Working for Obama in Allentown

I've always been a reluctant Obama supporter because his policies seem center or even right of center to me. But from what I can tell, I really like the guy and feel he will be a good president to the extent anyone can be a good president given these times. So I've become more involved as time has gone by. But not in the sense of actually working in the campaign. Until yesterday.

I'm not one of those people who think this election is a cinch. Far from it. I always expected McCain to win. And still think the Republicans will find a way to squeeze this out. Frankly, the numbers I hear scare me. Weren't Kerry and Gore ahead at this point too?

If it's close, I am giving the state to McCain. Bradley effect and all that stuff. Turnout? Young people? I'm still not convinced. Did they make sure to register in the same place they live or at the school they go to or like my recent college grad cousin who is from DC, went to school upstate and now lives here in the city, did she take care of business to make sure she can vote? Besides, she works late and, you know, lines, etc. Beside, people think it's a slam dunk for Obama and we know how that turns out.

We were out at in wine country on the east end of Long Island and a debate broke out between a lone Obama supporter and a group of McPalins in the parking lot. I had to jump into the fray, but I hear way too much of this stuff from too many people I know. I think I saw one Obama sign in my entire neighborhood with about 50 more McPalin signs. And we are 5 minutes from Brooklyn.

I believe Pennsylvania is the key to this entire election and McCain was derided for throwing so many resources into the state. I thought he was smart to do so and he has made some progress with polls showing a narrowing.

When I got that Move.on email saying I was needed in Allentown, PA, I headed over there on Sunday. If Obama loses PA by one vote, it won' t be my fault.

There were many cars streaming into the Obama HQ. They came from Jersey and lots from New York. All ages. Mostly white. While waiting on the bathroom line I found it interesting how confident they were despite the fact that most of the people who live near them (except the Manhattan and Park Slope people) were McCain people. I felt dread.

But I perked up from the enormous outpouring of people and the impressive way we were organized and trained. We were sent out in pairs. My partner was a young man from Manhattan by way of DC, having grown up in Virginia. He did some canvassing back home recently. "I don't think Obama will win Virginia," he said. Jeez. And he is running even in North Carolina, if not being behind. And Ohio? As the Fearless Forecaster on WFAN often says: A LOSS.

Did you get the idea I am a major pessimist?

The guy in charge is a lawyer from Long Island who has been there for a month. He grew up in Rockaway and wasn't surprised when I told him about some of the sentiments of all too many people.

But I perked up as more people kept showing up all day. And what a smooth operation. They have shifted from convincing people to vote Obama, to canvassing for Obama supporters to a Get Out The Vote operation. That was our job yesterday. To go to targeted addresses of people who said they were for Obama and to leave a door knob flyer as a reminder. We were not knocking on doors but if we saw someone we were to ask if they needed a ride to the polls on Tuesday.

Our trainer said that they can track every single person who did not vote by 6PM and they will call them to remind them. And do it again at 7PM. Impressive. I lost a few butterflies on hearing that. About 2.

We went out to an area that seemed to be the Allentown version of low income housing. Two story garden apartments. Mostly Hispanic, based on the names. Having taught in east Williamsburg, there was some similarity. Will they actually go out and vote? The 2 butterflies are back.

Look. PA is within margin of error. Hillary beat Obama badly. Florida and North Carolina and Virginia - it is really possible for McCain. More than possible. I would go back to Allentown on election day if I didn't have this robotic training thing I'm involved in. If things look worse tonight I may blow it off and head on back. Or at the very least start calling people from here. (The Obama organization even makes provision for that.) I don't much believe it does all that much good but doing nothing makes those

A neighbor is throwing an election night open house. I'm going with plenty of good stuff to drink. We will really know a lot by 8PM. At that point I expect to be drinking. Heavily.

John McCain- Make-Believe Maverick - Rolling Stone

A closer look at the life and career of John McCain reveals a disturbing record of recklessness and dishonesty

At Fort McNair, an army base located along the Potomac River in the nation's capital, a chance reunion takes place one day between two former POWs. It's the spring of 1974, and Navy commander John Sidney McCain III has returned home from the experience in Hanoi that, according to legend, transformed him from a callow and reckless youth into a serious man of patriotism and purpose. Walking along the grounds at Fort McNair, McCain runs into John Dramesi, an Air Force lieutenant colonel who was also imprisoned and tortured in Vietnam.

McCain is studying at the National War College, a prestigious graduate program he had to pull strings with the Secretary of the Navy to get into. Dramesi is enrolled, on his own merit, at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in the building next door.

There's a distance between the two men that belies their shared experience in North Vietnam — call it an honor gap. Like many American POWs, McCain broke down under torture and offered a "confession" to his North Vietnamese captors. Dramesi, in contrast, attempted two daring escapes. For the second he was brutalized for a month with daily torture sessions that nearly killed him. His partner in the escape, Lt. Col. Ed Atterberry, didn't survive the mistreatment. But Dramesi never said a disloyal word, and for his heroism was awarded two Air Force Crosses, one of the service's highest distinctions. McCain would later hail him as "one of the toughest guys I've ever met."

On the grounds between the two brick colleges, the chitchat between the scion of four-star admirals and the son of a prizefighter turns to their academic travels; both colleges sponsor a trip abroad for young officers to network with military and political leaders in a distant corner of the globe.

"I'm going to the Middle East," Dramesi says. "Turkey, Kuwait, Lebanon, Iran."

"Why are you going to the Middle East?" McCain asks, dismissively.

"It's a place we're probably going to have some problems," Dramesi says.

"Why? Where are you going to, John?"

"Oh, I'm going to Rio."

"What the hell are you going to Rio for?"

McCain, a married father of three, shrugs.

"I got a better chance of getting laid."

Dramesi, who went on to serve as chief war planner for U.S. Air Forces in Europe and commander of a wing of the Strategic Air Command, was not surprised. "McCain says his life changed while he was in Vietnam, and he is now a different man," Dramesi says today. "But he's still the undisciplined, spoiled brat that he was when he went in."

More
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/make_believe_maverick_the_real_john_mccain

DEEEEE- REGULATION!

Bloggers (Daily Howl, Chancellors New Clothes) have compared Wendy Kopp, Michelle Rhee, BloomKlein, Sharpton, all the EEPs and other education reform flim flam men and women with "The Music Man's" Harold Hill.

But they all pale in comparison to the man who eagerly signed on to their phony ed reform: Republican presidential candidate and likely next co-president of the United States, John McCain.

You see, according to McCain, the major problem in this country is too much regulation and he promises to DEEEEEEE-REGULATE. The poor financial institutions have been so limited by all that regulation, that they have not been able to make even worse loans. The American and world financial world is in meltdown because they don't have enough freedom.

Remember the good old days of the 1920's when they could do anything they wanted. When investment companies and banks intermingled and all sorts of abuses led to the dreaded D word. And I don't mean DEEEEEEE-REGULATION!

Now I was a history major and we actually studied the D-word. We learned there would never be another D-word because the banking industry was now REGULATED. Remember Glass-Steagall?

Established 1933- a very good year - and repealed 1999. Remmber the president who signed that repeal? He wasn't named Bush.

The poor dears in the banking industry joined the oil and other corporate powers and bought both parties. But McCain feels they still need more DEEEEEEEEEEE-REGULATION!

So today, we salute the American political world with a few words from Harold Hill with a few minor changes.

It starts with a capital D
And that rhymes with P
And that stands for "POOR"

Well, either you're closing your eyes
To a situation you do now wish to acknowledge
Or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated
By the presence of a Palin in your community.

Ya got trouble, my friend, right here,
I say, trouble right here in D.C. City.

And it starts with T
And that rhymes with P
And that stands for PALIN

Oh, we've got trouble.
We're in terrible, terrible trouble.

Original lyrics here.