A'Cuppa Obama

Tonight I had the privilege of attending a great community organizing meeting for our local Rockridge/Temescal (CA) Neighborhood Group! We met at this fantastic tea shoppe called "A'Cuppa Tea" on College Ave.

There were probably about 20 people there, including a couple folks whom I'd met at the last house meeting I attended. So it felt like a familiar and comfortable group... even though I walked in a little late (after mini-adventures in parkingland!).

The meeting was really well-moderated by Paul Delehanty and the other organizers. They followed the agenda and gave people room to speak and be heard. They focused on the most important values of the campaign: respect, empower, include. They inspired us to do the same through their words and through modeling these attitudes with their own actions.

Barack Obama's campaign provides the ideal venue for a coalition of groups and individuals to work together, because we have one common goal: electing Barack Obama as US President.

We have a lot of overlap (such as taking care of the economy, the environment, housing, healthcare, Iraq, local politics, etc) in our topical priorities, but the most important goal (the prize to keep our eyes on) is the White House.

One of the most exciting parts of this meeting was the discussion about the voter registration part of the campaign: Vote for Change! Obama's campaign is working to get hundreds of thousands of new voters registered, especially among people eho have been disenfranchised by the existing system.

People who have traditionally been excluded from the political process (such as persons with felony convictions--who CAN vote in California!) or who have been marginalized (women, African-Americans, people living in poverty, speakers of other languages-especially Spanish) are registering to vote in record numbers for this election. This is exciting, and there were lots of plans for upcoming voter registration events. I'm going to go to one on July 12th that involves "tailgating" the Oakland A's (which I've never done before). It's always good to try something new!

We ended the meeting by putting our hands in the middle of our circle and affirming together: "Yes We Can!"

One of the reasons I believe in Barack Obama's campaign for Presidency is that he has given us a reason to get together. His campaign has created opportunities for neighbors to meet one another and organize for meaningful changes in our own lives and communities.