I came across this moving article yesterday. It’s so interesting to see the same event through another person’s eyes. Philly and North Carolina are different, but the fundamentals are the same in black communities across the nation.
If you read my Thoughts on Canvassing in South Philadelphia, the overlay with the perception of a conservative white Republican are thought provoking.
What both of our experiences make clear is the inspirational effect Obama is having for black people and black communities.
A bit of my reflections on canvassing:
There is so much support for Obama in these communities it is unbelievable. Moreover, there is so much pride in him as a candidate. Obama will win Pennsylvania if they keep canvassing and applying resources to these communities.
Little kids biked by asking us for Obama buttons, and every single person we spoke with was either for Obama, or ENTHUSIASTICALLY for Obama.
What a way to spend the day. (link)
A few excerpts from an op-ed by a white conservative republican dragged out to canvass for Obama in North Carolina:
Let me make it clear: I’m pretty conservative. I grew up in the suburbs. I voted for George H.W. Bush twice, and his son once. I was disappointed when Bill Clinton won, and disappointed he couldn’t run again.
. . . .
I am the dreaded swing voter.
So you can imagine my surprise when my wife suggested we spend a Saturday morning canvassing for Obama. I have never canvassed for any candidate. But I did, of course, what most middle-aged married men do: what I was told.
. . . .
Instead of walking the tree-lined streets near our home, my wife and I were instructed to canvass a housing project. A middle-aged white couple with clipboards could not look more out of place in this predominantly black neighborhood.
We knocked on doors and voices from behind carefully locked doors shouted, “Who is it?”
“We’re from the Obama campaign,” we’d answer. And just like that doors opened and folks with wide smiles came out on the porch to talk.
Grandmothers kept one hand on their grandchildren and made sure they had all the information they needed for their son or daughter to vote for the first time.
Young people came to the door rubbing sleep from their eyes to find out where they could vote early, to make sure their vote got counted.
We knocked on every door we could find and checked off every name on our list. We did our job, but Obama may not have been the one who got the most out of the day’s work.
I learned in just those three hours that this election is not about what we think of as the “big things.”
It’s not about taxes. I’m pretty sure mine are going to go up no matter who is elected.
It’s not about foreign policy. I think we’ll figure out a way to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan no matter which party controls the White House, mostly because the people who live there don’t want us there anymore.
. . . .
I’ve learned that this election is about the heart of America. It’s about the young people who are losing hope and the old people who have been forgotten. It’s about those who have worked all their lives and never fully realized the promise of America, but see that promise for their grandchildren in Barack Obama. The poor see a chance, when they often have few. I saw hope in the eyes and faces in those doorways.
My wife and I went out last weekend to knock on more doors. But this time, not because it was her idea. I don’t know what it’s going to do for the Obama campaign, but it’s doing a lot for me.
Jonathan Curley is a banker. He voted for George H.W. Bush twice and George W. Bush once. (link)
