Obamanos
Tonight I left work a little early and went to the county Democratic headquarters to help Yara get volunteers on buses bound for New Mexico and Missouri to campaign for Obama. I arrived around 6pm on a Friday night, Halloween, and there were at least 40 people in the office, most making calls on behalf of Obama. I’ve been to that office five times now and every time it is packed with people working their asses off. Every kind of person, young, old, hip, slightly-crazy, all colors and sizes. It’s amazing, inspiring and humbling. I worked about four hours tonight and then left to pick up bphenix from the airport since Yara couldn’t leave the scene yet. We sent three buses off, filled to the gills with enthusiastic people willing to ride 16 hours in a bus with strangers and spend their weekend, their vacation days, to block-walk to get Obama elected.
While I don’t subscribe to the Obama cult of personality, (he is, after all, a politician, an incredibly savvy one) I am so hopeful that we may finally have someone at the head of our government who sees more of the big picture, of the real threats and opportunities before us. Someone who understands that every barrel of oil we buy diminishes our national security, and every barrel of oil we burn harms our planet. Someone who gets that spending money now on education will save us billions in social welfare and prison costs. Someone who groks that investing in research and new technologies yields long-term benefits for our economy and for every person participating in it. Oh, I am daring to hope. I am. I yield my cynicism for a short time.
Let it be Wednesday. Let this interminable election be over.