw had a great diary about the event here, and Frank Russo at California Progress Report covered it as well.
I volunteered to help for the event, which means that I had to show up early and stay a little bit late. I was there for a total of almost six hours, and I was happy to help. What I want to tell you about today is how I got to be there.
Many of you know me because of my posts and work on behalf of my Dad, Jack Carter, who ran for US Senate in Nevada last year. You may also know that Jimmy Carter is my grandfather. While I was growing up, I was always aware of what was going on politically, but I was never involved. I would vote, but that was about it. I had never volunteered for a campaign, never gone to a rally, and never given money to someone running for office.
Until June of 2003.
That year, Barack Obama was beginning his run in a crowded primary for the US Senate in Illinois. In June, when I visited my Mom in Evanston, Illinois, I got a chance to meet him. I was on a break from graduate school, sitting around on a Saturday morning, and my Mom told me that she and my step-Dad were going to a Barack Obama fundraiser and that I should come. They told me who he was on the way to downtown Chicago: he was a state senator; he had spoken out against the Iraq war; he had worked for healthcare for all children; he had worked against the death penalty; he was the first black editor of the Harvard Law Review; he had been a community organizer on the South side; in short, he just seemed like a great guy.
The fundraiser was a relatively low-key event at a condo belonging to a friend of my Mom’s – there were only about 50 people there, and I was only a little underdressed in my jeans. I was by far the youngest person there; many of the guests were white suburban ladies older than my Mom. Obama was as great as we hoped he’d be. He was an impressive and convincing speaker. He was very knowledgeable, but very humble; he and his single staffer listened carefully while those older ladies (political veterans themselves) gave advice about how to handle suburban voters and about the pitfalls of previous candidates. He seemed like he was ambitious, but comfortable. He was someone who really believed that politics could do good. He believed that he was someone who had the power, and therefore, the responsibility to take charge. It was obvious to everyone at that fundraiser that he was going places – even if he didn’t win that first primary, he would some day be in a position to make some changes. I felt like he had showed me his hopes and dreams, and I wanted in on some of the action, too.
Recently, I read this old article in Salon by Scott Turow. In it, he describes Obama this way:
To be young, black and brilliant has always appeared to me to be one of the more extraordinary burdens in American life. Much is offered; even more is expected. You are like a walking Statue of Liberty, holding up the torch 24 hours a day. Yet Barack Obama, who spent his early years coming to terms with his heritage, is in every sense comfortable in his own skin and committed to a political vision far broader than racial categories.
I thought this paragraph really hit the nail on the head. It described him perfectly. Before I left the fundraiser, my Mom was surprised and pleased that I wrote a check to the Obama campaign for $50. It was my first political contribution.
It was at that fundraiser that another friend of my Mom’s asked me if I’d voted in the Moveon.org primary yet. I had to ask what Moveon.org was. She told me that I should sign up to get on their email list and to vote for Howard Dean. I had barely heard his name before. Soon after that, I became a true Deaniac – I hung around at DeanforAmerica.com, reloading the comment board compulsively and checking up on the progress of the fundraising bat. I gave money, joined the Dean Corps and told anyone who would listen that Howard Dean was the best candidate. It was through the Dean site that I found Daily Kos and MyDD. It was my experience with the blogosphere that made me the netroots coordinator and blogger for my Dad’s campaign. That day in June, 2003 really changed my life.
Barack Obama made me realize that my political opinions were important, and that I had a responsibility to participate. The rally in Oakland and the huge crowds that Obama is generating around the country show that, apparently, he has that effect on a lot of people. It’s catching on, and I think it has the potential to really change our country for the better. I'll certainly work my hardest to bring about that change.
We live in an exciting time! We need to make the most of it!
Sarah