Goodbye fireside chat, Hello YouTube

One thing I really enjoyed about Barack Obama's presidential campaign was the way he was able to reach many of his supporters wherever they were and get them aware of and engaged in the political process. The Obama team became a master of web 2.0 technology, using e-newsletters, social bookmarking, rss feeds, twitter, podcasts and YouTube to deliver his messages of change, clarification of policies, and encouragement to get involved.

A big question in my mind right after the election was how Obama was planning on leveraging the relationship he built with the huge base of supporters during the campaign. He no longer needs our vote so will he just forget about us?

Not so. This is one smart leader and he's not going to toss away the energy of such a valuable group. So far it seems he really does mean what he said about the we in the "yes we can". He needs and expects our (and that now includes all in this country) participation during his presidency if change is actually going to come about.

To keep us up to speed the President-elect has his own transition webpage: www.change.gov
Obama will also be doing a new and improved fireside chat during his time in office. It's a weekly address he'll be giving throughout the transition time and while in office. Check out the first one below.

Yes we can and yes we DID!

A good number of slogans are cheered around during any campaign. I haven't been around long, but in what I've heard, I've never seen a slogan as substantial and promising as Barack Obama's "YES WE CAN". At first I thought it was very catchy and easy to remember, but I soon realized there is true power behind those three little words. The slogan is weighty yet promises freedom from burden; it's deep but lifts us out of the depths of doubt and fear; it includes everyone but reaches individuals in a very personal way.

The chant took on a whole new meaning when Obama was elected by the American people to be our President, marking the achievement of many firsts, not the least of which is becoming the first African American president. All that affirmation and encouragement yielded real results! We can claim, along with Obama, that yes, we DID! By we I'm referring not just to Obama and to everyone in his campaign team, but also to every American supporter, volunteer, and the those in the world who took a chance by turning away from fearful driven campaigning and instead looked in the direction where each wants to walk - that is choosing a different, higher model before them to inform the future. I'm even referring to the McCain-Palin campaign and supporters who so gracefully conceded defeat on Tuesday night.

This will go down as one of those "where were you when...?" moments in history. At 10pm I'd just finished playing volleyball in Dupont area. I rushed myself down to the metro. I hopped off the White Flint metro and raced across the street to the Bethesda North Marriott Conference Center where the Montgomery County democrats were hosting a party. My heart starting beating faster as I walked into screams and cheers. Florida had just been announced as going for Obama.

This story is likely similar to many others. The room was packed with people of all ages and races, most sporting their colorful and creative Obama paraphernalia. 10 seconds to 11pm (when California was to close its polls), everyone started counting down, just like new years, but this time there was much more to celebrate than the turning of a page on a calendar. Cliche, yes, but it was to be one of the biggest page turners in modern history - the election of black president. 11pm and we all went wild. I've never been a part of anything else like it. Tears streaming down all our faces, hugs with friends and strangers. Jumping up and down. Screaming. Lots of screaming with joy and relief. Called my brother in Brooklyn but neither of us could hear the other because of the wave of elation that swept over the crowds where we were.

What came as the biggest surprise to me in this moment was the sense of pride that was flooded through me in an irresistible way. WOW - This is the America I identify with. This is the America I believe in. This is the America I'll work hard and sacrifice for. This is the America that I can celebrate openly without hesitation or shame.

Without a doubt America needs all of us to do all those things to pick ourselves up. A leader is necessary, yes, but aware and engaged participants have to be right there with him ready to act, but also to be extremely patient. Real change, to borrow a phrase from Obama, isn't going to come in the next few months, year, or maybe not even in this first term, especially not because of a change in president. Look at what the majority of Americans just did with this election. If we can do that with so many odds against the win at the start, just think of the possibilities.

Not me, WE

My mom and I, along with many others who'd replied to an e-mail announcement and received free tickets from MoveOn.org, showed up downtown for a major speech on global climate change by Nobel winner and former vice president Al Gore . I spent a swelteringly hot hour yesterday waiting outside the DAR (the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution) in a blob of progressives (along with some right wingers who think global warming is a hoax) surrounding the building and in the streets, many of whom don't know how to form lines and proceeded to get rude and yell at each other about who was actually at the front of the line. Where's the unity, change, and hope for us in that kind of behavior!? Ugh. It would have been a much more pleasant wait had my kindergarten teacher been there to straighten everyone out.

But we got in and the auditorium was air conditioned - hallelujah!



Essentially the speech was Gore's challenge to the nation to be 100% energy independent using renewable energy and carbon-free sources. Quite an ambitious goal, I think, but he did a spectacular job explaining the premise for his challenge and presenting the reasons why such a goal is attainable. Being the dork that I am, I actually took notes throughout and I would just love to share them with you. But then again, why reinvent the wheel? I just received this e-mail from MoveOn.org with the key quotes from the speech

"Like a lot of people, it seems to me that all these problems are bigger than any of the solutions that have thus far been proposed for them, and that's been worrying me...

Yet when we look at all three of these seemingly intractable challenges at the same time, we can see the common thread running through them, deeply ironic in its simplicity: our dangerous over-reliance on carbon-based fuels is at the core of all three of these challenges—the economic, environmental and national security crises.

We're borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that's got to change...

But if we grab hold of that common thread and pull it hard, all of these complex problems begin to unravel and we will find that we're holding the answer to all of them right in our hand.

The answer is to end our reliance on carbon-based fuels.

Can we really get all our electricity from sources like solar and wind in 10 short years?

Scientists have confirmed that enough solar energy falls on the surface of the earth every 40 minutes to meet 100 percent of the entire world's energy needs for a full year. Tapping just a small portion of this solar energy could provide all of the electricity America uses.

And enough wind power blows through the Midwest corridor every day to also meet 100 percent of US electricity demand.

And of course, all this means more good jobs to re-power our economy:

When we send money to foreign countries to buy nearly 70 percent of the oil we use every day, they build new skyscrapers and we lose jobs. When we spend that money building solar arrays and windmills, we build competitive industries and gain jobs here at home.

With all the political posturing on high gas prices and drilling, it's amazing to hear someone being so honest:

It is only a truly dysfunctional system that would buy into the perverse logic that the short-term answer to high gasoline prices is drilling for more oil ten years from now.

Am I the only one who finds it strange that our government so often adopts a so-called solution that has absolutely nothing to do with the problem it is supposed to address? When people rightly complain about higher gasoline prices, we propose to give more money to the oil companies and pretend that they're going to bring gasoline prices down. It will do nothing of the sort, and everyone knows it...

However, there actually is one extremely effective way to bring the costs of driving a car way down within a few short years. The way to bring gas prices down is to end our dependence on oil and use the renewable sources that can give us the equivalent of $1 per gallon gasoline."

If you'd like to see the entire speech, check it out on the link below:

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3945&id=13269-7914041-TAFNyXx&t=

Gore's goals are further explained in the "we campaign," also known as We Can Solve It, which is working to promote awareness of the threat to our global and national climate, government, and economy, and to mobilize the American people to take action.

I've got some commentary of my own on the event, but I'll share that in another post later.

Ode - a magazine for intellectual optimists

I love getting mail when it's completely unexpected. Two days ago Ode magazine was sitting in my mailbox. I had no idea where it was coming from or who sent it to me so at first I thought it was junk. I opened it up and was hooked in by....surprisingly...the first three ads. I rarely stop to read the ads in magazines. One because there's just too darn many of them and two because they are usually so superficial and boring.

But check it out. The first was a graphic of a huge flip flop with the words "Save the Planet. Wear Flip Flops" printed on it. On the next page I learned this great piece of info: Wearing flip-flops saves up to 3 wash loads of sweaty socks each year....small things add up to big change. This is an ad for TNT's Planet Me, where people can gather and generate ideas about what each can personally do to reduce CO2 emissions. The next ad was for ReGeneration, which is a network of "people committed to sustaining the world's natural environment." The third was for a Burt's Bees product. There is a comparison between their naturally ageless day lotion and dimethicone (a silicone type of oil used in skin moisturizing lotions). This is definitely not your average magazine!

Then I get to the table of contents and my interest is piqued even more by reading the following titles:
The Gospel According to Adam Smith: is doing good compatible with making money? it is if you practise spiritual capitalism. (this is an awesome article and there is scientific proof that consideration for the needs and feelings of your client positively impacts your profits!)
Join my Gang: Nelsa Curbelo, a 66-year old former nun and schoolteacher, took on the toughest young criminals in Ecuador's most violent city - and won them over with love.
Down and Dirty: How carbon farming, the practise of putting of CO2 back into the soil, can fight global warming.
Full bellies, hungry minds: In India, a group of monks feeds nearly a million kids a day, proving there is such a thing as a free lunch.
Everybody writes history: Karen Worcman wants to transform the way history is recorded-and she wants you to play a role.

I am inspired by optimism and people who are creatively doing good and bringing out in this world. It's refreshing to find a magazine that is providing stories and advertising that stand for "positive social, economic, and environmental change."

Who can turn down a hug?

On the days that I'm not commuting with my dad to work in DC , I take the metro. At many of the metro stations in the DC area there is a person handing out free Washington Post Expresses. Not all of the news presented in this paper is substantial but at least it promotes the dissemination of information and awareness of current events - and it's FREE! The greatest part about this service, at least at the Rockville station is the man who hands out the papers. He is the cheeriest and most friend paper man I've come across. I'm usually standing on my ride or have other material to read, so each day I have to kindly turn down his offer but he still wishes me "a wonderful day!"

Well about a week ago, I was approaching from a distance and saw a woman walk up to this man, take the paper and they embraced in a huge hug. At first it seemed that they knew each other. But as I got closer I saw not one, but two other people give the paperman a hug. And they didn't stay to chat, but moved on with their days. I saw it happen again a few days later.

Whether these people were strangers to the paperman or not, I was inspired. I finally got up the courage yesterday and as the paperman reached out to hand me a paper I impulsively said, "I don't want a paper but I sure as heck want a hug!" "You betcha!" he said as he pulled me into a great big bear hug and a smooch on the cheek" Alright maybe I could have done with out the smooch, but boy did the spontaneity of that hug feel good!

It reminded me of the Free Hug Campaign started by an Australian man. There's something uniquely touching (no pun intended ;) about connecting with fellow human beings this way. Maybe it's the randomness of it or the fact that there's no qualifications to deserve such a gift either way, it's a good reminder that love can be (no, it is) present, no matter where you are or who you're with.