I'm really glad Barack Obama won the Caucus in Iowa. And I'm officially endorsing him as my presidential hopeful right here and now. I've felt somewhat torn between Obama, Clinton, and Edwards. But in the end, we voters are going to have to pick one to vote for, and I'm going to vote for Obama. I haven't read his books yet and I haven't even followed his campaign extremely closely although in a way I am part of his campaign. Since late October, I've been getting several e-mails a week from the Obama Campaign, including, in fact, a message just this morning from his dear wife Michelle. See, they want my money. I've given $15 and they want more. I gave $15 back in Oct. in order to attend the rally held at NC Central's campus on Nov. 1, 2007. It was energizing and cool to see Obama's humor, confidence, grace, style, charm, and sincerity in person. For some pictures of that event and some quotes from Obama's speech click here.
The rally was fun although poorly organized, I thought. Around 4,000 attended and maybe 1/3 of those got to sit down on the bleachers in a stadium that could have seated 3 times that many. I met two of my Social Work classmates there and they arrived early enough to get seats. I wouldn't have minded standing to hear Obama speak (he only spoke for about 15 minutes) but I didn't really enjoy standing as a sardine for the 45 minutes or so waiting for him to come on. That's when the fighter in me came out. I looked at my classmates as I spoke to them on my cell phone and I asked them if there was room for me to sit with them on the bleachers. They said there was but that security wouldn't let me through. I looked over at the tall man in red letting some people in while saying no to others, in an unorganized, haphazard way, and I pointedly told my friends, "I'll be sitting with you soon. Watch this." Three minutes later I was sitting between G and D while they scratched their heads and called me a rebel. Campaign posters for change were being passed out like candy at a parade as we all clamored to grab one. G, D, and I each eventually scored a poster to hold up and wave but an older woman in front of me didn't. I gave her mine. G and D looked shocked. I told them she looked like she wanted it more than I did. G said that was very social worker of me.
I stuck out in that seated crowd as the majority were black, including G and D. Not only am I not black, I'm very, very white. D (who herself usually gets mistaken for a Latina) looked at me, then looked at G and said about me with a chuckle, "She definitely couldn't pass," meaning I couldn't pass for being black. We'd been learning in class about African American social work pioneers in the early 1900s who accomplished what they did in large part to their unsuppressable tenacity for change, but also because many of them could pass for being white. A black president of the United States of America? A woman president of the United States of America? What an amazing time for our country if either of these unthinkables are elected.
I'm not voting for Obama because he's black and if it comes down to it, I wouldn't vote for Clinton because she's a woman. I agree with and believe in the things Obama's been talking about. (Admittedly, most of the ideas are the same ones Clinton and Edwards are talking about too). But of the three, Obama strikes me as being the least crushed if he didn't win the Democratic nomination or the US Presidency. This is precisely why he's getting my vote.
The rally was fun although poorly organized, I thought. Around 4,000 attended and maybe 1/3 of those got to sit down on the bleachers in a stadium that could have seated 3 times that many. I met two of my Social Work classmates there and they arrived early enough to get seats. I wouldn't have minded standing to hear Obama speak (he only spoke for about 15 minutes) but I didn't really enjoy standing as a sardine for the 45 minutes or so waiting for him to come on. That's when the fighter in me came out. I looked at my classmates as I spoke to them on my cell phone and I asked them if there was room for me to sit with them on the bleachers. They said there was but that security wouldn't let me through. I looked over at the tall man in red letting some people in while saying no to others, in an unorganized, haphazard way, and I pointedly told my friends, "I'll be sitting with you soon. Watch this." Three minutes later I was sitting between G and D while they scratched their heads and called me a rebel. Campaign posters for change were being passed out like candy at a parade as we all clamored to grab one. G, D, and I each eventually scored a poster to hold up and wave but an older woman in front of me didn't. I gave her mine. G and D looked shocked. I told them she looked like she wanted it more than I did. G said that was very social worker of me.
I stuck out in that seated crowd as the majority were black, including G and D. Not only am I not black, I'm very, very white. D (who herself usually gets mistaken for a Latina) looked at me, then looked at G and said about me with a chuckle, "She definitely couldn't pass," meaning I couldn't pass for being black. We'd been learning in class about African American social work pioneers in the early 1900s who accomplished what they did in large part to their unsuppressable tenacity for change, but also because many of them could pass for being white. A black president of the United States of America? A woman president of the United States of America? What an amazing time for our country if either of these unthinkables are elected.
I'm not voting for Obama because he's black and if it comes down to it, I wouldn't vote for Clinton because she's a woman. I agree with and believe in the things Obama's been talking about. (Admittedly, most of the ideas are the same ones Clinton and Edwards are talking about too). But of the three, Obama strikes me as being the least crushed if he didn't win the Democratic nomination or the US Presidency. This is precisely why he's getting my vote.
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