In the Rough - The Blog of Joel McDonald Jr.

While watching the Super Tuesday primary results roll in courtesy of CNN.com and CSPAN, I realized something. If people, like me, want to see their candidate succeed in gaining a party nomination, they have to be active. Sitting around hoping that a certain candidate will succeed does little to achieve that goal. As Senator Barack Obama has said many times, “everything worthwhile about this country came about because somebody hoped”. I decided on Tuesday, with the margins of the primaries so close, that I needed to elevate my hope of Senator Obama’s success to the level of action. I committed myself to stop waiting for the results to flow across my screen and to go out and do something to influence the results here in Virginia.

My first choice of action: joining hundreds of thousands of individuals and families who have contributed financially to Senator Obama’s campaign. All my life I’ve heard the complaint that campaigns are all about money and those with the most money have the advantage. Well, an advantage they might have. Senator Obama didn’t have millions to put into his campaign. He’s spent his life as a community organizer and civil rights lawyer in addition to serving in the Illinois State Senate and the US Senate. Unlike many politicians, he didn’t take the path to wealth prior to serving the public; he’s always served the public. He began his campaign for president at a significant financial disadvantage. His vow to not take money from lobbyists or political action committees seemed to further limit his chances of succeeding in his campaign. However, people from all across America responded by contributing. An amazing example of this occurred after the closing of the polls on Super Tuesday when Senator Clinton announced that she would be contributing $5 Million of her own money into her campaign. The campaign for Senator Obama quickly organized and encouraged supporters to contribute to at least match her private contribution so that they would not be without the resources to compete. Within 48 hours, individual supporters contributed over $7 Million. Senator Barack Obama’s campaign has been financed by the people of the United States and I am proud to have made my contribution toward his success as the nominee, and then president, of the people.

I also created a profile on BarackObama.com and joined a few local e-mail groups. Immediately, I began receiving e-mails concerning events in my local area and requests for volunteers. I sent in my RSVP for a few events, and planned to volunteer on Saturday, the weekend before Virginia’s primary, at the closest campaign office, in Norfolk. On Friday, I received an e-mail letting me know that Senator Obama was coming to Virginia Beach for a rally on Sunday and that volunteers were needed. I immediately called the volunteer organizer and committed to volunteering at the event and told him I would also be at the campaign office on Saturday.

I didn’t know what to expect when arriving at the campaign office. On television you see well organized offices with people in business dress “working” for the campaign. In reality, the Norfolk headquarters was a stripped down donated office space. No one was wearing a tie, including me. People were working. I mean really working. Some were making signs, some were coming together to go out and canvass neighborhoods, and some were making phone calls. The office was crowded. There weren’t enough chairs for the volunteers, and many found themselves making calls from a spot on the floor. Later I found out that the local organizers were overwhelmed at the turnout of volunteers. Parking and space in the office was a problem. I chose to make phone calls. With almost everyone having a cell phone, phone banking has become a much easier system to set up. Volunteers bring in their phones and chargers, are given a calling list and a basic script, and then they plop down where they can and start making calls. I spent two hours making calls from the campaign office. During that period, the organizers were having a difficult time finding enough scripts and calling lists for everyone who wanted to make calls.

Campaign materials were also of short supply. Signs, buttons, and stickers were no where to be found at the office. I was lucky to have been given a bumper sticker by one of the organizers who told me they were only giving them out to those who were volunteering with the campaign and not those just stopping by for materials. Even then, those were of very short supply.

On Saturday night I attended an event titled “Barcrawl for Barack Obama”. It was organized by a guy who has always voted Republican because he could never find a Democrat he was willing to give his tax dollars to. In Senator Obama, he found that candidate. The event was a great success with around twenty-five people showing up to walk up and down Atlantic Avenue, stopping outside restaurants and bars, passing out fliers, and just showing enthusiastic support for Senator Obama. As you can imagine, this had mixed reactions but I’m happy to report that we received mostly positive feedback from people on the street and from cars honking at they drove by. On the flip-side, Negative reaction included a few singular fingers and the bare behind of a one bar patron. I really had a blast and it was great to meet some wonderful people supporting the campaign.
After the barcrawl, I joined some friends at a karaoke place we frequent. I found myself campaigning there as well, inviting people to Sunday’s rally. At 2 AM, I was passing out fliers to the rally and trying to drum up support from those leaving. Again, mixed reaction along with some confusion as to why I would be standing outside a bar campaigning for Senator Obama. I just felt it was something I needed to do having the opportunity to do it.

While I was at the campaign office, I signed up to represent the campaign at my grandparent’s church. Supporters visited churches on Sunday all across Virginia to do what they could to share Senator Obama’s testimony of Christ, invite support from the people, and generally be a good representative of the campaign. The interim pastor of my grandparent’s church was too timid to allow me to leave information in the foyer or speak to the congregation, but he did accept my encouragement to remind people to vote in Tuesday’s primary. At the time for visitors to stand and introduce themselves, I stood and told the congregation that I was not only attending to worship with my grandparents but attending as a representative of Senator Barack Obama’s campaign. Of course, the sticker on my jacket clearly displayed my support. The guest pastor did more than I could have ever have done to convey the merits of Senator Obama to the congregation. Being from Alabama, he started with his sermon by saying how happy he was that Alabama delivered a victory for the senator, and he encouraged everyone in the congregation to vote on Tuesday. He then spoke of the need to bring people together for common causes, and the “spiritual audacity” which marked the days of Kennedy and inspired Obama.

After completing some work on an assignment for one of my college courses, I went to grab a bite to eat at Wendy’s. While standing in line, a woman with a young man following entered the line behind me. I saw her Obama sticker and commented on it. She then saw mine and we started discussing the campaign and the rally that we were going to be volunteering at. We ate together as we talked. It was during this time that it really was true what people were saying about Senator Obama; he does have the capacity to bring people together. Here I was, at Wendy’s, sharing a meal and discussion with a black woman the age of my mother and fifteen year old young man, both whom I had never met before. We were joined together for a common cause, a focus for the future of our nation. Truly this was a moment straight from the dreams of Dr. King, as we truly judged each other by the content of our character and not by the color of our skin. I was also able to give one couple a flier about the rally, and a pamphlet on Obama’s planned policies.

After dinner and going home to grab my camera (and forgetting to put my memory card in it), I left for the Virginia Beach Convention Center. The doors would open to the public at 5:30 PM. I arrived at 3:00 PM and the line was already across the front of the massive building. I found a parking place, and then sought out the volunteers. They were lined up in front of the door, and I was very happy to see some familiar faces from the campaign office and from the barcrawl the previous night. After waiting a while and sorting out who was registered to volunteer and who wasn’t, they had us enter the building and register and receive volunteer credentials. The credential was a square card with the campaign logo with the words volunteer on it. We were to wear them at all times. After receiving our credentials, we were asked to exit the building into an empty area so the Secret Service could do their security sweep. After the sweep, we again entered the building and had a short meeting before breaking up into groups. I volunteered and was picked to assist with the press.

We met with the Press Manager and were given more specific assignments. Three of us were to man the check-in table for the press, and two of us were to check credentials of those using the press entrance into the main room. I was asked to check credentials, and also asked to be a go-to person for the Press Manager. This essentially meant that I was to help her in whatever she needed. Another part of checking press credentials at the entrance was working with the Virginia Beach K-9 unite and the bomb squad to coordinate the inspection of press bags and equipment.

Once most of the press were checked in, I assisted with some of the setup in the stage “buffer” area. This consisted of hanging black drapes on the metal “bike rack” barricades around the stage. By this time, hundreds of attendees were around the stage area, which made working in the buffer a little surreal. If you’ve ever seen Senator Obama’s speeches on television, with the riser full of people behind him under his trademark “Change” sign; I was there. The buffer area was a place only the Secret Service and hand picked members of the press were allowed to enter. I was incredibly grateful for the experience and the opportunity to be there.

Later, I was tasked with managing the “cut riser” for the press and directing the traveling press to the risers and their reserved seating area. Admittedly, this was something of an unpleasant position as the Press Manager insisted on keeping the riser stairway clear and the area around the stairway clear of people. Being that this was a great place to view the stage area, this was a never-ending job. I felt uncomfortable also having to tell volunteers they couldn’t stand there. Once Senator Obama came on stage, I gave up; no one was going to move anyway.

The energy of the room of 18,000 people when Senator Obama took the stage was overwhelming. This had been an incredible weekend for him, and for us. On Saturday he won Nebraska, Washington state, Louisiana, and the US Virgin Islands. The timing for him to speak here in Virginia Beach followed the results of the primary in Maine where he won by almost a two-to-one margin. He won all five contests that weekend, and the atmosphere was very celebratory. I had personally forgotten about Maine’s primary being on Sunday, so the news of his win, announced by himself, was wonderful.

Sadly, the loud speakers were not turned toward my direction, which was confusing as I was standing in the press area. It was difficult for me to hear him, but what I did hear were the familiar calls for change, the accountability of his campaign and leadership, and how hope is the basis for what we need to accomplish in our nation.

After Senator Obama finished speaking, all of the volunteers left the main room and went into the ballroom to wait to have a large group picture taken with him. The lighting was bad, so we had to find a professional photographer with a powerful flash in order to take it. When the senator walked into the room, we all erupted into cheers and applause. You could tell he was tired, but you could also tell that he was very grateful for our support and our efforts. We had the picture taken, he left the room, and we went back into the main room for find that all of 18,000 people had exited while we were away.

Next was the process of breaking down chairs, tables, and barricades.

Admittedly, I was tired and sore from two long days, but I knew that if I stayed and helped, things would move along faster. So I stayed, and I helped, and I’m so glad I did. To see everyone working together, all ages and races, was inspiring. We moved quickly, and we worked hard. Once we had all the barricades loaded into the bay in the back of the building, they were moved outside by a fork lift. I was asked if I would help with the truck. When I realized that we would be loading each metal “bike rack” barricade into the truck, one by one, I realized that we were going to need some more help. I enlisted two more guys, and we began loading the barricades. I’m not sure how many we moved, but it was certainly over a hundred of them. It was cold, it was windy, and it was definitely not an easy job. After about half of them were moved, I went to see if I could find more guys to rotate in to finish the job. No one was left inside. We were alone. Mentally and physically worn, I looked at the barricades and said to myself the words chanted by Obama supporters across the nation, “Yes we can”. We were tired, but we could finish. It was well into the night, and it seemed for a while that we weren’t putting a dent into the number of barricades that needed to be moved. One by one, we eventually loaded them all and parted ways.

As I walked though the cavernous main room where, only hours before had been filled by thousands, and out through the lobby and into the parking lot, I began to think about the critics who claim that Senator Obama is stringing people along with false hope and shallow rhetoric, and about how these critics have it all wrong. Hope leads to action, action by all people regardless of their age, religion, gender, or ethnicity. Hope leads to unity and strength. It was the hope of the possibility of freedom within strong nation that moved the colonial states to form a union. It was rhetoric which caused the hearts and minds of colonists to realize that their destiny was not to submit to tyrannical rule, but to map out their own future democratically. False hope? Shallow? Not quite; not in the least. Does it take work? Yes, it’s going to take a lot of work. It’s going to take sacrifice when we are tired. It’s going to take perseverance in the face of opposition. It’s going to take the kind of leadership that instills it into the hearts of every American that yes, we can change this nation for the better, yes we can rise above our petty differences, and yes we can be an example of prosperity, freedom, and ecological stewardship for all the nations of the world. I believe that Senator Barack Obama is the leader that can take us into the next phase of our destiny as a nation. The only question is if we as citizens can embrace change and have enough courage and foresight to place our trust in a leader who has the ability to move us forward. It is my hope that you are saying in your heart, “YES WE CAN!”

Tags: Barack Obama, Democratic Primary, Election 2008, Virginia