to canvas together. It
should not have been a big thing, but the beauty of the image did not
escape me.
"Instead of walking the tree-lined streets near our home, my wife and
I were instructed to canvass a housing project. A middle-aged white
couple with clipboards could not look more out of place in this
predominantly black neighborhood.
"We knocked on doors and voices from behind carefully locked doors shouted, 'Who is it?'
"'We're from the Obama campaign,' we'd answer. And just like that doors opened and folks with wide smiles came out on the porch
to talk"
From Jonathan Curley's moving account of workin for Obama in North Carolina, in the Christian Science Monitor. This moment's bigger than any of us. Identity politics is gone. Prepare your hearts for change.
Thanks to Rupa Shah for the tip. And what's the deal with canvas/canvass?
Any similar view of campaigners entering the "white trash" camps?
I don't understand why anyone would seek out apathetic people and take them to a polling station. I also think it's a stretch to say that the nation will be much worse off if Obama wins. And it is completely false to claim that Obama somehow signals the end of identity politics, when his campaign has been largely about identity from the beginning.
"And what's the deal with canvas/canvass?"
Don't you just love the English language (not)?
———————————-
(omitting the nouns canvas and canvass)
Main Entry: canvas
Function: transitive verb
: to cover, line, or furnish with canvas
———————————–
Main Entry: can·vass
Variant(s): also can·vas \ˈkan-vəs\
Function: verb
transitive verb
1obsolete : to toss in a canvas sheet in sport or punishment
2 a: to examine in detail ; specifically : to examine (votes) officially for authenticity b: discuss , debate
3: to go through (a district) or go to (persons) in order to solicit orders or political support or to determine opinions or sentiments
intransitive verb
: to seek orders or votes : solicit
DAMN THAT TOWER OF BABEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am a 49-year-old white woman who canvassed in both African-American and white neighborhoods for Obama. It was a wonderful experience. When children heard the name Obama, they came running out of the house shouting "Obama! Obama!" Some destitute people crowded around me asking for Obama stickers and signs and seemed genuinely pleased to get them. The Obama candidacy has brought pride to people who are, alas, too often marginalized.
I am pro-Obama because of my opposition to the Iraq war. There is a wonderful alliance being formed among progressives of all colors. Thank you, Obama.
I don't get canvassing neighborhoods for a politician. To be honest, I consider political ads to be an invasion of privacy, so I surely consider activists to be a cut below Mormons–I at least have fun with the Mormons! And I find it somewhat strange that children would run out of a house shouting "Obama! Obama!"
I'll vote third-party because I despise McCain, and I just can't support Obama's cult without personality. I just fear that if Obama wins that I am in for at least four years of ex-hippies jabberering on about whatever it is that they jabber on about. (It will be a good day when the last of that generation is dead and buried.)If I have to hear the word hip referring to anything other than a body part, or a syllable fo Bob Dylan, I'm going on a shooting spree.