This afternoon I was asked to be the precinct captain for my area for the Washington State caucus for the Democratic National Party. My husband and I were rather appalled when we accidentally realized a few weeks ago that our primary was being held on February 19th, but the Democratic caucus on February 9th would already have decided which candidate got all the delegates for the entire state. There is something just utterly wrong with this system, but that is the way it is done here so we decided to become part of the caucus delegation.At first we couldn't grasp it and thought we had misunderstood the process, as we had been under the impression that our votes counted in the primary. They will not. Of course, it is still worth voting if there are other issues like school bonds, et cetera, on the ballot, but not having a say for a presidential candidate for my political party? If I have to crawl to that caucus site tomorrow, I will.
For some reason I thought my neighbors and fellow citizens would have already volunteered to be the precinct captain. You know that feeling that 'somebody' is going to do the right thing, the difficult thing, the thing I would normally be too lazy to do? I agreed to do it feeling terribly under-qualified as I am unfamiliar with the process, but in the end that is just another excuse for not wanting to spend my Saturday utilizing my political rights.
Then again, I get to give a one minute speech to try to convince other caucusers to vote for my candidate, Barack Obama, so that's the pay-off.
I thought quite a bit about what I would say in sixty seconds, as I am not noted for brevity. My words will be important as one caucuser moved to reconsider a vote for Hillary could help send one or even all nine delegates in my precinct to Obama's side. My husband told me not to worry about it. Just to get up and let my real, authentic feelings flow.
For a practice run, this is basically what I would like to say, although it probably won't even resemble my real speech:
Clearly both candidates would be good leaders but after the course this country has taken in the last twenty years, and particularly the last seven, the issue for me is electability. If the latest CNN polls are correct, Obama has a much better chance of beating McCain than Clinton does. I believe this to be true. About 20,000 supporters joined him at a rally in Seattle this evening, Governor Christine Gregoire endorsed his candidacy, he has momentum and it keeps getting stronger.
Okay, so I went way over a minute and now it all sounds ... not good enough, so I am going to take my husband's advice and speak from my heart. Wish me luck. I'll let you know how the caucus turns out in my precinct.
The bigger picture, however, is about unifying our country and changing the stranglehold corporations have on our government. Barack Obama has demonstrated he can think and speak inspirationally, run a campaign, attract republicans and independents and raise money from the little people like me. His authenticity comes across in his speeches, he is a man of many ideas and good judgment, a thinker, he respects women, particularly his wife, and as a bonus is a charismatic leader.
I think he can unite young and old, rich and poor, men and women, all races and ethnicities and make us proud to be Americans again. He's already inspiring millions and with your support he can become president. Imagine what it would be like to have a president who actually cared what you thought. That's the person I want for a candidate. That's the person I'll canvas for, telephone voters, stand on street corners and wave signs and even chance an Obama bumper sticker on my car.
In my heart I fear that we may only have this one chance to truly change history, and I want to be part of that change. I believe Barack will restore honor and trust to Washington, D.C. and I hope you'll consider caucusing for him.
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Comments: 24
OBAMA SAID HE DID NOT RECEIVE MONEY FROM SPECIAL INTERESTS YET HE HAS FROM EXELON-270000 AND AXELROD USE TO WORK FOR THEM TOO--EXELON IS NUCLEAR PLANT THAT HAD A RADIOACTIVE SPILL.
NEXT ALTHOUGH THE MUSLIM RUMORS ARE RIDICULOUS, OBAMA DOES BELONG TO A VERY HATEFUL CHURCH THAT IS RASCIST AND GAVE AN AWARD TO FARRAKHAN---
OBAMA IS THE MOST LIBERAL DEMOCRAT IN SENATE-HIS VOTING RECORD SHOWS THIS AND THIS ALONE MAKES HIM UNELECTABLE WHEN IT COMES TO GENERAL ELECTION, THE INDEP, MODERATES WILL SWING TO MCCAIN WHEN OBAMA'S VOTING RECORD COMES OUT. ALOT OF MORE FISCAL DEMS WILL GO TO MCCAIN TOO!
I AM JUST VERY DISAPPOINTED IN THE USA , ONCE AGAIN FOLKS JUMP ON A BAND WAGON WITHOUT KNOWING FACTS--LOOK WHAT ENDED UP HAPPENING 8 YEARS AGO-THATS HOW WE ENDED UP WITH BUSH-HOWEVER I STILL FEEL GORE WON FLORIDA AND I NEVER VOTED FOR BUSH
I HOPE YOU ALL WILL WAKEUP BEFORE ITS TOO LATE AND WE THAN END UP WITH REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT AGAIN
READ THE ARTICLE IN THE SEATTLE TIMES YESTERDAY AND ALSO CAN DO INTERENT SEARCH FOR FACTS ON ALL THIS
OH ONE MORE THING AS A ER RN I AM VERY ANTI GUN AND LOOK HOW OBAMA PANDERED TO IDAHO LAST WEEKEND OVER GUN RIGHTS AT A RALLY AND YET HE VOTES A DIFFERENT WAY-CAN YOU SAY FLIPFLOPPER!
I watched much of Obama's speech on tv yesterday (live) and was impressed at how charismatic he was. I was even impressed with how he dealt with the fainting woman. (I hope she really was just fainting!)
I am most mad at ignorant people voting cause a person makes them feel good-you all are pathetic- delete and ping me BUT can't do that when the Republican slime machine battles for Mccain vs Obama------ there is no way he will win he is unelectable
You all have the blood of more soldiers deaths on your hands cause we will have another Rep Presidient!
You talk about other people being ignorant and uninformed, but you seem to be the one who has her facts confused and mixed up. You can rant and rave all you want, but the truth is the truth, Victoria.
If you think I am supporting Obama because he is charismatic and unifying and appeals to both genders, all ages and races and ethnicities and he makes me 'feel' good, you are correct. I am also very well-informed and have been politically active since I was twelve years old. I am supporting Obama not because I will get everything served 'my way' but because he is a born leader, a thoughtful, highly intelligent man who respects his wife, his family and the American way of life and our basic Constitutional values. I TRUST HIS JUDGMENT. Candidly, I gave money to Obama as did even my poorest family members, as we believe in him. You can carry on about 'corporate bucks', but his record is clear. People who are employed by corporations are supporting him. So what? There are also some good corporate Americans who have good business practices and are Obama supporters.
Obama is against the war in Iraq and will bring our military home. He will use diplomacy, and he cares about the environment and all people, and he would even try to help you, Victoria. That's the kind of good human being he is.
I think everybody is pretty sick of the kind of verbal tactics you display with your comments, and so I left them. They are tired, old, and out of date. We are not afraid anymore because we are convinced that our efforts will result in Obama being the Democratic candidate and the president.
And your 'facts' are wrong. CNN's latest poll shows Obama can beat McCain by a wide margin, and he will.
ok we'll see who is right when he gets the dem nom and than we'll see all the facts come to light as he has received a pass from the media thus far
my sister is going to be a Hillary precinct captain and has all the facts
I just am so diappointed in America again, taken in by smooth talking-but yet the talk has no substance or plans of what he will do?
Lets see he says "Yes we can" what is the can?
who is the we? most Americans like me work fulltime-I am a BSN RN with a MBA in the medical field and I am a fulltime mom too anytime I have goes towards my passion of animal rescue of pets in high shelters--so Obama better not be expecting me to do anything for his government plan whatever that is.
Brainwashing in 2000 and 2004 got us Bush--God knows what will happen with your candidate.
Ok I won't be coming in here again--came across the site when it came up on google for Washington caucus info==
What a breath of fresh air Obama would be, especially to those who are in this countries minorities and out of power communities. Here I speak about the children of single mothers, and those who grew up in communities of color. Offer his autobiography to those children who you see struggling to love who they are and are looking for who they can become. Barack's thoughts on this subject can be a guide post.
As a far as his political abilities. He is a constitutional scholar and can put us back on the right track in that department. In his books he talks about the essential nature of the balance of power. He will not abuse his power in the office of Presidency. He has already gathered around him advisers of former presidents, including Clintons who spoke out against the war. Hillary has chosen Madeline Albright and other war hawks.
To be fair, given Clinton's style, he would've been less a micromanager than Bush and co have been, our troops could do their jobs and KILL THE ENEMIES, without war-crimes trials, free to interrogate enemy agents By Whatever Means Necessary(TM), or just kill them if they had no useful info, rather than having to house, feed, clothe, and provide Korans to the enemy...Of course, that might go toward prison-reform, rather than wartime conduct, but once it was discovered that the enemy agents were trying to smuggle out documents via their translators, there should have been a massive crackdown with the troublemakers being given full credit...they'd probably have an "accident" in the exercise-yard, courtesy their fellow prisoners! But I digress!
Hillary was as much a criminal as her husband, and probably more, marrying him as a vehicle for her meta-Communist viewpoints, and protecting her from the consequences of being AT LEAST a corrupt real-estate developer...Please look up President Johnson's wife profiteering off shipping supplies to the troops in Vietnam, leading to a long, drawn-out conflict, rather than quick victory--such a scenario couldn't repeat, could it?
Obama CAME from a Moslem family, but he has asserted he is Christian now. I, too, am worried about a possible conflict-of-interest in his treatment of violent Moslems, import and domestic (So to speak), but more worried about how he can stop the flood of illegals, who seem intent on bringing the same crime and disease into America as they had in their own country, in exchange for siphoning America's money back into their own country, where it does no good, and indeed, just enables the next wave of invaders!
The fact that he is black may be an asset, especially in an era where Sharpton and Jackson have made a massive profit off beating the race drum. (Which MUST be wearing thin after this long, right? The drum, or that tactic, take your pick!) They can no longer claim the White House doesn't care about blacks or (Insert minority of your choice here), and indeed, might get minorities to see the boot on the minorities' necks is their OWN! If you treat them as criminals as a class, they'll live up to it, but if you point out they have a stake in this country too, they could make their own neighborhoods a place people would WANT to live...They could start looking out for the whole, and turning criminals in without fear, if they ALL helped out, rather than protecting "their own" against "the Man"!
(And of course, offer the troublemakers who want their "heritage" a free one-way trip to the country of their choice...After a year or 2 of living in filth--er--"nostalgia", the survivors would be much more amenable to following America's laws in exchange for America's benefits--and you could probably make a reality TV series about it!)
He could get them to shape up, stay in school--TO LEARN, rather than as a social club, stop drugging and drinking, stop having so many kids...In general, point out that "acting white" isn't a bad thing, and indeed, is the way to succeed. This task is formidable, even the Mighty Bill Cosby has failed in this! (Or they couldn't hear his message over the noise from an army of thug rappers?)
This may sound racist, but go into any minority neighborhood NOW, and you'll see it's a drug-infested warzone (Or is that thug-infested warzone? I forget...) Indeed, when you get attacked there, the police's first question will be, "What were you doing in THAT part of town?", not "What did the attacker look like?"
But Obama would have an additional edge, as the office of President would be seen as the ULTIMATE success, and therefore, he'd be leading by example!
America has to be re-unified, otherwise we'll balkanize completely, and have another Civil War, this time not about race or slavery, but about "culture". Admittedly, the American "culture" of late has been mostly the thugs or barely-legal sluts plastered (in both senses of the term) all over the news, but really, what positive role-models do the media have TO show? Plus, the shows that sell are the ones that promote deception, perversion, and crime as "freedoms", and the ones that practice such as "better" than the rest of us...So while the media may be only "holding up the mirror", that mirror DOES create a feedback effect...Look up "resonance chamber LASER" on your favorite search-engine to see how each bounce-back makes the signal stronger...And look to real life to note a downward spiral of disrespect, stupidity, and crime!
I think you have put it very well indeed Elizabeth, you go girl!!!
We are taking back control of our government. We are going to get affordable, non-discriminatory health care to the millions of people who cannot afford it and the other millions who have it and still can't afford it. Obama believes that all people should have the same excellent benefits he enjoys as a US Senator. I believe the same.
We are going to make sure companies who send jobs overseas do not get tax breaks for doing so and the ability to exploit other people around the world. We are going to rehabilitate the words 'made in America' and Americans are going to take a leadership position in controlling and reducing global warming and the poisoning of our air, land and water. We are going to learn how to consume and hoard less, so there will be more for other people.
You can throw the word 'Moslem' all over the place, Eric, and it doesn't mean anything to me. I don't care what a person's religion or non-religion belief system is. My family were Republicans, Episcopalians, Mayflower descendants, Roman Catholics, Atheists, Loyalists, Revolutionary fighters and there is also an unknown 'great-grandfather' thrown in the mix. SO WHAT? Quit trying to scare people, Eric. We've found our courage and we are no longer going to live in fear.
I am a flaming liberal and Obama supporter, and now a delegate for my precinct in the Legislative Caucus which will be held April 5th. My parents could be turning over in their graves, but I think if they were honest with their spirit selves, they would know I was right. You know that too.
Our society has a lot of problems, Eric, but they are not because we have legal immigration or girls who wear 'slut' clothes or a porno industry supported by men around the world. Our society has problems because we, as individuals, have let the conversation be hijacked by people with an ignorant view of what freedom means.
This is a movement, Eric, and nobody is going to stop it. We want our soldiers home, defending us, not the oil companies and the Bush/Cheney oil-steal.
I don't want us to live in fear either, but right now, I think the main fear isn't any particular enemy group, but our own factionalism, "Ooh, we can't fight back! We might hurt the enemies' FEELINGS!"
I'm all for cutting off the gravy-train for illegals and the companies that profit off them, and indeed, for (somehow) punishing countries that still act in an irresponsitble manner. From Japan's resurgent whaling, to 's failure to institute birth-control.
We can CRUSH the Moslem death-cult, and stop them from sending their kids to blow themselves up (And usually a number of Americans), but are we willing to offend them?
Of course in doing so, we'll violate everything from the Eleventh Commandment (Thou Shalt Not Offend), to the Prime Directive (Don't meddle in the affairs of lesser cultures), but I believe the utopia justifies the means, and since everything bad they do screws us over too, they should be made to suffer more IMMEDIATE negative consequences from their misdeeds!
Obama's a helluva lot better than Clinton, and I'd vote for him anyday of the week, and most of next week too, but given how many people REAL change will OFFEND, can he get people to go along with his plans?
Or put another way, will being right be enough for people to BELIEVE us?
Kenya's already said that they will continue to pollute, simply because they're behind, and we've had 160 years of pollution already, and that somehow we "owe" them a chance to pollute and catch up! I can bet other nations, particularly China, will have a similar stiff-middle-finger answer to America!
And you're right about the hijacking of freedom, "Freedom is not the liberty to do what you WANT, but rather the obligation to do as you OUGHT"--Source forgotten, but it was from my old Political Science Class, so by now it's probably on any search-engine. Problem is, the NEW meaning of freedom is the "right" to DO anything, but be protected from the consequences...
We need to bring God and consequences back into American society. Anyone who doesn't like it can find ANOTHER country with no consequences for breaking the law!
Let all the honest people of America take back what's ours! Screw the criminals, screw the foreign parasites, and ESPECIALLY monstrous death-cults with cartoonish "world domination" objectives!