Two Thoughts Must Obsess Every Progressive for the Next Six Days To Assure Victory on Tuesday
With six days to go, the outcome of the election now rests far less with Obama, McCain or their campaign operatives -- and much more with rank and file political activists.
Our success now depends entirely on our level of motivation and the skill of our execution. That in turn requires that we become obsessed by two thoughts every waking moment of the next six days:
1). The historic possibility that is almost within our grasp.
2). The personal anguish each of us will feel if we fail to hold the ring of victory tightly enough and is slips from our hands.
Last weekend I went to cast my ballot at an early vote location in my hometown of Evanston, Illinois. In my particular district no race is really hotly contested. Barack Obama will win Illinois by twenty points. My wife, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, will easily win reelection in our overwhelmingly Democratic district. The races for US Senate and State House and Senate contests in my area are not close.
No matter. There was a half hour line of voters eager to cast their early vote. Each one wanted to be part of this historic campaign -- to play their role in the national drama that has engaged the nation like no election campaign in my lifetime.
We see that same wave of voter engagement across America. If it continues -- if we help make sure it continues -- it could sweep out conservative politicians and also replace the conservative value frame that has defined the center of American politics for thirty five years.
Next year could mark the first time since the 1960s that progressives retake the offensive and begin once again to reshape the political and economic structures of our society to reflect the traditional progressive values that lie at the foundation of the story of America.
We can revive our economy with a "bottom up" economic agenda that allows all Americans to share in the growth that our exploding technological capacity can make possible.
We can launch a national crusade -- like Kennedy's program to land a man on the moon -- to convert our energy economy from dependence on increasingly scare hydro carbons to renewable, clean sources of power -- and save our planet from global climate change.
We can finally make quality educational opportunity available to every child -- and guarantee that everyone can get a higher education without being weighted down by a lifetime of debt.
We can reestablish America as a beacon of hope and progress and human rights in the world.
We can replace division with unity, fear with hope, cynicism with possibility. We can once again place America on the road to fulfill its historic mission of creating a truly democratic society that welcomes people of every religion, every ethnic group, every culture that wants to live in a country that celebrates diversity and is committed to proposition that we are all our brother's and sister's keepers.
And during the next six days, we should remember that it is no small thing that on January 20th, a man of African American descent could raise his hand to take the oath of office at the same Capitol where Abraham Lincoln called for the end of slavery just 7 generations ago.
He would take that oath just down the mall from the Lincoln Memorial where forty five years ago Martin Luther King called for an end to racial segregation and at the same time affirmed his belief in the dream "that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
The election of Barack Obama would say an enormous amount about America. It would provide a signal to the world that America believes in the kind of open, tolerant society that the world as whole must become if we are to survive the ethnic and religious conflicts that have brought the misery and hopelessness that spawn hatred and terrorism.
It would make us all very proud.
But in the next six days we also must also visualize the anguish we would feel if we are not successful -- if we let this possibility slip through our fingers. It is entirely possible. Undecided voters may very well break for John McCain and Sarah Palin. The other side will not go quietly. They will continue to smear. They will attempt to suppress the vote. They will use every tool at their disposal.
Let's remember that we actually won the election in 2000. Yet because of their resourcefulness and tenacity, the right has held the White House for the last eight years.
Fundamentally we have to bring out such a wave of voters that this election will not be close enough to steal. And we have to remember that in any given swing state, just a few votes in each precinct could decide what direction our society -- and the entire world -- takes in the generation to come.
In 2000 my political consulting firm managed an excellent field program for a great candidate for Congress in South Florida. Our people did a great job. But in the end of the day, we lost by around 500 voters. They were the same 500 votes that cost Gore the presidency.
Had each of our Election Day volunteers simply recruited one more vote per precinct, the world would have been spared the nightmare of the Bush Presidency.
Next Tuesday, when your watch shows that the polls are due to close in 15 minutes -- and you are satisfied that you have worked your heart out all day -- don't stop. Go get one more voter. That voter -- multiplied by all of the precincts in that state -- could easily be the difference between a new progressive era and four more years of Bush-McCain-Conservative government.
And that is the attitude we all must have every waking minute of the next six days.
Remember the deep depression -- the emptiness you felt after the loss in 2004. It would be much worse this time.
Think how you would feel watching John McCain and Sarah Palin taking the oath of office on January 20.
The same year Martin Luther King made his "I Have a Dream Speech," John Kennedy gathered in the White House Situation Room with his closest advisers to confront the Cuban Missile Crisis. The decisions they made in that room could easily have lead to the nightmare of nuclear war.
I have often been glad that George Bush, Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld were not in that room. God knows what the outcome might have been.
For each of the next six days, think about John McCain and Sarah Palin in that room. Worse yet, think of Sarah Palin as commander in chief in that room.
We can almost taste the sweetness of the historic progressive victory that is possible next Tuesday. Now it is up to each and every one of us to take personal responsibility to grab that ring of victory and hold it firmly in our grasp - to refuse to let this historic opportunity slip away.
Time to empty the stands -- get onto the playing field. Stop just checking the poll results and go change them. For the next six days drop whatever else you are doing. Whatever it is, it's simply not as important. Put off the errands, the home projects, the project and work. Take vacation days.
Volunteer to knock on doors, make phone calls, protect the vote. Go talk to your neighbors, put up signs. Drag your friends and neighbors to the polls. Don't take no for an answer. This time friends don't let friends not vote.
Obsess about what it will feel like to win -- and how horrible it would be to lose. And let that obsession motivate you to make history -- to make this the six days that change the world.
Robert Creamer is a long-time organizer and political strategist, and the author of the recent book "Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win," available at www.amazon.com''
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I live in Colorado, a battleground state and voted early. My sister and I have spoken to everyone we know to make sure they would vote and that they understood the issues and what is at stake. I remember seeing Eyes on the Prize in college and reading "Black Lives, White Lives" as well as the book "The Man" by Irving Wallace about a black man becoming President, (written in 1964) which I read in 1982, a year when it sadly still seemed far-fetched that this could happen. Votes for Obama in all states, not just battleground states, are important and every single one will send a message that as you say Mr. Creamer, America is ready to be an open, tolerant society!
Suggestion
You can find your state/local Obama campaign offices here: http://my.
A guy came to my house to sell me health insurance (I was recently downsized) and for some weird reason decided to talk politics with a slight McCain spin. As a member of my state's Veterans for Obama leadership and a supporter since the beginning of this year, I've got some experience with canvassing on the fly. He left my house with two buttons - Veterans for Obama and Republicans for Obama - and hopefully the campaign garnered yet another undecided vote.
Yay for you!
I also guaranteed a two votes for Obama, one from a first time voter, the other from a fervent Hilary fan. They were both undecided up until about 3 weeks ago but now the one sports an obama button on her coat and the other one has become obsessed about checking the polls and told me yesterday.
There is a ripple effect too, the first time voter nearly has her dad convinced and the Hilary fan has convinced her husband to vote for Obama.
Not much I guess but I live in Ohio so I feel like that was a pretty big victory!
Anyone who assumed that electing a black man with a Muslim sounding name would be easy, is living in a different country. Every president of the US, with one exception, was a white Protestant male. The one exception, John Kennedy, was a white Catholic male. And even that happened almost 50 years ago. Countries such as Pakistan and India have long since elected female leaders. The United States is decades behind the times.
While I certainly hope Obama wins, expect a another close, nail-biter of an election. Let's hope this one is decided by the voters, and not some Republican hacks on the Supreme Court.
Yes! Barack Obama as President of the United States would indeed make us all very proud!
From fear to hope,
from past to future,
from toxic to green,
from lies to transparency,
from unilateralism to collaboration,
from the Bush Doctrine to Diplomacy,
from the dark, thick fog of hopelessness to a new vision of what CAN BE!
Yes we can and YES WE ARE!
I'm in CA. which will most definitely go Obama. I've worked the phone banks for months.
I have turned 100% of my attention now to defeating Prop. 8.
We are under assault here. Our state has been invaded by thousands of Utah people and they brought MILLIONS of DOLLARS with them.
It is insane that this is happening here in our Progressive State of CA.
I'm not a 'knock-on-doors' type, but I nevertheless signed up to do so over the weekend and on election day for the 'Get out the vote' operation here in New Hampshire.
As I obsess about the outcome, as described above perfectly by Mr. Creamer, I feel that there is little choice than to try to help affect it.
Won't you join me?
http://act
Amen...
I have even decided to return to my hometown in Alexandria, Virginia (from my new home in the very blue state of MD) to help them get out the vote on Monday...n
good for you.
I'm in Alexandria too, I'll be driving voters to the polls as an Obama volunteer.
Yes We Can!
Your points are very salient ones. In the absence on anything substantive to say, the Republicans will continue to spew their venom and lies; just as they have throughout the campaign. They campaign just as they have governed; through fear mongering and contempt for the power of intelligent ideas, progressive or otherwise. Using an absentee ballot, I voted for Obama/Biden and the Democratic candidate in Connecticut's 3d congressional district. Keep the faith everyone. Take people to the polls next Tuesday. Ask them to do their part in writing history. Keep on blogging! Challenge baseless distortions and lies where ever they are found! Keep in mind that racism is a loser's philosophy for the thinking impaired.
If and when this historical election comes to pass, we'll see just how progressive Dems really are (as if we haven't experienced enough to know already).
I agree with others that some of Obama's actions and some of his stated policies sure as hell don't conform to what I would consider progressive. Nevertheless, there is one very important way in which he has proven more progressive than anyone before him, whether he wanted to or not.
I'm talking about his (if not his, then certainly his team's) early recognition of the power of the Internet, and no longer the faux interactivity of the link and the mouse, but the real interactivity of the blog, of sites like YouTube, or Twitter, and literally dozens of other tools and services that have been used to raise money and organize both people's thoughts and dreams, but even their efforts.
These technologies are pretty new, but it ought to be reasonably evident they portend a flattening of any organization they are used in; in other words everywhere. Barack Obama's campaign represents one of the flattest organizations I've seen in my life, and I'm on old leftist; a socialist.
He may not be the poster child for progressives, but he has started something that has repercussions we haven't begun to understand. Like Mike Wesch says, "People often focus on the content without recognizing the broader impacts being caused by the media itself." Take a close look, folks. The medium is, indeed, the message.
Actually, I think the Democratic party chairman achieved this "progressiveness" four years ago, before the party establishment kicked him to the curb (and made him party chairman for progressive campaigning).
One of my co-workers, a black woman who is the sole earner in a family of six (her husband has PTSD) told me in August that she's not registered to vote and has little trust in the political system. She's got to stay tough; no room for "false hope."
Though she remained skeptical, I managed to get her to fill out a registration form. Alas, she moved in October and her ballot was sent to her old address (they rent.) When I asked her if she'd voted, she said it didn't matter. Well, I tracked down her ballot and then brought her bodily to the elections office (with a latte bribe) where she was able to vote. She took her ballot into the little booth and shrugged a dismissive shrug.
Imagine my surprise when she put her ballot in the box, and then turned to me with massie tears. She put her arms around me and sobbed and sobbed and sobbed. I cried, too, though not nearly as much. There we were, two middle aged ladies, one black, one white, sobbing our hearts out in the middle of the elections ofice. It took a while for her to compose herself, and then we went for that latte.
"Sometimes you just don't have the luxury of understanding how important something is," she said.
Way to do it, Lynn. Love ya.
GOOD JOB !
DITTO!! (oh no...i plagiarized rush).
Commendable!
That's awesome!! You just bought tears to my eyes. I literally can't eat or sleep and haven't been able to for the last 2 weeks. I'm worried constantly that people aren't taking this serious enough. I'm glad that you did and I commend you for that.
Me too...tear
Amazing story. You should publish this (and not just as a comment on someone else's article). Where did this take place? How'd you get her to change her mind? Tell us some more about the argument that struck a chord, we can all use it.
This is what I have been shouting from the rafters, Bob. No one cares that Sarah Palin has a new wardrobe. The only focus any of us should have right now is to vote, and to help get out the vote, and most importantly, shine a light and provide legal counsel in fighting voter suppression and GOP dirty tricks. We must be focused, serious and vigilant.
If Obama wins then the REAL fight begins. The fight to define the issues and the legislative agenda. Progressives must reach out to their local communities to make the case for progressive changes and frame the issues in a way that wins public support for Obama and Congressional Initiatives.
Furthermore, WE are going to have to AGGRESSIVELY ENGAGE the political right. We need to rebut their ridiculous claims and drive them back in terms of public perception. That means we need to pick fights with them. We need to keep the mistakes of the Bush administration in the public eye-- I am talking about the scandals yet to be disclosed that will be revealed once this administration leaves office.
There is no time for reconciliation with the political right. Our reconciliation should be saved for moderate Republicans and moderate independents - not for the right wingers.
We need to fight them at every step and delegitimize their cultural philosophy, their economic philosophy and their foreign policy philsophy. We have got to dismantle the Reagan Revolution once and for all!
"We need to keep the mistakes of the Bush administration in the public eye"
Yes, Yes, Yes! The short attention span Americans will quickly forget that Obama inherited all the problems Bush created. It will be an uphill battle to untangle the mess, and the general public will look to make Obama the bad guy. The right wing will do their utmost to continue to fuel the fire that they created.
We all need to learn how to "pick fights" with the wing nuts and use the same shout down tactics they use on us--they all seem to debate using the Fox News method of distortion, lies, rudeness, and the logic of, "if I say it loudly enough, it is the truth." It is a pervasive, malignant, distortion of reason throughout their ranks. It needs to be stopped in it's tracks.
Nice to see that someone else sees this not as the end, but the beginning of the next fight for progress and true cultural advancement.
Great post.
Knocking on wood that this scenario happens...
"And even though he's a centrist (by USA standards), the Republicans will spend the first two or three weeks trying to kneecap Obama with sideshow issues, to establish a precedent for winning concessions. Remember Lani Guinier, Kimba Wood, and "don't ask, don't tell?"
You're right, but there's one unusual and huge distraction that will be going on at that time. That's this "secret meeting" about how to "heal" the rift in the Republican party between the fiscal repubs and the lunatic fringe, oops, I mean the evangelical religious right.
An awful lot of right-wing time and energy is going to devoted to in-fighting if Obama wins. Could be a big opportunity to get something done!
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