The Language of Organizing and Michelle Obama's Speech....

I listened carefully this week to the speeches of the Democratic National Convention. Some were more concrete and less lofty in their promises than others. Others were highly ideological, which just turns me off anymore to politics. I'm tired of much of the talking and am ready to get us to the votes. Let's get this campaign done and the money spending over with already!! We've got better things to spend money on than another negative campaign ad, especially the ones with no imagination.

I heard a few phrases in Michelle Obama's speech that I think the pundits and analysts missed in their responses, and ones I think are lost on the majority of the public as they listened to find out about this Woman behind the Man.

She mentioned: the world as it is and the world as it should be. Many may hear these phrases as ways that the Obamas see America and where they'd like to take it. That's true. But these are phrases that are born of the Community Organizing movement. I heard them several months ago at a workshop on community organizing. The community organizer teaching us used the phrases in an exercise to help us articulate positions on an issue. Let's say the issue is healthcare. In the 'world as it is,' healthcare is available to those who can afford it. In the 'world as it should be', we imagine healthcare affordable for anyone. These phrases accurately assess a current situation and then help others imagine a better world that's beyond our current situation.

Michelle Obama stayed true to her organizing roots in the speech with the use of the phrases. A few commentators I saw made no mention of how these phrases are tools to use in moving a community from one place to another. The commentators referred to them as clever word plays. But they're more than that. They are a strategy for moving a community beyond its current state to a better one. We want folks who can articulate the world as it is and the world as it should be on BOTH sides of the aisle. It's the "world as it should be" that's at stake in this election. Should be what ... is the question that McCain and Obama will answer in nauseating and unimaginative ways. My prayer is that they go beyond trying to outrage one another with petty comments on houses and experience and get to the root of their real plans for action.

The Texas Flip-Flop

Something the pundits haven't discussed in the myriad of exit polls taken throughout Texas last night is this new category of voter -- the Republicans who voted in the Democratic Party for the one candidate whom they thought stood the least chance of beating John McCain. I have a slew of Republican friends who stood in line yesterday to cast their vote for the "best loser." Most of them went toward Hillary Clinton thinking that she stands the best chance of losing to McCain. They are worried about Obama's potential to beat McCain in the general election. A McCain-Obama contest has a slimmer margin of victory for McCain than a Hillary-McCain contest in their minds. They want to make sure McCain gets the weakest opponent to run against.

The state of the current election and the confusion of the Texas Primary System allows such a category of voter to turn up. If the McCain-Huckabee contest had been much closer, more Republicans would have turned up in that primary and eliminated themselves from the Democratic Primary. In Texas, you don't have to declare your party affiliation before the Primary. You declare it by voting in the Primary, and retain that affiliation for the reminder of the year. At the end of the year, everyone resets. Since McCain had clearly won the nomination by yesterday, a lot of would-be Republican Primary voters came out to the Democratic primaries to help sway that vote in their favor. I wonder how much of a percentage that was of the vote last night. I don't think exit pollsters were asking that question. They were looking at more traditional demographics. I'm willing to suggest that as much as 10% of the vote yesterday was from this kind of flip-flop voter. My friends think it's less than 5%, but how can we ever tell?

This is akin to playing golf with a handicap. You start out ahead of your competitor. Your competitor could play a better round than you, but because of your handicap you come out better in the end. I'm willing to bet that the same thing happened in Ohio last night. I'm not saying this guaranteed a win for Hillary, but it didn't hurt her cause any. In Texas, the majority win was so slim, that I'm willing to think that enough Republicans came out to make the decision to break the tie.

Of course, this is playing with fire. Things could backfire, and the one for whom they vote could take office in January '09. These voters would then find themselves in a precarious situation of knowing that they made it possible for their opponent to assume the office they so desperately were trying to keep for themselves. Talk about irony!

The Texas Two Step

In 2004, I waited in line for 2 hours to cast my vote in the super-important presidential election between George W. Bush and John Kerry. My wife waited 3 hours. I went early in the morning (which, if you know me, is a feat in itself), and my wife went after work. In all my years of voting (and that's not many really), I never felt like my vote counted as much as it did in Ohio in 2004. The country was waiting on our vote. I went to bed thinking one candidate had won just to wake up and find out that another took his place.

Today, I stood in line for 15 minutes for the primary voting in Texas. It was early in the morning again. Snow blanketed our North Texas landscape from the night before, but things were melting quickly as our sun pushed us up to 60 degree weather. I cast my vote in relative ease and looked forward to the caucusing tonight. In all of my research, I came up more confused about the caucus process for the Democratic party than before I started any at all. Texas Democrats are about as clear as a saloon window in West Texas.

I went back tonight to place my vote, again. There were about 150-200 people in line to vote, and election officials were closing off the voting line. The line next to it that led to the caucus was twice as long. They moved us into the school quickly, and we snaked our way through the building. We were told that caucusing wouldn't start until the last vote was placed. Luckily, I had grabbed a journal to read in line.

Once in line, we began questioning each other about the process. Could we sign and leave? Did we have to stay? How many delegates are determined here? What if you early voted, did you have to come back for this as well? I awaited about an hour and a half before I entered the cafeteria where I could cast my vote, again. It seemed like the officials did wait until the last vote was cast in the primary, which had been told to us. What I don't understand is the whole purpose for the caucus anyway.

It's reasonable to think that I would give the same vote to the person for whom I voted earlier in the day. It's unreasonable to expect people to come back again to voice something we've already said. What about all those who were at work who couldn't make it back? What about all those who have responsibilities at home? What about all those who chose to stay home and help their kids prepare for the statewide testing tomorrow that will take place at the same school we filled? It seems odd and convoluted to show up again. Of course, precinct delegates will be chosen tonight to go to the state convention later in this year, but who wants to stay around another hour for that?

I've been listening to the news media talking about how Texas Democrats have fouled up this latter process of caucusing. I can't say that really happened in my precinct. What I can say is that the voting system we have nationwide is ill-prepared to handle the overload if all of us decide to show up. It's created for a smaller voting turnout because that's what has happened in years past. We're showing now that folks better start getting more election officials at locations and more voting machines ready, because we're turning up more and more.

I was privileged to be in another state where it felt like my vote really did matter. Early on in my voting life, it seemed that my vote was a lost cause because I lived in a state that didn't want to hear a democratic voice. Today was a different story. It was great to be surrounded by my fellow American citizens as we took place in a process that doesn't fill our lives normally. If America is really going to change, it won't be because of the leaders we elect. It will be because we cared enough to SHOW UP and PARTICIPATE. When was the last time we could say with confidence that we all were voicing our care and concern for our country. I can point to this time now, and I hope it continues for many years to come.

(pic courtesy of www.barackobama.com)