(no subject)
I've been watching Barak Obama. I've been watching him, and looking at his website, and listening to him speak and I've been feeling a tremendous amount of emotion and hope and renewal because of it. I've been feeling this so much, so powerfully that I've not trusted myself. I've not trusted that I could believe what I was feeling. Was it real? Or was I reacting to well designed and well performed rhetoric? Is this man really who he says he is, who he appears to be? I've wanted to believe, but was scared to. You can imagine that it's been a genuine internal struggle for me. So last night I took what some may consider an extreme step. I drove out to the campaign headquarters here in St. Louis (1204 Washington Ave, Ste. 300) to talk to the people there. Obviously I wasn't expecting to get a fair and balanced description of the issues or rhetoric, what I wanted to see were the eyes of the people there. I wanted to be in the presence of people who were doing the work. I wanted to talk to them and get a sense of who they were and how deeply they believed.
I spoke with two individuals, one man and one woman, probably both in their twenties. Both were from Iowa and had been working on this campaign for the past seven months. Both of these individuals had had first contact with the candidate. They both had had personal conversations with Senator Obama. They said that when he talks to you that he makes you feel as if you are the only other person in the room. They said that what you see on TV is what you see off of TV. They said that he is the real thing. I say that they are true believers. These are not people who are trying to sell a platform, or simply hard-core Democrats who happen to be working on this particular campaign. These are two individuals who see in this man everything that they hope for in the future and believe as firmly as they believe anything else that this man can give it to them. I looked these people in the eye and did not see a desire to beat the other guy, but a dedication to their guy and everything that he stands for.
I may never see that again.
I spoke with two individuals, one man and one woman, probably both in their twenties. Both were from Iowa and had been working on this campaign for the past seven months. Both of these individuals had had first contact with the candidate. They both had had personal conversations with Senator Obama. They said that when he talks to you that he makes you feel as if you are the only other person in the room. They said that what you see on TV is what you see off of TV. They said that he is the real thing. I say that they are true believers. These are not people who are trying to sell a platform, or simply hard-core Democrats who happen to be working on this particular campaign. These are two individuals who see in this man everything that they hope for in the future and believe as firmly as they believe anything else that this man can give it to them. I looked these people in the eye and did not see a desire to beat the other guy, but a dedication to their guy and everything that he stands for.
I may never see that again.