2 replies to this topic

[Iam Empathy]

http://www.csmonitor...09s02-coop.html

My wife made me canvas for Obama; here's what I learned

This election is not about major policies. It's about hope.

By Jonathan Curley
from the November 3, 2008 edition

Charlotte, N.C. - There has been a lot of speculation that Barack Obama might win the election due to his better "ground game" and superior campaign organization.

I had the chance to view that organization up close this month when I canvassed for him. I'm not sure I learned much about his chances, but I learned a lot about myself and about this election.

Let me make it clear: I'm pretty conservative. I grew up in the suburbs. I voted for George H.W. Bush twice, and his son once. I was disappointed when Bill Clinton won, and disappointed he couldn't run again.

I encouraged my son to join the military. I was proud of him in Afghanistan, and happy when he came home, and angry when he was recalled because of the invasion of Iraq. I'm white, 55, I live in the South and I'm definitely going to get a bigger tax bill if Obama wins.

I am the dreaded swing voter.

So you can imagine my surprise when my wife suggested we spend a Saturday morning canvassing for Obama. I have never canvassed for any candidate. But I did, of course, what most middle-aged married men do: what I was told.

At the Obama headquarters, we stood in a group to receive our instructions. I wasn't the oldest, but close, and the youngest was maybe in high school. I watched a campaign organizer match up a young black man who looked to be college age with a white guy about my age to canvas together. It should not have been a big thing, but the beauty of the image did not escape me.

Instead of walking the tree-lined streets near our home, my wife and I were instructed to canvass a housing project. A middle-aged white couple with clipboards could not look more out of place in this predominantly black neighborhood.

We knocked on doors and voices from behind carefully locked doors shouted, "Who is it?"

"We're from the Obama campaign," we'd answer. And just like that doors opened and folks with wide smiles came out on the porch to talk.

Grandmothers kept one hand on their grandchildren and made sure they had all the information they needed for their son or daughter to vote for the first time.

Young people came to the door rubbing sleep from their eyes to find out where they could vote early, to make sure their vote got counted.

We knocked on every door we could find and checked off every name on our list. We did our job, but Obama may not have been the one who got the most out of the day's work.

I learned in just those three hours that this election is not about what we think of as the "big things."

It's not about taxes. I'm pretty sure mine are going to go up no matter who is elected.

It's not about foreign policy. I think we'll figure out a way to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan no matter which party controls the White House, mostly because the people who live there don't want us there anymore.

I don't see either of the candidates as having all the answers.

I've learned that this election is about the heart of America. It's about the young people who are losing hope and the old people who have been forgotten. It's about those who have worked all their lives and never fully realized the promise of America, but see that promise for their grandchildren in Barack Obama. The poor see a chance, when they often have few. I saw hope in the eyes and faces in those doorways.

My wife and I went out last weekend to knock on more doors. But this time, not because it was her idea. I don't know what it's going to do for the Obama campaign, but it's doing a lot for me.

Jonathan Curley is a banker. He voted for George H.W. Bush twice and George W. Bush once.

Edited by Iam Empathy, 02 November 2008 - 10:34 PM.

[suspire]

Yeah, I saw this article and enjoyed it.

[luv2increase]

Charlotte, N.C. - There has been a lot of speculation that Barack Obama might win the election due to his better "ground game" and superior campaign organization.

I think it just goes to show how sad it is Obama is not going to win this election by a landslide due to 2 reasons; the amount of money the Obama campaign has spent & people's disapproval of the Republicans & President Bush. Think about it. Obama's campaign is twice as organized, Obama is such a great speaker, Obama has the "hope" factor, the media has been shown through polling to be giving extreme favoritism to Obama compared to McCain, McCain is old, McCain has a woman Governor Palin as a running mate who the media has trampled on, the Democrats amount of "newly" registered voters has far exceeded that of Republicans, etc... Obama has a HUGE advantage over McCain, yet the polls show Obama is only up by a couple points now in the final days, and it's getting even tighter!!! What is going on? Obama should be smothering McCain.

Does anyone have a reason why Obama isn't going to win the election?


I am going to say why I don't think he will.

1) He is inexperienced, and people see that (McCain spent more time as a POW than Obama has been a US Senator)
2) Obama's ties to radicals really has set-in a lot of minds of the voters
3) The Joe the Plumber and Obama's socialistic ideas is really setting in the minds of voters
4) People realize things were extraordinarily good before the Democrats took over Congress in 2006
5) Obama has been seen as a bad guy because he doesn't give a helping hand to his family, yet he says he will give a helping hand to non-relatives
6) Obama wants to drastically decrease the size of our military
7) Obama wants to give up in Iraq when we are making great progress and victory is near (all the soldiers will have died in vain whether or not Iraq was a good idea or not)
8) People don't like the way Obama's body language is (swaggering, head bobbing, pride, conceit, overly important, man with all the answers attitude, overconfidence)
9) The media's horrible portrayal on McCain and Palin has backlashed on them
10) McCain just has way more experience than Obama and fits the typical criteria of a Commander-and-Chief
11) Educated voters see through his nonsense
12) People don't want the government to take care of all their problems
13) People don't want the Democrats to have complete control of the government (Democrats will have an extreme majority in Congress ---> Checks and balances factor)
14) Obama has said many bad things about McCain (ugly campaigning)
15) Obama's race may play a factor (Bradley effect)
16) People don't like the idea of having over half their income taken by the "federal government" alone
17) Now is not the time to experiment with a conceited, inexperienced candidate

Some of those kinda overlap each other, but I think you get the point.

Edited by luv2increase, 03 November 2008 - 12:14 AM.