What I learned by volunteering for Obama in Jefferson County
Gwyn Wahlmann wrote such a wonderful description of her experience as an Obama Volunteer in her letter of November 8th, that I have little to add as a Jefferson County Volunteer. What am I ever going to do with all these binder clips? Will my shredder be able to deal with all the completed walk packets stacked on my computer desk?
What I will remember most about this campaign are the people I met as an Obama supporter and volunteer — from the woman who, upon seeing my bumper sticker in a Carson City, Nevada parking lot, raised her fist into the air, shouting “GO Obama!”, to the woman who did the same on a parking lot in Arnold, five months later.
I appreciate the auto workers who honked at my Toyota on the highway and gave me thumbs up for my sticker; the young man who talked his mother into going canvassing with us the weekend before the election; and the man who told me he wanted to do something to help the campaign at the Joe Biden rally at Fox High School and who followed through by canvassing several neighborhoods the following weekend.
Our office in Arnold had volunteers from Arkansas, Illinois and Tennessee, a local woman home from her job as an aide worker in Tanzania, and a young man from London, who had seen Senator Obama speak in Washington two years before, and wanted to come help us elect him president.
Through it all, our young Field Organizers kept us focused, and impressed us with their commitment, work ethic, their ability to mobilize volunteers decades older than themselves all the while consuming mass quantities of caffeine and sleeping as time (seldom) allowed.
I am most proud that Senator Obama carried Jefferson County — none of us wanted to let the kids down.
Joan C. Barnhart
Imperial
You know what, that sounds like a grass roots effort to get a specific candidate with a populist message elected that will benefit every American, not just the selected few on top….or as GOPtards call it, communism.