If you're like me, you're sitting at your computer right now, reading various news about the campaign. You root from the sidelines, content with recommending the occasional diary here or logging into the Obama website.
At least you're doing something, right?
But you know what? That's 2004 talk. That's John Kerry talk.
We have the opportunity to elect a Democratic president along with a Democratic Congress. We do -- this includes you. We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity provided by a once-in-a-lifetime candidate. Someone whose campaign -- its message and its operation -- is dependent on us: you and me.
Yes, we get caught up in our own lives. We have an economy that is forcing families to reevaluate what is important to them. Excursions to Disney World and weekends spent eating out are suddenly not as possible as they were just a few years ago. In a battle between luxury and necessity, the former pummeled the latter during the 1990s, but necessity is coming back strong in the last year. Remember all of those speeches by politicians that placed ordinary Americans between prescription drug bills and their groceries? With today's gas prices, those same Americans can't even get to that intersection to choose between the two.
If you're still with me, still waiting for a compelling reason to put off being lazy or scrapping those plans with friends, this is it: this country is dependent on your action, your sacrifice. Merely thinking about the need for you to do something, while using your energy, yields nothing. Campaigning for Barack Obama, furthering his operation, and spreading his message allows for the possibility of one person catching the message and spreading it him- or herself.
Don't want to hear it from me? Listen to the candidate himself:
It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to where we are today, but we have just begun. Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today.
I'm looking at what I can do to help the campaign right now, and then I'll be busy doing that the rest of the afternoon. Please join me. Whatever you choose to do, do it. Now.