Saturday, December 20, 2008

November 4, 2008: Change has come to America

If it felt like this for us, God knows what it was like for the rest of them.

Every moment of every day checking emails, planning, organizing, strategizing, devising and creating video content, sitting on conference calls, figuring out ways to win, to bring Hope and Action to America. For twenty-one months and for many more for some, it was their lives.

And it all hinged on what would happen on that one clear, temperate day in November.



Five weeks on – now that the dust has settled on the election and on the campaign, now that cabinet posts have been filled and economic advisers have been placed – it is both too late and too early to fully assess what happened on November 4, 2008. We’re in that odd time between History being made and judged.

But for those of you who enjoyed our blog and who offered support for our journey across the country in search of people to engage and stories to tell, here are the videos of that magical day.

At times, Drive for Obama was as much vacation as vocation, as much discovery as dedication.

Driving across the country we made musical pilgrimages to Memphis and New Orleans; we studied the Clinton and Johnson Libraries; we marvelled at Graceland and the Grand Canyon; we visited the far-flung metropolises of LA and San Francisco – and we fell in love with America all over again.

But we also spoke to people every day about why we felt Barack Obama was the right person to lead the country and the world at this perilous time.

We spoke to supporters and sceptics, and received mixed reactions. But almost everyone was proud that their country had inspired two people from thousands of miles away to engage in their process. To many, that in itself was a sign that this country was working again and turning the page on division.

Time and again we repeated the same message – that there is nothing more critical for our world than the election of intelligent, honest, fair-minded, progressive leaders.

That Barack Obama is a rare and timely political talent; a man of supreme judgement, vision and inspiration at a time of war, economic recession and global environmental crisis.



We repeated this message to people across the country, on the gas station forecourts and in the hostels from DC to California; to the sound of music on the streets of New Orleans and Nashville; from the bustling phone banks of local campaign offices in Louisiana and Arizona.

And on Election Day, November 4 2008, we awoke early and made our way to the National Obama Campaign HQ in Chicago. We made 300 calls to Indiana, and – along with the friends we made on the way – we helped win that state for Obama by an eventual 20,000 votes.



That evening, the joy and hope in Grant Park, Chicago, were palpable. This really felt like an essential moment on the journey of this country, and a turning point in History.

We’re sorry this last blog has taken so long. We are both now back in the UK, and – while we are immensely proud of what we’ve contributed to in our other home – in some way it has already been consigned to memory. To History.

But we’re grateful for the opportunities afforded us by America, and we’re as impressed as our passion always told us we would be with the beginnings of the fledgling Obama administration.

Our only complaint? That it hasn’t started yet.

1 comment:

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