Meeting POTUS
Even though I’d been in the presence of Barack Obama three times during my work in the 2008 presidential campaign, I’d never had the opportunity to meet him. So when I got a call last Sunday from Lindsay Siler, the state director of Organizing for America, asking if I’d like to meet the President after his Wednesday town hall in Raleigh, my response in the affirmative was swift. I mean, how do you turn down an offer like that? Well, after you’ve worked your butt off for this guy and you still fundamentally support his agenda and the direction he wants to lead our nation, you don’t.
We managed to round up a ticket for Shonnie to the town hall, and the two of us took off from Asheville for Raleigh on Tuesday night, a four-hour drive that included raging thunderstorms and brilliant displays of lightning. We rolled in to Raleigh and the home of our friends Bob and Kathy Phillips, who we know from our runs and hikes at the Lake Eden Arts Festival each spring and fall. Bob is the executive director of NC Common Cause, so we talked politics for around an hour and got to bed a bit later than intended. Nonetheless, I lay awake for at least an hour, excited about what the next day might bring.
Though the event wasn’t scheduled to begin until 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, I had to be there at 10:00 a.m. and was seated right next to the stage where President Obama would speak and take questions. Shonnie was in the upper bleachers but still had a good view to take lots of photos. I met and chatted with the nine other folks who had been chosen to meet the President as a result of our work during the campaign and afterwards, and we waited eagerly for things to get underway.
President Obama arrived around noon, spoke for 15 minutes or so, then took questions, which he answered astutely and in depth. At the end of the formal part of the event, we were led backstage to await the President. As we stood there, I thought about what I might say to him (“It’s an honor to meet you, Mr. President.” or “I was the oldest field organizer in your campaign, Mr. President. Yes, sir, 66 is the new 65.” or What are you going to do about the Blue Dogs holding up that robust public option?), however, it was a pretty straightforward affair. “Who do we have here?” asked the President as he strode toward us. And we each introduced ourselves and shook his hand. Then he posed for a photo with our small group, bid us farewell and was whisked off to a group of elected officials. I also got an autographed photograph of the President as a lasting memento of this encounter.
It’s possible you might want to know if I’m ever going to wash my hands again. FYI, yes, I am.
Thursday, July 30th, 2009Happy birthday, Woody!
Woody Guthrie, American singer-songwriter and folk musician, was born on July 14, 1912 and died on October 3, 1967. His musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children’s songs, ballads and improvised works.
Woody’s songs call out for justice for the poor and downtrodden, and his influence lives on in his son Arlo, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and numerous other singers and songwriters.
Woody’s best-known song is “This Land Is Your Land.” Below is a video of this song and below that are the lyrics.
This Land is Your Land
This land is your land This land is my land
From California to the New York island;
From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and Me.
As I was walking that ribbon of highway,
I saw above me that endless skyway:
I saw below me that golden valley:
This land was made for you and me.
I’ve roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts;
And all around me a voice was sounding:
This land was made for you and me.
When the sun came shining, and I was strolling,
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling,
As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting:
This land was made for you and me.
As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said “No Trespassing.”
But on the other side it didn’t say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.
In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?
Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.
We keep getting our wakeup calls. Why don’t we seem to be waking up?
Our economy has taken a precipitous nose dive; jobs continue to disappear and foreclosures are on the rise. We persist in dumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as the temperature of our planet continues to rise. The swine flu virus has made its way around the world, and public health officials are concerned about what might happen this autumn. Nearly one billion people are hungry and the same number lack access to potable water. Eight wars are underway having already claimed as many as 2,000,000 lives, and 15 smaller scale armed conflicts are in progress.
It would be easy to pin the blame on government officials, banking tycoons, business magnates, public relations moguls, etc. for the current state of affairs in our nation and around the world. And to be sure, they bear some of the responsibility.
But didn’t we have an inkling that we could not go on consuming like there was no tomorrow, that self-indulgence and lust for the next new thing was a fool’s game? Didn’t we understand that the financial Ponzi scheme based on a global economy that must grow forever could not be sustained?
Didn’t we understand that recycling and switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs were not by themselves sufficient to keep the polar ice cap from melting?
Didn’t we comprehend that factory feed lots, where animals headed for our dinner tables are confined in nightmarish conditions, would eventually poison our environment as well as our bodies and possibly provide a breeding ground for virulent new viruses?
Didn’t we have the foresight to know that diverting grain to livestock feed lots and to power our automobiles would be shortchanging those who might need it to subsist on?
Didn’t we grasp that initiating a war in which up to 1,000,000 innocent Iraqi men, women and children were slaughtered, torturing “enemy combatants” in violation of U.S. and international law and invading Afghanistan, a country that neither the British Empire nor the USSR could conquer, would not bring the security we say we so desire?
These and other calls to awaken from our somnolence and inaction have been plentiful and painful. And for a few days or a few weeks, perhaps we really consider changing the way we live. But after the headlines of these events fade away, most of us simply go back to doing what we were doing previously. And, thus, we continue to get the same results we’ve been getting, sinking deeper and deeper into crises.
But consider this: Yes, we had a big role in creating our current situation. And it follows that if we did it, we can damn well undo it. For when we, individually and as a people, acknowledge our role in the existing state of affairs and face up to reality, the opportunity for change exists.
We don’t have to wait for the politicians, corporate bosses, lobbyists, financial wizards or other so-called leaders. In fact, as Bucky Fuller said, “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” We can begin right here, right now to create the new model we wish to see.
There’s likely something you’ve been thinking of doing to make a difference. How about moving it from thought to action? How about now?
P.S. Shonnie and I have taken a couple of actions of this nature during the past couple of months, including unplugging from cable TV and creating a community garden where we live (Shonnie is really responsible for the garden.). And we’re preparing to move our bank accounts to a local bank.
Saturday, July 11th, 2009I’m staying in Asheville
After my time working as a field organizer for the Obama campaign in southern Ohio during the months prior to the general election, I still feel a deep and abiding connection with many of the courageous and committed folks with whom I worked there. There is a part of me that would like to heed the call to return and continue the effort we began about this time last summer.
Nonetheless, I have declined an offer to go to work for Al Gore’s Repower America in that region. And I have also removed myself from consideration for a position in Ohio with Organizing for America, the group that continues to grow and sustain the grassroots movement that grew up around Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.
While these were challenging decisions, after 12 years Shonnie and I have put down roots in Asheville; this is our home. So I am pursuing employment with both of these worthy organizations here in western North Carolina and am exploring other opportunities as they arise.
My path at this juncture is not clear, but I know this: I am here to be of service and to help create a more compassionate, just and sustainable world. And at age 66, I have a powerful sense that my best years are in front of me.
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
