I was taking and shower and heading out the door just as the TV was announcing that McCain wanted to suspend his campaign and postpone the debate. Some may not believe in fate but it is a funny thing in life.
I live a hard situation now at 24 years, guardian to my sisters kids who is doing well in drug rehab. Last night when I got home from work for several reasons I had insomnia, couldn't fall asleep until 6am.
Before I go into details, I must say now is the time for us to work even harder. Today is the turning point and we have about 40 days to go. Americans are more swayed then ever now to vote for Obama and we must make sure he wins in November now. Go to www.barackobama.com and find your HQ... You may feel nervous for the first... 5 minutes. I live in southern california but work mostly with conservatives so it is a liberating feeling to speak your mind about this election with people who think the same way as you in person. Or you can try it from home.
There are so many things to get distracted on. Being excited about our good news lately, gloating in diaries and seeing which pundit can out counter talk each other on TV even with our good news. None of that will matter or help us finish this last leg of the race. We need people to canvass, and we need people to call. If you are excited for Barack Obama winning then I just can't stress the sense of urgency in such good lime light now. As casual sideline watchers we have to invest more effort now at this point.
So again as I said earlier, as I was walking out my door this morning we were just at the point where it was breaking that McCain wanted to postpone the debate. We have heard his reasons but the main reason has seemed that this $700 billion dollar scam was so complicated for Bush/Rove/Paulson that it was impossible to pull off.... A war with Iraq, its an easy ideology culture war to convince people on. Yet when you start talking about money - something that movement conservatives philosophy has no practical bearing in working in the inevitable global economy merger - It was doomed the day early in Bush's second term in office him and his Wall Street buddies imagined this scheme for this October Suprise. McCain honestly needs time to think of a new plan now. They can't sell this bogus idea to us... Bush will try this evening but he better have some convincing words for more then just his base. When you start talking money that gets everyones astute attention and that was a bad idea when this is an area even Repblican's ploy came out obvious enough for everyone. You know I could be far off but heck... they talk about it on TV now.
This was apparent to me already through the weekend but more-so with the speed of news coming against the McCain campaign starting last night. You would think for an average sideline reader that I have been I would get distracted more.(although I've made 20 calls online during the primary and donated $700) ... No during my insomnia I made the commitment to get up and head to my Obama headquarters.
Where I live I already knew when I walked in the door that our offices are focusing on Nevada. The experiance was just under an hour and a half (i chose when to walk in and out with no pressure) at felt good. I want to own a piece of this change however small. Every bit helps.
I work on the phones with my job so I'm used to talking to people with many different tones and attitudes. I must say, honestly its ALOT more worse at my job with any uninterested person then what Im used to. You don't get cussed out really any call, not disclaiming it can happen. I have yet to get a disgruntled person from being called more then once too.
I took about 30 calls from 4 sheets of paper. You get a script that you can wing off of and you would be suprised About halfway through those calls I got a spanish speaker... I said un momento, asked a staff nearby friendly to just tell them we would call back and marked spanish speaker on the sheet.
My most interesting call though was with a 76 year old Republican woman in Nevada who was undecided... She has a daughter who I imagine is also Republican because I asked her what was her biggest conecern. In a nutshell it was medicaid/medicare for seniors getting a jip from universal healthcare. Mentioning thoughts thaat more people in our already few hospitals would make it worse. I told her I have an 86yr old grandmother that is suffering from abdominal cancer, which is true and that I strongly feel universalizing health would help.
Excited with my first call there an envigorated by McCains news of faltering I politely kept pressing on her concerns. I asked if I wasn't so rude to ask if SSI is a concern for her. She conceeded it was and I mentioned how Bush tried to take it away in 2005 and McCain will definately try again. She told me that since Bush failed then there is no way it would happen.
We talked about the current economic crisis, she said she was in the great depression. Well my grandmother raised me who is 86 so was about 10 years old and has fond memories of the great depression. I shared my grandmothers dinner stories of how her mother would never deny any person who came knocking on the door begging for food, how meager my grandmothers siblings of 13 suffered on a farm. (In hindsight again I think with more practice I could come up with less personal examples but I was not uncomfortable sharing them, it was the first thing that came to mind)
I asked what about Palin? Now for most people with this type of caller in hindsight I imagine this could be a firewall question to ask but I was about to give up after that anyhow and you know what? She was concerned with her! We both agreed she has not been telling us her views enough, albeit her UN appearance yesterday (God I was so unprepared to talk against these movement conservatism radio talking points)
It was after this point with her resisting on all 3 issues that I blame myself in the end for pausing for a few seconds and after a confusing moment we ended the call. She was prepared to talk to me more about her opinion. There are MANY people out there like her and we do not have enough people reaching out to them.
Of course it was right after that it was Barack Obama having his news conference just owning the hell out of McCain. I truly feel that this was the turning point we have been waiting for. I don't take the irony of how my morning went at all lightly. If anything it encourages me to stress the importance more for people who may have been teetering to make more of a stronger first step also like I have.
If anything I feel talking to people help me understand my arguments for favoring Barack Obama even more concretely. I plan to do some more calls at the HQ when I can, maybe set up a weekend canvass, and definately do some more calling from home through Obama's website.
This election isn't about me, its about you! - Barack Obama