call and response - barack obama

wow, it has been 15 months since my last post. i have been considering jump-starting my blog again, and given that the majority of my non-work time revolves around politics these days, now is as good as any. so i expect the majority of my posts to be politically oriented.

so, i will come right out and say it: i have been bitten by the obama phenomenon. early on in this presidential race, i found myself undecided, with aspects about edwards, kucinich, and even ron paul that i found interesting. i have long had strong reservations about hillary clinton, and was very disappointed to see afscme international endorse her candidacy so early back in october 2007 (i will write more about this disaster in a future post). i attended a rally for obama in september 2007 with a large group of afscme members all in our green shirts, and he certainly got our attention. so many of his points rang true to me, but i had not done my homework yet. then in november i read an article about how obama--at 46 years old--is largely a product of the views and realities of generation x (my forgotten, largely invisible generation). i then researched his policy positions and his background, and downloaded "the audacity of hope" audio book from our kick-ass county library, and i was completely and totally hooked.

and now a couple months later, i find myself increasingly involved in the obama campaign. i don't know how to describe it, other than that his campaign has made the "call" and i am "responding". a week ago i received a broadcast email from the obama campaign, with an invitation to come down to texas to volunteer before the march 4 texas vote. and yesterday i booked my flight to houston on 2/29 to stay for the weekend in beaumont, tx and volunteer around the clock for 72 hours. we will be reaching out to latino voters, and i have never been more thankful for my ability to speak spanish.

there have been several times in my adult life when a pivotal event was about to happen, and i knew that i needed to be there. the seattle anti-wto protests in 1999 (which got me to move out to portland from colorado), the anti-wto biotech ministerial in sacramento in 2003, the anti-wto protests in cancun in 2003, the anti-ftaa protests in miami in 2003, the labor delegation to venezuela and colombia in 2006, and others... at all of these, i made an instant decision to "show up", and ended up playing a key role. and my trip this weekend to texas feels like one of those times. next weekend, there is no place on the planet and no activity that feels more important to me than to be helping the obama campaign make history. i am not "running away with the circus", and will be back to work on tuesday, march 4th, but like the other events above, i expect that part of me will be changed forever.