I've been a part of this community of DailyKos for a little over a year. I joined because I was interested in the 2008 Election, and politics in general. As the campaign went on, I swayed between candidates Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, and John Edwards.
Their stances on the issues were close to what I was concerned about, but I settled on Obama because of his consiliatory approach (which was in line with my personality and style), his new approach to politics, and the way he pursued Howard Dean's 50-State Strategy (and improved on it immensely, in ways I could never imagine).
I'm a serial lurker. I've read some great diaries on politics, the environment, the sciences, and personal antedotal stories by people from all walks of life. I made comments of all types, funny, angry, happy, sad--all range of emotions. I write what I think, stream of conscious type thoughts. I was never inspired to share a story of mine until last night, when I met a few random people at my usual neighborhood bar in downtown Orlando. So, this is my first (and maybe only) foray into writing a diary.
Some more background on me...I'm a 31 year old African American man, a second generation son of immigrants. My family's the old school hardline Catholic conservative type, and I was the progressive, bohemian, atheist, hedonistic one out of the whole lot. Black sheep, that was me...a scoundrel, even. I never discussed much politics with my family, so I tried amongst friends.
My friends are from all walks of life, most of them silent on their political leanings. I found out my roommate (personality-wise, she's likely a right-leaning Indy) was rather apathetic about politics and the power of people coming together to make a difference, as were a lot of my other friends. Surprisingly, a lot of them were Independents or Republicans...but never told me directly because of our friendships. I've been pretty vocal about my political activitism recently, but it was never something I could discuss amongst my friends anymore. So I stopped, which was disappointing.
So, back to last night at the bar. My friends and I did our usual thing, playing pool, playing with the video game machine at the bar (affectionately known in our circle as the 'Crack Box'), and drank the worries of the day away. We also talked about nearly everything, save politics.
A pair of white women were sitting next to me. They were regulars who I never spoke to before. I usually didn't eavesdrop of folks conversations, but I had to when I heard these two words: The Speech (aka 'A More Perfect Union'). Upon hearing that, my ears sprung up, and I listened some more. One of the women was talking about how she, in her 37 years of life, had never heard anything that powerful in her lifetime. She wondered aloud with her friend if there was anyway that it could have made a difference. And that's when I decided to jump into the conversation, to see what I could figure out. I wanted to get a white perspective on how The Speech affected their view of race relations.
I introduced myself, and we all shared a quick background about ourselves. The 37 year old told me about how she voted for Obama in the Florida primary. Her friend, a 28 year old, didn't vote (she thought the FL delegates wouldn't be seated, so she stayed home). I asked them if the speech made a difference for them. The 37 year old told me that she was pretty worried about Reverend Jeremiah Wright's remarks, but that Obama's speech on race brought her back and inspired her more than ever. She told me that she cried after hearing it, and donated to the Obama campaign for the first time (coincidentally, we have both donated $100 thus far).
For the 28 year old, The Speech was the convincer. The both told me how they talked to their parents and tried to get them to support Obama. The 37 year old told me that her father, a staunch old school Republican, switched parties to vote for him. Her boyfriend, an Indy, switched parties as well.
She told me that The Speech was the first time ever that anyone had the balls to go to the podium and talk about black rage, white rage, and how in the end we should've been raging against the corrupt corporate culture and the unscrupulous politics that held the average American down. She also said that while the struggle against racism would be continue for a long time, that this was at least the start of the first real discussion on race in years...if the populace's attention could be held to it long enough. She said that this is the sort of speech that belonged in textbooks.
Both women then turned their rage upon the recent tactics of Hillary Clinton. I won't go into it too much, but they told me that they were tired of her attempts of assassinating Obama's character. They asked me what I thought about her chances.
I reached back in my mind to the diaries that I've read here, and by analysis from the MSM. I told them that it was of my opinion that basically Obama had the nomination nearly wrapped, and that Clinton's probably trying to poison the well so much that he loses in 2008, so she can come back in 2012 to tell the nation, "See? I told you so! Pick me this time!"
After all of that, we laughed about Tuzla-gate. They asked all sorts of questions on the issues (the ecomony, the war, etc). I answered as best as I could. For the rest, I did one simple thing, told them to go to Obama's website to find out. I also told them to check out DailyKos, for a taste of politics from the ground level, with stories, news, and everything that makes the progressive movement tick.
So, from strangers to friends...over politics and drinks. All because Barack Obama stepped up in quite possibly his campaign's most critical moment to date, and took the issue of race by the horns. These two women listened, and it solidified their support. They were strangers to me, and now we've hopefully become friends because of it.
My other friends? I might have to start working on them sometime soon.