Notes from the Obama Campaign, #3: reflections

• Sep 14, 2008 Posted by Dr. Alex Blum

  I have been home in Los Angeles for 24 hours. I finished my Obama Organizing Fellowship, and wanted to send out one last reflection on my time working on Obama's Campaign for Change in South Eastern Colorado.  
  

  Prior to my time in CO, I didn't comprehend the power of Wal- Mart. It functions as the social center of some of these towns. La Junta is the largest town in the three counties where I worked and has a population of 7,200 and shrinking. Wal- Mart moved in a few years ago and I was told that a half dozen mom and pop shops shut down within a year: a grocery store, 2 hard ware stores, a clothing shop, and a small bank. The town offers few jobs and the college educated kids more often than not end up working at Wal- Mart. Previously, I understood in theory the effect Wal- Mart could have on the economy of a small town. But it is jarring to see the juxtaposition of people filing in and out of the Wal- Mart's doors (24 hours a day) in close proximity to the fairly empty down-town streets of La Junta. Because Wal- Mart has so much foot traffic, the Obama Campaign uses this to our advantage to register voters (if the store is located in a town that is overall Democratic).

  I am going to miss the friends I made in CO. I enjoyed my colleges on the campaign; we worked side-by- side almost 100 hours a week.  But I also developed a few deep friendships with community members.  The Obama Campaign's mantra is "respect, empower, include." At first I thought this was a little weird to here staffers refer to this, but I now get it. The Campaign focuses on building relationships with people in the community and empowering them. As an organizer I spent most of my time sitting down in coffee shops, in living rooms, and on front porches talking with people. I would explain why I decided to forgo my first job after Residency and work for free for 6 weeks on The Campaign. At then end of our "one on one", I would do the "hard ask." I would explain that it's not enough for the two of us to agree that our county needs change. I would ask that they host a house meeting and invite everyone they know so we can recruit more volunteers. If they didn't want to do this, then I would invite them to attend a training session to learn to register people to vote or to help with phone calls. I saw this as advocating for that person in the same light as I advocate for my patients. I also try to empower my patients to take control of their child's life. Pediatricians practice community organizing daily.
  

  The focus on relationship building works. I left CO having made a few close friendships with locals. Theresa is a 55 year old Latina woman who is hard drinking, chain smoking, and has a loving family. She is an ex Army vet and ex medic. At the foot of her driveway is a sign that reads "I am Latina and I vote." She is Catholic and pro- life, but disagrees with Bush/ McCain's foreign policy, economic policy, and basically the whole Republican domestic agenda. Her house is decorated with crosses; she explained to me "I am Mexican after all."After visiting her on my last day in CO, she handed me a 2 foot faux stone cross and said, "I have no idea what religion you are, but you gave me the power to become politically active and I just wanted to give you something that is special to me." She gave me her favorite cross.

  Attached is a picture of a register to vote sign. Another volunteer who I recruited and over my six weeks working with her, became very active in The Campaign. She made this sign for herself to help to register others to vote. She too had never been politically involved. I spoke to her almost every day because she volunteered a few hours of work a day. Every few days, she would tell me that on reflection, she could not believe that she had become so politically active. I trained her to teach voter registration to her neighbors and she led regular training sessions out of her living room. She is a special- ed teacher, in her 40's, living in a Rocky Ford,a town of a few hundred people. But now she is also a community leader for Obama in Southern Colorado and a vital piece to us winning in her county. She is proud of her "pimped out" sign, and I am very proud of her.  

  If you would like to become more involved in Obama's Campaign for Change by making phone calls to sporadic Democrats (lazy Dems who don't always vote), let me know. You too could join in on the fun and help change this country.
  

  In Solidarity,
  Alex
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