“BARACK OBAMA can’t do this alone,” said the candidate’s wife, Michelle, during a surprise Wednesday morning visit to a get-out-the-vote training hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus. “For every one of you here, you know good and well there are about 20 people in your life who aren’t registered to vote, who aren’t paying attention, who don’t think it matters. Who would sit it out. Who were disappointed that Barack didn’t say something the way they thought he should have said it. Didn’t make the decision they thought he should have made.
“I’m in this, I’m living it” she added, drawing laughs. “But we don’t have time to get this wrong. If we were in a better place as a nation, we could play that game. We could afford to sit out and protest, and show our discontent. … But see, we’re not. And every year that we wait, every year that we dawdle, every year that we hem and haw is another year away from our children’s future that we take. There’s nothing more powerful than your own voice, talking to the folks in your own community.”
At the same event, former Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder, who helped Obama with the process of vetting vice-presidential candidates that led to last week’s selection of Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, said there are enough Black voters in swing states to help Obama win states that would have put Democratic candidates in past presidential contests over the top.
“The reality is, it is going to be up to us to get our people to the polls and do all the things we need to do to make sure that Barack Obama is raising his right hand on Jan. 20, 2009 … in Washington D.C.,” he said, referring to the date on which the next president will be sworn into office. He added later: “[President George W. Bush] won Ohio by 119,000 votes in 2004. Three-hundred-and-nine thousand Black people did not vote in Ohio in that year,” a number that, in that state alone, would have likely denied Bush a second term in the White House.
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The entire article is well worth the read, but the above passage lays it all out.
This is what community organizers do. These are our actual responsibilities. This is how we bring about the change we need. From the bottom up.
There are an estimated 55 million eligible but unregistered voters, up to 40% of them are African American, Hispanic, Native American, and Asian American. We need to get as many of them registered as quickly as possible as deadlines are rapidly approaching.
While they spread lies, we organize.
While they hypothesize, we organize.
While they overanalyze, we organize.
While they try to steal the prize, we organize.
While they proselytize, we organize.
While they marginalize, we organize.
While they propagandize, we organize.
While they terrorize, we organize.
Get Up. Get Out. Get Organized.
“I’m in this, I’m living it” she added, drawing laughs. “But we don’t have time to get this wrong. If we were in a better place as a nation, we could play that game. We could afford to sit out and protest, and show our discontent. … But see, we’re not. And every year that we wait, every year that we dawdle, every year that we hem and haw is another year away from our children’s future that we take. There’s nothing more powerful than your own voice, talking to the folks in your own community.”
At the same event, former Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder, who helped Obama with the process of vetting vice-presidential candidates that led to last week’s selection of Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, said there are enough Black voters in swing states to help Obama win states that would have put Democratic candidates in past presidential contests over the top.
“The reality is, it is going to be up to us to get our people to the polls and do all the things we need to do to make sure that Barack Obama is raising his right hand on Jan. 20, 2009 … in Washington D.C.,” he said, referring to the date on which the next president will be sworn into office. He added later: “[President George W. Bush] won Ohio by 119,000 votes in 2004. Three-hundred-and-nine thousand Black people did not vote in Ohio in that year,” a number that, in that state alone, would have likely denied Bush a second term in the White House.
::
The entire article is well worth the read, but the above passage lays it all out.
This is what community organizers do. These are our actual responsibilities. This is how we bring about the change we need. From the bottom up.
There are an estimated 55 million eligible but unregistered voters, up to 40% of them are African American, Hispanic, Native American, and Asian American. We need to get as many of them registered as quickly as possible as deadlines are rapidly approaching.
While they spread lies, we organize.
While they hypothesize, we organize.
While they overanalyze, we organize.
While they try to steal the prize, we organize.
While they proselytize, we organize.
While they marginalize, we organize.
While they propagandize, we organize.
While they terrorize, we organize.
Get Up. Get Out. Get Organized.
2 comments:
Great video/commercial. Sums up your article nicely. I wish it would get play in my state.
amen craig.
Michelle - you know I love her, and she told the truth.
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