I live in the largest city in Oakland County, Michigan. Oakland County is the county that Time Magazine called the new battleground in swing state Michigan. For anybody who thinks we're resting on our laurels now that the McCain campaign claims to be pulling out of Michigan, rest assured that we were up and out canvassing this morning, just like every Saturday morning since the Obama for Michigan Campaign rolled into town.
This morning I canvassed an apartment complex and a small condo complex down the street from a public golf course. At the apartments, most of the residents were younger, in their 20's and 30's. Some were young couples or singles, a couple were single mothers. All of them were enthusiastic Obama supporters who, though they weren't thrilled to come to the door at 10 AM, were thrilled that at least it was a fellow Obama supporter ringing their bell. Everyone cited the economy, healthcare, Iraq and/or education as the main issues they were concerned about. One woman said that taxes are her number one concern. When I assured her that Obama was only planning to raise the tax rate for individuals making $250K or more, she nodded, laughing and said "I know and believe me, I don't have that problem!".
At the condos, I rang the door of one that had a realtor's lockbox hanging on the doorknob. The door was answered by a middle-aged woman with a Russian accent. She turned out to be an enthusiastic Obama supporter who, despite being a U.S. citizen for the past 17 years, had never before voted. She and her husband had both gotten registered last week specifically so that they could vote for Obama. She said that she was on medical leave, struggling with no health insurance, and no offers on their condo that would actually cover what they owed the bank. She told me this with equal parts outrage and fear. "This isn't supposed to happen in America!" she said. "They say healthcare for everybody is wrong, that it's communism, but back in Russia, it made a difference for people!"
I told her that we have all sorts of institutions that people pay for collectively and use individually. I said, "If I have a fire at my home and call the fire department, they won't ask me to have a check ready for them before they connect the hoses."
"Exactly!" she said excitedly. "We need some basic healthcare for everybody! Nothing fancy, just the basics."
I agreed and told her that I'm pretty sure our $10 Billion dollars a month in Iraq could buy some pretty decent healthcare for Americans right here at home.
Last weekend, I approached one home that the voter list told me was the residence of an 81 year old man who, judging by the name was from Poland. Sure enough, an elderly man with a thick accent came to the door. When I identified myself as an Obama volunteer, he almost fell over in his excitement. "Obama! Obama!" he yelled, holding both hands, thumbs up before him. "We've got to get him into the White House!"
He started ticking off the reasons: the economy, America's standing in the world, his Harvard education, his brilliance. He talked for 10 minutes straight practically without taking a breath, telling me how he came to America as an immigrant engineer in the 50's and how he worked his way into the middle class. He talked about his fears that young Americans no longer have those opportunities and how America is a weaker country because of it. He really made my day. In fact, I'm on my way to drop a lawn sign off for him.