Super Tuesday Morning

Got up at an ungodly hour because even I was sick of hearing myself spout off about politics without doing much about it. The least I could do at this point was donate my morning’s sleep in the service of Barack Obama. I don’t need to sleep, anyway. I don’t feel sleep.

Somehow made it onto the 3 train to 125 Street, up to Obama’s Harlem office on 130 & Malcolm X Blvd. With brisk, kindly efficiency, the staff assigned me to a location based on the hours I could work and loaded me up with literature (shiny Vote for Obama and delegates reminders). I got a bright blue Obama sticker for prominent display on my coat, and throughout the morning other Obama volunteers would identify me immediately by it.

I ended up getting a ride to my spot by Lieutenant Governor David Paterson’s sister-in-law. My own sister, who’s neckdeep in New York City politics, says he’s one of the good ones; his awesome sister-in-law, a lawyer, confirmed this. But there was some civil war in the family, as she’d gone out so strongly for Obama. I expect that this is happening in a lot of families. It’s also really hard for anyone attached to politics not to have to stand by the Clintons, who’ve collected too many favors to count. That’s one of the main reasons I can’t abide by them — the sense of a sort of forced Old School Democrat hegemony. A lot of people and politicians weren’t given a choice in who to endorse: they were told that it would be Hillary a long time ago. And while we all know that she would be better than Bush, we don’t need to start another Presidency through the tyranny of opinion.

Back to Barack. Armed with my shiny paper-stack, I stood by the entrance to the downtown 1 train on 137 Street & Broadway. Two blocks down was a massive apartment building that doubled as a polling place. I fought for the attention of the people coming to and from the train in the early morning work hours.

The first few times, my hand and voice shook. I think that’s an inevitable reaction, because we’re taught and socialized so deeply about the rules of interacting with strangers. I was not only approaching to interact with many people, I was asking them to take something from my hand, to engage with me about politics. I was terrified and exhilarated at once. The young guy perched expertly giving out amNew Yorks was bemused by me at first, but took to giving helpful tips as the hours passed. He’d alert me to a train’s arrival, show that to approach with more confidence and physical proximity actually works much better (at first, I’d been more timid, polite). People took the fliers.

It was amazing to be doing it, after a while, because I was really proud of what I was handing out and saying. I’m not sure I could ever force advertisements into people’s hands. But I was thrilled to be standing there with my blue sticker and the words I gave them that said Vote Obama. If I reminded even a few people that the primary vote was today and that they could vote and that Barack Obama was an option, that’s enough. That’s the best exchange I’ll ever have for a morning’s sleep.

I can’t wait for after work.