Thursday 19 June 2008

Tonight's Obama London Meeting

I'll report back in more detail (plus pictures!) over the next couple of days, but I wanted to say quickly how pleased I was with tonight's Obama London General Election Kickoff meeting. We had a huge group - really filling the room, with many people good naturedly willing to stand throughout.

It was wonderful to see some old faces there, including folks like Candace Allen, Rob Carolina and Bill Rubin who have been working for a Obama wince the very beginning.

And it was equally wonderful to see a lot of new faces there, fired up and ready to go.

Stephanie Stewart, our Democrats Abroad UK Vice Chair and voter registration "goddess" did a great job giving everyone the essential facts about how to register voters oversees. Now I'm counting on everyone who was there to take the next step and actually sign up to get otu there and register those voters.

Bill Barnard, Chair of Democrats Abroad UK spoke at the very end of the meeting and he really put this year into perspective for me by reminding us all of how far we have come as a party and as a country, and the potential for how far we could go. As Bill pointed out, this year could be a transformative election - not just switching the party in the White House, but switching the party of majority for the first time in a generation. The stakes are high - but the potential is equally huge.

I'm glad that Barack Obama has emerged at this moment in time to carry our banner - the right man for the right time.

And I'm equally glad to be sharing this moment in time with the 50 or so fired up individuals who came to our event tonight. Remember, WE are the change we have been waiting for.

I reminded the group tonight of something that Barack said in his thank you address to his supporters, because it really struck me as important. After thanking his staff and pointing out how grateful he was for what they have been able to achieve together, he reminded them all how unlikely it was for them take that journey. How surprising, and remarkable it was for this group of people to do what they have done. But then reminded them that there's a responsibility that comes with that achievement. "Because we won, we have to win."

It's time for everyone who supported Barack in the primary to double down on thier involvement. Because THIS time if we don't win, we're not only disappointing ourselves, but our party and our country. Everyone who voted in the Democratic primary deserves to see their issues respected in the next white house, and that means Barack needs to win.

In the next few days I'll be posting volunteer opportunities for voter registration, as well as further ways you can support this group in our efforts. I hope you will all pitch in - remember, that if we do not do the work ourselves of moving our country forward, noone else is going to take up the slack: WE are the change we've been waiting for.

1 comment:

carmenloofah said...

are there any street celebrations planned in London tonight or this week?