After weeks of canvassing, today I was tasked with politicking local business owners with whom I have a relationship. Lunch took me to Horace Dunn's Barbeque.
Today I stopped in for some great barbeque and to see Horace Dunn, who has a tiny shop in the African-American community of my small town. I took flyers and other info to lay out on Horace's card table in front of the order window, where plenty of other community information was laid out.
I said hello to Horace and to the other patron waiting her order. She asked for flyers to take across the street to the local heritage museum, and I asked her how she was feeling about the national election. I admit I was a little pumped up, having just seen the news footage with early voters across the country lined up in astounding numbers.
Her response to my question surprised me. She was so soft-spoken, so ...hesitant... it seemed, to say anything that might seem hopeful. She shook her head over and over. Finally she said, she'd like to see Obama win, but....
I was so surprised I wondered briefly if she was pro-life or had some other reason to not want Obama to win. She finally said, hesitantly, that she just didn't think it would happen. That people....
Here she just trailed off. I told her that yes, I had heard the awful talk too, but that I'd also heard tables full of old farmers saying they were voting for Obama, no matter what so-and-so down the road from them had to say about it. I told her I'd seen many people who were suffering from this last eight years finally voting their pocketbooks. She looked at me like someone who has got their hopes so many times they dare not hope again.
She didn't believe me when I said, finally, that I really thought he'd make it. She smiled a tiny smile that had so much ....disappointment and longing behind it.
It broke my heart. On my way out the door I finally mentioned the news showing long long lines of early voters in Atlanta. Horace chimed in and said he'd seen it too, and that it was fantastic.
For just an instant, I saw a look of wonder and hope finally shine out of her. "Really?" she said.
Yes, really, I said.
For all of us, all of us from the woman in Dunn's barbeque, to old Gore and Kerry staffers still not over the wounds of 2000 and 2004, to the everyday people across this country who have waited and waited for their chance. For all of us who have been so hesitant to believe that this time... this time.
It will be different.
Work your asses off.
GOTV and keep the faith.