We've all come so far and have so much to be proud off. But we can't stop. We aren't "there" yet. Please join my on a rumination about where we are and where we are going with the Obama presidency.
Past: I'll start with last Sunday. That's when my neighbor Sabrina gamely agreed that if there were long lines at the polling location in our precinct, it would be important for those folks to not get discouraged. We made a plan to bring food, snacks and encouragement to all those potential Obama voters.
Election day.Sabrina arrived at my house at about 530 pm Pacific Time which was perfect. Here's why: with nothing else better to do, and with the East coast polls closing I was torturing myself with poll results, flicking from one electoral vote map to another,hitting the refresh button so hard and so often my computer started to wince. But like I said, Sabrina arrived at my house just before I went crazy with impatience. We loaded up bottles of water and individually packaged snacks into a wheeled basket and set off.
When we arrived (we walked, it took about 20 minutes, gabbing and laughing all the way there)there was NO Line! No LINE!! That meant no tired discouraged voters to take care of! One of the poll workers asked if he could have one of the snacks--then it dawned on us. The poll workers had been there since at least 6am. They had been talking and explaining the process patiently to voters all day. They were in as much need of snacks, hydration and encouragement as anyone else. We gave each of the poll workers the water and snacks. They were so appreciative they all stopped what they were doing and applauded us! It was so touching and lovely. I hope I never forget those moments as long as I live. I bring this up because at no other point on any other election day prior to this one was I even thinking about bringing food and water to anybody. It was the Obama campaign and Daily Kos bloggers who opened my eyes to the necessity of taking care of the the whole chain of events, from GOTV all the way to keeping tired voters in line and supporting them in any way possible. Including but not limited to water and snacks. This is new for me!
Present: I'm basking in the good news. Exhausted and happy.What a collosal huge and amazing group project. Damn, we're good!
Future: Robert Reich on the radio this morning. The tone: to accomplish as much as we possibly can, we need to continue to help and support Barack. Accoring to Reich, if the goal is to snatch our democracy back from the jaws of corporations and lobbyists we need to continue to use the Obama network to suupport Barack, but I didn't hear him give any specific examples. But I'm very intrigued by the prospect. I would like to encourage more people to be thinking about this, in addition to me. What ways can we use our network to help Obama lead us in accomplishing our agenda items? What might this look like? Can we use our network to partner with our new and improved Congress?