November 2008 Archives

Ten years ago today Val and I were married in Bermuda on a beautiful cliff overlooking the ocean.  It is fitting that this day falls this year on Thanksgiving. 

I put together a little video to mark our anniversary and in the process I was returned to the images, memories and moments woven into the fabric of our relationship.

I was overtaken by an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the years we have had together and an excitement for the years to come. A depth of intimacy unknown to those two figures on the cliff has been built over years, slowly in the unfolding of life, as difficulties are faced and overcome, joys are born and grow, experiences layered one upon another, and the simple kindnesses of routine draw us closer.

The other day we looked online for the hotel in Bermuda at which we were married in 1998.  The Sonesta Beach Resort no longer exists: it was first damaged severely by hurricane Fabian in 2003, then rebuilt under the name Wyndham, and now completely wrecked so it can be rebuilt over the course of the next few years. Such structures may be built, destroyed and rebuilt, but the love declared on that clifftop on that day endures, finding new roots in small gestures each new day.

My friend and colleague from the New School, Emma Bianchi, forwarded me an essay written by Judith Butler entitled "Uncritical Exuberance?" that cautions us against too enthusiastically identifying with the election of Barack Obama.  Butler discerns a danger in "believing that this political moment can overcome the antagonisms that are constitutive of political life, especially political life in these times."

She also insists, rightly I think, that "there have always been good reasons not to embrace 'national unity' as an ideal, and to nurse suspicions toward absolute and seamless identification with any political leader."

I share her concern about the disjunction between those who voted for Obama in California (60%) and those who voted against the legalization of gay marriage (52%) and about the way economic concerns may have trumped racist tendencies in voters who professed to have voted for Obama despite his race.  To the extent that Obama's rhetoric of unity ("there are not red states or blue states, but the United States...") colludes in masking such ambivalence, it must be critically challenged.

However, I hear in Obama's politics something different, something more nuanced and mature.  There is, of course, often the appeal to a certain unity, but always without denying difference.  Here is where a different form of politics becomes possible. This other politics is not animated by the naive ideal of post-partisanship, but by the sober courage to enact a more deliberative reality.

My experience this year as a local volunteer canvassing for Obama has pressed this recognition upon me. In face to face encounters with individuals, many of whom disagreed with me, I came to see the possibilities endemic to what Obama envisions as a "deliberative democracy."  George Packer, drawing on Obama's The Audacity of Hope in this article from the New Yorker, clarifies the meaning of "deliberative democracy" this way:

it denotes a conversation among adults who listen to one another, who attempt to persuade one another by means of argument and evidence, and who remain open to the possibility that they could be wrong.

Deliberative democracy thus understood does not deny the antagonistic dimension of politics, nor does it enable the masking of ambivalence by an imagined unity; rather, it presumes the maturity of the citizenry and seeks to further cultivate it by engaging in honest, fallibilistic dialogue oriented always by the attempt to move us, incrementally to be sure, toward a more just way of living together.

If this is Obama's understanding of politics and if he intends to allow his Presidency to be informed by such a politics, then in electing him, this "dangerously adolescent country" has taken a decisive step toward maturity.

Yet, however decisive, it is only a first step, for the difficulty of it comes in living it. To live it requires critical optimism: the sober analysis and recognition of the limits of our current situation animated by an unyielding refusal to allow our failures to deter us from pressing toward a more just community.

The grassroots organization of Obama's campaign has the capacity to cultivate this sort of critical optimism. The technology it has embraced should enable it to pivot from the fund-raising and canvassing so critical to campaigning to the dynamic exchange of ideas so critical to governing.

If Obama can make this turn by empowering people to voice their views, offering them a resource by which they feel genuinely heard, and providing them with a certain level of transparency with regard to the mechanisms by which decisions are ultimately made, it will be transformative of American democracy.

Watch closely what happens as the MyBarackObama.com campaign becomes Change.gov, for here will be the first indication that such a transformation is really being attempted. I am not uncritically exuberant; yet I remain critically optimistic.

Today is Hannah Aveline Long's 3rd birthday and we are celebrating it with Choo-Choo Nana and her friends Caitlin and Ben Moser.  

I begin to think, that a calm is not desirable in any situation in life. Every object is beautiful in motion; a ship under sail, trees gently agitated with the wind, and a fine woman dancing, are three instances in point. Man was made for action and for bustle.

This passage struck me because from the moment of her birth, Hannah has been beautiful in motion, indeed, she has been a fine woman dancing from the start. Always at home in her body, she revels in motion and through it gives unending joy to those around her.

It is difficult to put into words the feelings of the last few days, the sense of genuine pride, of relief, of hope, of new possibility; the sense of gravity for the seriousness of the situation we now face, the very weight of responsibility that comes with an accomplishment like this.

From the moment I saw the President-elect walk onto the stage in Grant Park on Tuesday night, I knew he was changed. The full weight of the Office was squarely on his shoulders, and he bore it well.

As I listened to him speak, I was filled with a solemn sense of elation; joy in the moment, earnest in the face of the enormity of the task.  Obama captured this sense of solemn elation when he said:

What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek; it is only the chance for us to make that change.  And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.  It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.  So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other.

The passage resonates with almost every speech Obama has given through the campaign; it invites us to participate in something larger than ourselves, and it uses "this day, this election...this defining moment" to turn our attention toward new possibilities, to a future not measured by days or months, but by centuries.  It seized the moment as the opportunity to ask us to to imagine what we want to be and how we want it to be for our children.

From the start, Obama has had a sense for what the Greeks called the kairos, the right moment. It is a term that means also due measure, proper proportion, fitness; the proper time for planting, the season when growth is best cultivated. This most ancient of words not only designates the sense of timing with which the Obama campaign has operated, but it also beautifully articulates the very manner of its operation: balanced, steady, measured.

And now, they have turned from campaigning to governing with a swiftness that is to be admired.  Without a break, the Chief of Staff, Rahm Emmanuel, has been established and a new website launched: change.gov. 

One senses that this is just the beginning and that we will be asked to be an important part of what is to come.

The first word Hannah could read herself, or at least recognize, was 'Obama'.  She has been involved with the Obama campaign for at least 30% of her three year old life, and now she and her sister Chloe will never know a world in which an African-American was not president of the United States.

Here are some pictures that bring into focus how much Chloe and Hannah have grown over the course of this election.  The first is of Chloe, Caitlin and Hannah at the opening of the State College Obama campaign office in March.

Here is a picture of Chloe, Hannah and Val on Election Day, 2008.  Hannah and Chloe have grown up during this campaign and I hope they have learned something about standing up for what you believe in and putting your energy and efforts into making the world a better place. 

Chloe and Hannah were my intrepid canvassers, walking through many neighborhoods, ringing doorbells, always very happy to be out talking to voters.  They never complained and always were happy to visit the Obama office, where they inevitably received some treats, many stickers and more than a few high fives from volunteers.

To hear President-elect Obama speak tonight in Grant Park in Chicago was gift enough for all the effort.

My brother-in-law is the editor of the sports section of New York Newsday.  He asked for feedback from those of us living in battleground states.  I sent them a picture and a short report, which is now posted here:

• http://weblogs.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/politics/blog/2008/11/scenes_state_college_pennsylva.html

Thanks to Hank for extending the voice of State College to the NYC area.

When I arrived at the 31st precinct (State College West - 1) at 6:45am to begin working as a poll watcher for the Obama campaign, they had already been lined up for a half an hour.  Fathers with their daughters, young students and retired professors, mother's with their children, all waiting to begin voting in the 2008 Presidential election.

They came in a steady stream from the moment the doors opened at 7am until 11:20am, at which point we signed in our 300th voter.  Shirley, a longtime poll worker in the precinct, reported that 300 is usually a good number for when the polls close.  (It seems that there are about 700 voters registered in the precinct, so by 11:15 over 40% had already voted.)  Shirley said she had never seen it this busy.  One 74 year old voter said that in all his years here, he had never waited in line as long as he had this year. Everyone was in a good mood and the voting went smoothly. There were a large number of first time voters and voters who had been inactive in recent elections.

My job was to write down the voter numbers of those who had voted so that a runner could pick up the list and bring it back to the Obama campaign. They had a list of targeted voters who the campaign was calling if they had not yet voted.  It was, again, all very organized.

By noon, when Val and the girls came to pick me up, almost 400 people had voted, and I left to drive one of my colleagues to her polling place so she could vote.  When we arrived a little past 1pm at the Knights of Columbus on Stratford Ave, where the 19th and the 22nd precincts were voting, there was a huge line waiting to vote.  Actually, the line for the 22nd precinct, which covers an area where a lot of students live, was very long.  The line for the 19th, which is were my colleague, Véronique votes, the line was short.

This suggests that the student turnout is extremely high, which is a very good sign for Obama.  Obama campaign volunteers from New York and elsewhere were managing the line, making sure each person was on the proper line.  They had access to laptops on which they double checked people's precinct to make sure they only waited on line if they were to vote in the 22nd district.

During the course of the morning, I was struck by how important this entire process is.  Here were people, each concerned enough about our community to come out and have their voice heard. When I finally had a chance to stand in front of my own ballot, I was moved to be able to fill in the circle for Barack Obama.  I paused over it, taking special care to make sure the circle was perfectly filled in, that all was in order before it was scanned.  As I filled in that circle, I recalled the words Obama spoke the night he won the Iowa primary last January: "They said this day would never come. They said our sights were set too high. They said this country was too divided, too disillusioned to come together around a common purpose..."  Perhaps today, our day has finally come.

Today the girls and I went out for another day of knocking on doors to get out the vote for Obama.  This time, however, we were paired with Larry, a doctoral candidate in the School of Education, who was out for the first time volunteering.

When we started, I was really hoping that he would experience the same feeling of empowerment that I have come to feel each time I muster the courage to go door to door canvassing. The day started slowly as there were no answers at the first few doors on which we knocked. Then we came to a house where someone came to the door and motioned that he was not interested.  Just as I was beginning to feel depressed for Larry, we knocked on the door of a strong supporter who was even willing to volunteer on election day. 

Larry and I were rejuvenated by this response and proceeded to happily work through the rest of our assigned addresses, with Chloe helping a bit with the parking lot driving, and Hannah happily sleeping in the back.  (If you look closely at the picture to the right, you can see her napping.)

Today we were knocking on the doors of all the houses that had no answers yesterday. While we are out there, another two volunteers were going through the same neighborhood putting signs on the door nobs of the houses of likely voters indicating where their polling place was and giving them information about voting. 

Again, I was very impressed by the organization of the campaign materials and those training the volunteers.  The Obama office in State College was buzzing with volunteers young and old.  An eighty year old woman was behind us as we were picking up our packet and she said she was there to work the phones. I met a student I had last year in my first year seminar at Penn State, Stephanie Marek, who was calling off-campus students to make sure they knew where to vote and that there were also down ticket candidates for whom it was important to vote.  We saw dozens of young out-of-state volunteers catching a bite to eat before going back out canvassing. 

It was really quite inspiring to see so many people so motivated and engaged. This year is different for so many reasons, but most of all, it is different because so many people have felt empowered to participate in the political process and have been given an avenue through which to channel this very positive political energy.

The polls open here in Pennsylvania in about 34 hours ...

Here in State College, things are progressing very well with the Get Out the Vote (GOTV) efforts for Barack Obama.  Chloe, Hannah, Nanny Janny, Val and I went to the Obama office in State College today to canvass for them and we were told that all the canvassing packets had already gone out, and this was at 1:30pm!  The office was packed with volunteers, including many young people who have come from out of state for the next few days.

They told us that the Bellefonte office needed some help, so Nanny Janny, Chloe, Hannah and I headed to Bellefonte to do some canvassing.  They sent us out to Pleasant Gap, PA and again, I was impressed by the level of organization involved.

The packet I had included about 25 houses nestled into the gap that passed over Nittany mountain.  The doors I knocked on were largely of lower-income white voters who, for the most part, were supporting Obama.  My job was to ask if they knew where to vote and if they needed a ride to the polls.  Although I encountered two households who were not supportive, the majority of people I talked to were planning to vote for Obama for reasons ranging from the profound to the endearing.  When I asked one voter if he supported Obama, he told me that he supported the idea that the troops should be out of Iraq and so he would be voting for Obama.  Another voter told me that he though Obama was "pretty cool" and that, although he didn't really follow politics, he was going to vote for Obama because he sponsored a concert at Penn State with the surviving members of the Grateful Dead. I made sure he knew where his polling place was an happily moved on to the next house.

Today's Washington Post is highlighting a story with the headline "True Believers In McCain Flock to Pa." The dateline says State College, Pa and the story highlights a man who drove from South Carolina to State College in his trailer, set up camp in a local Walmart parking lot (is that legal?), and starting going door to door.  He is trying to do 25 houses a hour for ten hours a day through Tuesday.

What strikes me about this story is the way it highlights the radical difference between the McCain and Obama campaigns.  McCain has decided that winning PA is the only way he can possibly map a road through the electoral map to the White House.  However, inundating the state with free roaming door knocker set up in the parking lot at Walmart does not strike me as a very effective campaign strategy.  It calls to mind the seat-of-the-pants, winging it decision making process the McCain campaign has embodied from the start, having perfected it with the choice of Palin and the suspension of the campaign to muck around in the economic rescue process.

In striking contrast to this, the Obama campaign has a very well thought out and methodological approach to GOTV efforts.  They have thousands of people coming from out of state too, but they are put up in people's houses, fed by local volunteers and given access to resources that will allow them to make extremely effective use of their time while they are here.  The campaign has a very clear idea of what it wants done each day.

Today and tomorrow, we are to contact likely voters and ensure they know where to vote and find out if they need a ride to the polling place.  Monday, canvassers will be hanging thousands of door nob notices on the doors of targeted voters indicating where the polling places are and reminding people to vote.  On election day, each house will be visited twice to make sure each supporter has in fact voted.  This is a potentially very powerful method and will be looked upon as a model if it works.

The current Real Clear Politics polling average for PA has Obama ahead by 7.5 points, but I am not sure any of these polls are able to factor in what will happen to an electorate when the Democratic candidate has such a powerful GOTV program.  My hope is that this will be decisive and that Obama will win PA and the election going away.