From the Chairman’s Laptop …
Yesterday felt like last year.
Democrats, think about where you were and what you were doing one year ago yesterday. October 20, 2008 – we were just a few short weeks away from the most historic Election Day we would experience. Democrats were excited, we were headed to the field offices to make calls, out into the neighborhoods to canvass, talking about the election and how we could make history – how we could make things better.
So we moved through the election, on election night many of us gathered at the Chase or sat glued to our televisions and watch history unfurl. We heard the talking heads say “CNN can now say that we project Barack Obama will be elected the 44th President of the United States”. We all remember how that felt, we were tired, many of us just existing on adrenalin- but we had won. YES WE DID! Then we saw the first family-elect come out on stage in Grant Park in Chicago and we thought “wow, look what we have done, look what change we have made”.
Then we all went back to our lives, back to the kids and schools and guitar lessons, and work and …….
We didn’t think that we had to do anymore civic work; after all we had just won. We controlled both houses in Congress and the White House – our work was done. We moved through our lives, our ups and downs and watched from-time-to-time the news of our President doing great things, making tough decisions, putting together his administration, trying to reach across the aisle. And we saw the beginning of the agenda of change- the change we worked so hard for- begin to manifest itself in the President’s healthcare reform package. Sure there was the typical Washington back and forth, the constant debate on the 24 hour news shows, but healthcare reform was on the agenda. People were having serious conversations about how to fix this situation which is already too expensive and promises in the years to come to bankrupt our country. We all thought, wow isn’t grand that we can have this debate.
Then August came. Congress went back home for summer break and the OP (formerly known as GOP, but there is nothing grand about their recent tactics) riled up the most cantankerous group of Neanderthals that they could find to attack the healthcare reform initiative. Armed with mis-information (provided by shadow groups funded by big healthcare insurers) they stormed town hall meetings screaming at members of congress. They had been whipped up by the folks at Fox News and Rush Limbaugh, lead to believe that there would be “death panels” overseen by faceless bureaucrats who would determine who lives and who dies. Their tactic, though ignoble, were effective. The President’s numbers began to fall, support for healthcare reform dipped. It looked like all that we had worked for – the Change that we believed in – wasn’t enough to push back on the big moneyed interests in Washington.
President Barack Obama and Sen. Ted Kennedy participate in a national service event at The SEED School of Washington, D.C., April 21, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
But something changed. In September we started working again. I started getting calls and emails from friends from the campaign. Folks saying things like “we need to get back to work; we need to get back to work on health care”. It kept building. Not just organically, granted OFA, the Democratic Party and various affiliate groups were organizing to push back on the right wing’s attempt to gut healthcare reform. But the organizing found fertile soil, because so many of us had realized that the work that we did last year was only the beginning of our civic engagement. It was only a marker on the road of change.
So in the days leading up to yesterday we tweeted and emailed folks to remind them to call congress and tell our members that we want strong health care reform with a public option. Yesterday was much like an election day where all of the work culminates on one day – you’ve got one shot at making it happen and it is on that one day that you must do it.
Well, yesterday morning on my way to drop off the kids at school, there it was, at the corner of Kingshighway and Lindell, there it was… our people! They were there with signs and chanting and making visibility for health care reform! My twitter lit up with tweets and retweets reminding me and others that today was the day to call congress, we needed 100,000 calls to congress. As the day went on, more tweets, emails, reminders and calls came. We had to reach our goal – we had to show congress that loonies storming town hall meetings were not the majority – we were. We reached our goal – and kept making more calls. We can make 150,000 calls. Can’t we? Yes we can!
With each passing hour email messages kept coming in, updating the total calls to congress. We surpassed the 150,000; then established a new goal. We smashed through it, another goal was exceeded. Later in the afternoon on the way to pick-up the kids, our volunteers were doing visibility at Forest Park Parkway and DeBaliviere – cars honking for Healthcare reform! Wow we made 315,000 calls to congress yesterday. We reached and exceeded our goals.
We clearly moved the needle on the debate. We unquestionably made some members of congress realize what the people want. Certainly the effort had and will continue to have a positive impact on our President’s effort to reform health care.
All of that is good – no, it is great, but perhaps what is more important from yesterday is that we realized that our work wasn’t over last year. Those of us who worked to elect our President realized that our work goes on and we must be vigilant in our work for change. Remember where you were a year ago yesterday. If you are dedicated to making this world a better place you must continue working on campaigns or issues on October 20th and every other day for many years to come.
Congratulations to all who helped to get 315,000 calls made yesterday.
See you at the Halloween Party!
Brian Wahby
Chairman
