Obama’s campaigner

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    GOOD FRIEND Sotero Chandler Ramas III, whose promise as a young journalist in Pampanga found fulfillment as a labor organizer in the United States, e-mailed me a brief account of his work as campaigner for now US president-elect Barack Obama.

    Victory at last, Chandler said, reminding me of his futile campaign in 2004 for John Kerry. Here’s his account:

    “I operated in the battleground state of Missouri. My primary assignment was to get the vote out for Proposition B, to improve quality homecare for consumers and about 8,000 caregivers in the state. Happily, it was passed with two million “Yes” votes against about 600,000 “No”.

    We were a team of seven senior staff and some trainees. My turf was in the middle part of the state, specifically, Washington and Dent counties. I got 11,000 votes from both of them.

    We were an integral part of the Obama campaign, but of course.  Our group, the SEIU (Service Employees International Union) endorsed and really worked for Obama.  We are the biggest union in the US as you probably already know with two million members and growing. We were even featured in USA Today, knocking door- to- door for Obama.

    I did special operations in mobilizing the Kansas and Springfield rallies – both in Missouri. The turn-out of 75,000 in Kansas and 35,000 in Springfield were by campaign standards really huge.

    Especially in Springfield, considering that it is in Greene County which is supposedly a Republican stronghold. The rallyists here got all fired up when some McCain supporters heckled them. The funny thing was that the Obama supporters there were predominantly white.

    One McCain die-hard drove around the rally site with his car emblazoned with McCain posters, one saying “Vote for the Real American!”

    The Obama supporters hollered at him: “So, why are you driving a Lexus?”
    Truly, a great number of conservatives went out with signs “A Vote for Obama is a Vote for Terrorism, Communism, Socialism, Dictatorship.”

    Which showed their utter ignorance of the issues at hand. Yes, there are unthinking voters here too. They mouth phrases and terms they have no knowledge of. Most surely, their minds are as closed to Obama’s alternative for governance as to Bush-Cheney’s Patriot Act. 

    The bottomline though in the election is: not a drop of blood was shed, the count was quick, McCain as quick in conceding, and now change really is coming to Washington.

    Since the primaries, we have supported Obama.Your kumare  Hillary had some “baggage” with the former president there. Your Pareng Bill may be still popular but he could not pull in the votes from the moderate Democrats.

    Obama really became a superstar, and how! From nobody, raised by a single parent and a minority (ahem, like me) he rose to become the most powerful man on earth. Truly, only in the USA ne? How I wish we can have the same situation too in the Philippines. The thing is in our own country, we need to have a big name even before getting to be a mere councilor.  Obama is and was really from the middle class, an organizer (like me) and  until the White House could hardly pay for his tiny condo in Chicago. Can you believe it?”

    OF COURSE, I do. And I completely understand Chandler’s high over Obama’s win. Not only because he worked hard for it but that they share the same skin color. Right on, bruddah! 

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