I woke up at 5 AM just north of Palm Beach County. I drove two and a half hours, in the dark mostly, to Orlando. I navigated downtown and found the site where, as promised, a couple dozen people met to volunteer. Except that they didn't meet to volunteer, as I was told, they actually met to vote. Since I'm not an Orange County resident and I voted weeks ago via absentee ballot anyhow, I was superfluous. It turned out that volunteers were actually meeting at 1, at the site of last night's rally.
No matter. The organizer that led the little march told me where the Democratic HQ was, and said to head over if I wanted. I drove over there, and met up with another organizer, who was getting together people to drive vans from the rally site to Early-Voting locations. Now we were getting somewhere!
After we established that this wasn't my first rodeo, I had a van, and a partner, and was ready to roll. As we were packing up, Nilanj, the leader of our "Yes We Van" team got a phone call from somewhere up the food chain. He let us know that they had secured VIP seating for us, the "yellow tickets" that get you in the first few rows, or somewhere else very close. Exactly the kind of rope-line, in-your-face seating I was hoping for!
The next 6 hours were a blur. We had a tough job, dealing with the escalating security, and a crowd who, while amped up and enthusiastic to see Barack, was not willing to give up their place in line to go vote for him. We begged, we pleaded, we cajoled. For those who wouldn't leave, we explained where they could early vote in coming days, and why it's important. We worked out countless deals, mediated disputes about squatters' rights in line, and gave out our cell phone numbers to dozens of strangers. I bought a water on a break at a 7-11, and got the guy behind the counter in the van to go vote. We gave out stickers, fielded questions from people about all kinds of stuff we had no answers for, and when I wasn't driving the van through the Orlando streets like a maniac, I was at a dead run at the rally site trying to find a volunteer to answer a person's question so I could possibly get them in the van.
Security tightened up through out the day, until it was almost impossible to do our jobs, and after the doors opened no one wanted to go vote, they just wanted to be inside. We switched modes to ferrying people from the off-site parking location to the rally. After a few such trips, it was time to head back to HQ and get down to our deluxe seating. Everyone met upstairs, and we headed out in two of the vans, blasting Will.i.am and excited for the reward all our hard work would bring, the chance to meet the next President of the United States in person, to see him and Hillary on stage explaining his plan to save this great country.
Except that wasn't quite how it worked out. We got there, and after a protracted argument about parking, we finally headed over to the rally. Promptly at 6, Hillary Clinton began speaking. We were still outside. Nilanj was yelling into his iPhone to some unknown person. Something was amiss. We got up to the site, and listened to the middle of Hillary's speech, which was quite good, but hard to hear because we were so far away, and the helicopters overhead were pretty loud. Nilanj left for a while. Then he came back with another guy, and bad news. We weren't getting in. The tickets he had in his hand needed to be used before the event started, while we were driving the vans to get as many people there as possible. The guy who left the front of the crowd to bring them to us was not allowed back in by Secret Service, and none of us were going to be, either. The helicopter whirred overhead, and we stood there exhausted, straining to see or hear. And that was how we witnessed our next President take the stage.
I never saw Barack Obama yesterday. I could barely see the banner behind where I assume the stage was. The best look I got was from the monitor in the news van we stood 200 feet behind. We stood in the parking lot with all the others who showed up late, who couldn't afford to take the day off, or just happened by, curious. We were so far away there was even a McCain protester right behind us.
And you know what?
I don't care at all. It didn't make one damn bit of difference. I stood there and listened to what I could hear and thought about all the other people out there just like me. All the thousands of volunteers who took yesterday off to kick off early voting in their states, putting in a 16-hour day just like us. I thought about all the other days I've devoted to getting Barack elected, and all the days others have put in as well. I thought about canvasing over the summer in the 100-degree heat in Texas and Georgia and Virginia, and right here in Florida. I thought about the thousands of people who brought their children, and the ones in my van who told them "we're witnessing history today." I thought about phone banking some nights after work for hours, and putting in more of my personal time and money than I ever thought possible. I thought about my van-buddy Sam, a Dentist from Syria who was getting involved in his first ever election, and had more energy than I did about it. I thought about why I made a 300-mile round trip hours before dawn in the first place, and why people like you and I do what we do.
Then I looked around and realized everyone else was thinking the same thing. Everyone was smiling and cheering and it didn't matter where we were sitting because we're all a part of the same Nation. Barack was talking to us just as much as the people in the front row, and talking to you, wherever you are.
Yesterday I got screwed by the Obama Campaign, and it was the best political experience of my life. I stood there in the parking lot behind a dozen different levels of security, just a guy with a dozen other guys and gals who came out to witness a little history.
The Yes We Van Crew, and our Awesome tickets:
Credit where credit's due: Thanks to Aaron, Sam, and Peter, the three guys whose names I actually remember. (Like I said, there was not a lot of downtime.) Thanks to everyone in that picture, and thanks especially to Nilanj, who I know felt horrible about what happened. No problem, man, and I hope you eventually got some sleep last night.
Folks, we're going to win this election. We're going to win it because of people like you and I. Get out there and do whatever you can. You're not going to get a handshake from Barack Obama in return most days, probably ever, but you are going to get something:
A Better Tomorrow.
Update: To those complaining about the diary title, here's the thing: It's not hyperbole. I and the other 15 or so people in that picture worked our asses off yesterday, and though in retrospect I would have done it anyhow, believe me, when we found out we were gonna be watching from the parking lot, we felt screwed. We were really disappointed. But it wasn't anyone's fault, it was just one of those things. This diary is about the positivity I found in spite of that. If you don't like the title, move along.
Update 2: Wow, thanks. It's my first trip to the rec list, I appreciate it everyone. Keep finding the positive, folks. It's everywhere you look.
I'll take the liberty to pimp for my favorite candidate during my brief stay on the front page:
Please kick in some cash for Joe Garcia in FL-25: http://www.actblue.com/...
Thanks everyone for this great community, and I'm so happy to have found a home online. Yes We Can!
And I share with my friends a couple of beers in the Orlando streets... In the belly of the beast...
-Jenny Lewis, "The Charging Sky"