Yesterday I attended an amazing House Meeting as part of the "Unite for Change" campaign. People hosted house meetings in their homes, in parks, and public spaces, to talk about Obama and organize for the coming weeks and months.
Click here to watch a video about the house meetings (there were over 4,000 events-in all 50 states!). Tens of thousands of people participated in this awesome nationwide community event. I am feeling totally encouraged about Obama's presidency and the work that we will do together to get him into the White House on November 4th!
The meeting was held at Jenna and Randy's lovely home on the Berkeley/Oakland border. They were consummate hosts, and there were at least 20 if not 30 people there. We drank wine, ate cheese and bread, connected with one another, and shared our experiences. After some very nice shmoozing time, Jenna called the meeting together and each person had a chance to introduce themselves. Many of them were neighbors, and it was exciting to see the connections being made: not only for Obama, but for the larger human condition. It is sad that in this modern world we don't always get to know our neighbors, and these house meetings offer a fantastic "excuse" to build those important relationships.
As we went around the room, I was struck by two thoughts repeatedly: how many of our stories were similar, and how diverse our experiences were. I lost count of how many people said, "I've never been involved in a campaign before" or "I've never donated to a political candidate before, but I gave some money to Obama!" Then there were those who said, "I worked on JFK campaign [or I was politically active in the 1960s], and I haven't felt this kind of excitement and hope since then."
People talked about feeling terrible about our country for the last 8 years, and about the surge of power and hope that Obama has ignited in their lives. I shared with the group that "The person I vote for never wins!" but for the first time, I think that is going to change (My first presidential vote was in 2000, then 2004--so you can imagine how hopeless I felt about the power of my vote).
Another woman shared that her experience was the opposite of mine: her first presidential election was in 1992, with Clinton winning against a sitting president, and then being reelected in 1996. She voted and thought, "Wow, this really works!" It made me feel better to hear the stories of people who have lived through the pendulum swinging the other way. History fuels hope.
There was an official person from the local chapter of the Obama Campaign present at the event (the campaign arranged for one official person to attend each event, to help people get involved). I joined
my local "Obama Group" (Temescal/Rockridge Neighborhood). I encourage you to go to barackobama.com and sign up for your local neighborhood group. Based on Barack's history as a community organizer, his campaign is based on local action and local groups: communities getting together and organizing for change.
There were funny moments, and beautiful moments. I felt my eyes well up with tears at several points in the process. As they say,
I laughed, I cried, i just hoped my mascara held out!
One grandmother brought her six-year old granddaughter. She shared with the group about her experiences organizing and working on campaigns throughout her life. She said that although she had worked on a lot of different political actions and had been part of lots of campaigns, she feels a swell of energy that hasn't been present in America since the 1960s. It was so exciting to hear her speak, I wanted to jump up and cheer. I had to practice self-control.
She pointed to her granddaughter: "She's a normal six-year old. She likes Dora the Explorer and Disney Channel. I didn't know she knew anything about no Barack Obama. But now she sits with me and watches CNN. AND now this..." She turns to the little girl and says:
"What do you want to be?"
"I want to be president!""Why?"
"Because Barack Obama!"
After we all shared what had brought us here, we watched a video that Barack sent. It focused on how the house meetings form a core part of the campaign, and encouraged people like us to host our own house meeting.
You can watch the video if you click here.Jenna shared with the group how easy it had been (the campaign sent her everything she needed, and all she had to do was make food, which "we love doing anyway"). Several of us expressed an interest in hosting one soon.
I feel so encouraged because this is the way to build a movement that can really address the problems we face by accessing our strengths at the community and neighborhood level.
