The next President of the United States of America, Barack Obama

All I have to say is that Barack Obama has to win the White House. He has to.
Besides thinking of him as just a little bit cute, I've never seen inspiration like he's induced in my lifetime. I watched as much of the Democratic National Convention as I could, and I kept feeling fired up, excited, hopeful. That is because he's a great speaker. A fantastic speaker at that. A speaker so great that I feel he really has moved people to get involved in their government. The Republicans mocked that aspect of him and it made me angry. Fiery angry. If a person, like Barack, who could have had any big time corporate dollar-pulling in job, can go to a poor area in a big city and get people mobilized to help themselves, how is that something to poke fun of? How is people working together to help each other making "more" of government?

I decided I needed to do something as well. I needed to get involved. So I volunteered last night with the Colorado Democrats at the phone bank. I sat in an office with about 10 other volunteers and made phone calls to assess support of the local and national candidates right now. It was disenheartening. But my list was one that had small, rural, Colorado towns on it. Most folks weren't home and many numbers were disconnected. I think I only spoke with about 9 people. When I asked a woman if she knew if she was going to vote for Obama or McCain she replied, "Absolutely NOT Obama." In fact, of the 9 I talked with only 1 said he would vote for Obama. Another said, "If I put them all in a big pile tonight, I'd vote for Sarah Palin." Sarah Palin? Oh man. She scares me more than McCain for sure.

This was also the week of the NRNC (Nasty Republican National Convention.) I had watched Sarah Palin make her big debut just the night before. I thought she was scary, mean, and nit picky. I didn't see any positive energy coming from her. Sure she was composed and she's a little bit cute, but come on dude. She's being investigated for fraud and she's for abstinence only sex-education with a pregnant 17year old. No one wants to touch that one, but doesn't that seem just a little CRAZY?

I left that office feeling depressed. But as I walked out I thought, they WILL win if I give in to that fear that Michelle Obama talks about. The fear that makes people not speak out, or not volunteer for what they believe in. The fear that McCain and Palin will win. The fear that I don't have control of my life as an American. I HATE making phone calls. Who wants to spend an evening calling people and getting not exactly rude replies back, but definitely harried and bothered ones? That's how I feel when people call me asking "just a few questions-it'll only take 30seconds" in the evening. And then I realized, my being in that office was Obama's doing. This is exactly what he talks about. He got me involved and inspired to do something even if it was just making phone calls. That whole thing about grass roots working from bottom to top? Well that was ME. And I was proud of it. I'm going to do it again.

The republicans are wrong. Community service is never something to mock. People who volunteer their time to reach out to other folks? Nothing to laugh about there.