[Vision2020] My wife made me canvas for Obama

[Chasuk]

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1103/p09s02-coop.html

By Jonathan Curley

from the November 3, 2008 edition of The Christian Science Monitor

Charlotte, N.C. - There has been a lot of speculation that Barack
Obama might win the election due to his better "ground game" and
superior campaign organization.

I had the chance to view that organization up close this month when I
canvassed for him. I'm not sure I learned much about his chances, but
I learned a lot about myself and about this election.

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 encouraged my son to join the military. I was proud of him in
Afghanistan, and happy when he came home, and angry when he was
recalled because of the invasion of Iraq. I'm white, 55, I live in the
South and I'm definitely going to get a bigger tax bill if Obama wins.

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.

At the Obama headquarters, we stood in a group to receive our
instructions. I wasn't the oldest, but close, and the youngest was
maybe in high school. I watched a campaign organizer match up a young
black man who looked to be college age with a white guy about my age
to canvas together. It should not have been a big thing, but the
beauty of the image did not escape me.

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 don't see either of the candidates as having all the answers.

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.