Some of you may have noticed that I haven't been commenting or posting
anything for a while now. The reason is that I've decided to spend the
last month of the election in Missouri volunteering full-time for the
Obama campaign. It's a sacrifice I'm willing and happy to make.
Missouri is on the point of tipping blue, and I want to see that it
actually DOES go blue for Obama on election day. There's no reason that
it can't.



About three weeks ago, I moved from Vermont to Washington state, and
more specifically, the Seattle area. Both states are hardcore for
Obama, so my services were practically unneeded. Missouri, on the other
hand, needs all the help it can get. So last Friday, with the help of a
friend of mine from school, I hopped on a Greyhound and traveled 48
hours to get here. I arrived at 4:00 in the morning, and promptly got
up at 8:30 later that morning and got right to work. Since then, I've
been working non-stop, phone banking and door-to-door canvassing,
including a straight seven hours of door-to-door yesterday.



I have to say, it's a difficult job. It's also a stressful and
frustrating job at times. But it's more rewarding than I can possibly
explain. Yes, we're in some hardcore Republican turf here in the
southwest of the state. But sometimes, and in increasing numbers, there
are people that throw themselves out there in support of Obama. A
couple of stories from just the past couple of days...



I was phone banking, and I got a guy who told me he was a
lifelong Democrat, and his wife was voting for Obama. But he said,
though he dislikes McCain intensely, and he loves the things Obama
says, he wasn't sure if he could bring himself to vote for Obama. Why?
Because he's black. This man seemed a little ashamed of the way he
felt, but he said, being and older man and having grown up in the
south, that he had certain prejudices, and he just couldn't help but
feel that way. Yet I talked to him. "Yes, I understand the way you
feel," I said. Sympathy and understanding go a long way. And
eventually, he came through and told me, "You know, I think I will be
voting for Obama. You can put me down for that. But don't tell nobody!"
His own prejudices were eclipsed by his concern for the country, and
for the American people.



Yesterday, when I was out canvassing, a kid of maybe ten
years old called out to me and said, "Hey! Who're you?" As soon as I
told him I was with the Obama campaign, he went to get his dad, whom he
said was an undecided voter. Though his dad refused to talk to me, the
kid was enthusiastic just to be able to talk to me. I asked him, "If
you could vote, who would you vote for?" to which he immediately
responded, "Obama!" When I asked why, he said, "I think the country is
ready to have a black President." -- A 10-year-old kid. It puts a real
smile on your face.



On my first day of canvassing, I was just walking down a
normal suburban street, when a red car started slowly following me. I
saw inside that there were two guys and a girl, and the two guys were
total rednecks. I don't mean this in a prejudicial way. I went to high
school in rural VT/NH. Still, in Missouri, I was a little suspicious
and weirded out. Why would they be following me? They stopped their
car, and the two guys got out, and asked, "Are you one of them guys
registering people to vote?" I told them I was out canvassing for
Barack Obama, and they immediately started inquiring how they could get
registered to vote in order to vote for Obama. I admit, I was
surprised. Even me, I need to stop "judging a book by its cover".
Outward appearances just aren't reprisentative of inward feelings.



Although these are a couple of small instances in a few short days,
they show, for me, how hungry so many people are for change. People are
putting their prejudices aside, and reaching out to others in order to
get involved. People are seeing the way that our country's economy is
crumbling around us, and they want solutions. I can't stress enough
that this all took place in the same county where, on my first day of
canvassing, an old man told me, "I ain't votin' for no black man".
Racism is quite apparent here. Yet the climate is shifting. Change is
in the air.



I will continue to be working every day up through the election on
November 4th. On the ground, you can feel the difference being made
every day, with every phone call and every door knocked on. I've said
before, "It's the ground game people!" Never before has that rung so
true for me. Never before have I felt so excited and so enthusiastic
for the future. Never before have I felt so strongly that I'm directly
a part of shaping that future. Because I am. And so are you. We all
our. This is our time. Let's not let it slip away.Yes. We. Can!

Cross-posted over at DagBlog.