Barack Obama, you, me and apple pie

This is a critical election, so I first got involved registering people to vote in eastern North Carolina. What I heard and experienced made me take more of a stand and put an Obama bumper sticker on my car. Around the time somebody tried to remove that sticker, I decided I had to participate in the campaign.

I arrived in Asheville just in time for the Obama rally—the first political rally I’ve attended. I was struck by how nice everybody was—all 30,000 of them—waiting calmly in line for hours; sharing water, sunscreen, hopes for our future. We all had the sense that we were participating in history being made. Barack spoke eloquently about making health care more affordable for everyone. He was dignified, kind and graceful. Barack waved at me, and I waved back.
  Then I went to the Obama/Biden headquarters on Merrimon to volunteer. I found myself, a very shy person, signing up for canvassing and making phone calls at night. My first day, I canvassed with ladies who were old enough to be my mother, a young mother with a 3-year-old on her hip, a couple in their 30s.

Trudging up hills and knocking on doors on a beautiful fall day is one thing. Making phone calls at night to people I don’t know has been another. I stumble through getting my information across, dialing, trying again. I hear how great the volunteers around me sound, and learn that they have only been doing this one more evening than I—but that means they have at least 110 more calls of experience. There’s Paulette, a young black woman as beautiful as she sounds on the phone; there’s gentle Raja, accompanied by his Indonesian wife; there’s Brian, a field organizer, laughing and joking: “This is Barack Obama, calling from the Brian Griffin campaign.”

There’s the person in the wheelchair, stuffing envelopes; the attorney entering data; the lady who came to Asheville recently and lived in a shelter, but now has an apartment and is working and is registered to vote. There’s the man offering free housing for visiting campaign workers. There’s the little dog lying beside one of the volunteers, not sure why he is here but—like the rest of us—excited to be a part of something big.

Someone announces apple pie in the kitchen—a State-Fair-prize-winner of a pie with a whole bowl of extra filling. That and the spinach casserole have been donated by people who may not be able to canvass or make calls, but who want to help—to be a part of this big thing we are doing.

I remember how Barack waved at me. I waved back and smiled, and shouted: Yes, we can!

— Ann Cary Hevener
Asheville

SHARE

Thanks for reading through to the end…

We share your inclination to get the whole story. For the past 25 years, Xpress has been committed to in-depth, balanced reporting about the greater Asheville area. We want everyone to have access to our stories. That’s a big part of why we've never charged for the paper or put up a paywall.

We’re pretty sure that you know journalism faces big challenges these days. Advertising no longer pays the whole cost. Media outlets around the country are asking their readers to chip in. Xpress needs help, too. We hope you’ll consider signing up to be a member of Xpress. For as little as $5 a month — the cost of a craft beer or kombucha — you can help keep local journalism strong. It only takes a moment.

About Webmaster
Mountain Xpress Webmaster Follow me @MXWebTeam

Before you comment

The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.

19 thoughts on “Barack Obama, you, me and apple pie

  1. Matt Mercy

    Yeah, you’re a part of history all right. Read up on the Night of the Long Knives to find out what happens to you poor fools when Obama gets elected. He may not murder you, but heed well Joe Biden’s and Collin Powell’s “hints” at a catestrophic event occuring shortly after Obama’s election that will force Obama to take actions that will alienate (I use the word loosely) his base.

  2. dave

    Yeah, that biden “flourish” is certainly a good one, eh? I’m bothered by any leader who says we are supposed to blindly follow them, despite outward appearances. If Bush or Cheney has said that, we’d be up in arms about a “Police State”. But since McCain makes his side seem so un-appealing, he makes Obama look Saint-like in comparison. Serious emotional manipulation going on in this campaign.
    You got any idea what he’s planning, mr mercy? Worl War? Marshal Law? I dont really believe the fear-mongering of the rural, racist right but I do distrust the masses and their unquestioning allegiance to this current from of Popular Progressivism. Bush has certainly laid out the foundation for the next president to make some unprecedented, un-Constitutional moves, either way.

  3. Mat Mercy

    The same people are behind Obama as were behind the NeoCons. They are neither conservative nor liberal, not even “progressive.” They are internationalists, profiteers, eugenicists and empirialists. Some names we know, others we do not. They also control McCain, but Obama is the one who can sell progressives (at least temporarily) on things like the police state, pre-emptive war, and general fascism.

    I find Biden’s, Powell’s and Albright’s allusions to a catastrophe early in his term disturbing. These statements mystify the general public, if they even hear them at all, but for those on the inside, I suspect they are signaling an inaugural terror attack or false flag military provocation…both of which they will be behind. Colin Powell even gave dates, for Chrissakes!

    In response, Obama may go to his terror watchlist (which lists over one-million Americans, I think) and start opening the FEMA mass detention facilities that they’ve been building over the past few decades under REX 84 and Operation: Gardenplot.

  4. dave marks

    Barack Obama, you, me and Karl Marx.

    Biden and Powell are right. Obama will be considered a pushover by our enemies. Look for another 9-11 id he gets elected. One reason will be because he will weaken our national security by getting rid of the Patriot Act.

    Vote for McCain/Palin.

  5. dave

    Everyone one knows 9-11 was Clintons’s fault, mr. marks. So another attack during Obama’s first few years will certainly be the fault of the Bush Administration.

    Hey, whatever happened to GW Bush,anyway. I dont hear too much about him anymore. He still technically President for the next three months or so?

  6. travelah

    Carrie, what do you base that comment on? Did you know that the first attack was during the Clinton administration? Apparently, Biden knows about what is coming. Shall you advocate that Biden be interrogated to determine what he knows and when did he find out?

  7. nuvue

    Better waterboard Biden before Obama gets elected, see what the left wing smiley toothed dude knows. He may act tough but bet he will spill the beans after a little soak….

  8. dave

    nahhh, water-boarding is hardly effective. It isnt even torture! Its more like a beach-side recreation.

  9. Brenda Duncan

    Yes, in the Holy Bible Satan quoted scripture, and probably with a silver tongue, and he has always been considered the Great Liar.
    When leaving to visit his grandmother, Obama said “If you’re not caring for your family, you’re not caring for anyone else.” Is Barack’s younger brother, George Obama, not “family?” George lives in a shanty in Kenya on $1.00 a day, while Barack is living the American Dream. George’s dream is to have enough money to learn auto mechanics. Obama says just what gullible people want to hear, and he says it with a silver tongue. Like my Avery County grannie used to warn, “You will become like the people you support and associate with, and your character will be ruined.” It appears that a lot of Americans are saying, “I’ve made up my mind. Do NOT confuse me with facts.”

  10. dave

    Yes, in the Holy Bible Satan quoted scripture, and probably with a silver tongue, and he has always been considered the Great Liar.
    McCain and Palin say just what gullible people want to hear, and say it with silver tongues. Like my Nebraska grannie used to warn, “Watch out for wolves in sheeps clothing” It appears that a lot of Americans are saying, “Sarah Palin is a lying, deceitful, intollerant woman who will be used up and thrown away by Karl Rove when she has reached her shelf date.”
    Too bad the Republicans looked down on her folksy, everyday-person wardrobe so much they felt the need to dress her up in fancy New York Clothes to the tune of 150,000 dollars. Talk about looking down on small-town values.

  11. dave marks

    dave (not marks): “Everyone one knows 9-11 was Clintons’s fault, mr. marks. So another attack during Obama’s first few years will certainly be the fault of the Bush Administration. Hey, whatever happened to GW Bush,anyway. I dont hear too much about him anymore. He still technically President for the next three months or so?”

    No wonder you are a liberal. Such uneducated logic as to assume that because Clinton shared some fault in 9-11 that Obama’s ineptitude in a second one would be the fault of Bush. Hate him all you want, ohne thing Bush ahas done right is keeping us from being hit with another terrorist attack. I predict that if Obama gets in, he’ll weaken our intelligence services and that will cause another 9-11. Because enemies know Obama is not only a pushover, but has sympathy for their side.

  12. PatD

    I had no idea Senator Biden is a waterboarder. And where on the East coast are there good waves for some serious waterboarding?

    This is a very strange conversation you guys.
    It jumps from Obama to catastrophic events over clinton, marsian law (don’t know anything about them marsians) to saran, with a silver tongue, to water sport.

  13. dave

    Biden’s into waterboarding. You should see him in his swim trunks! Oooh-la-la!

    “no wonder your such a liberal”

    So, C. anderson, anyone who disagrees with you, despite their political affiliation, is a “liberal”? Since you consider yourself a “fiscal conservative, social liberal”, this seems kind of like another nonsense term from you. You know, it get old after the first year or so. I suggest you head back over to Topix were you call yourself “Color Me Right” and make thinly veiled racist remarks.

  14. Dionysis

    All of this hand-wringing over Biden’s remarks about Obama being “tested.” Clamors for waterboarding, ridiculous claims that the Orwellian Patriot Act is anything other than an assault on our Constitutional freedoms and other whacko stuff. Too funny.

    Okay, run out and round up both Joe Lieberman and John McCain for waterboading, then. On July 28, Lieberman said this on Face the Nation:

    “Our enemies will test the new president early,” Lieberman, I-Conn., told Face The Nation host Bob Schieffer. “Remember that the truck bombing of the World Trade Center happened in the first year of the Clinton administration. 9/11 happened in the first year of the Bush administration.”

    http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/29/ftn/main4217516.shtml

    And McCain keeps running around claiming “I know where Osama Bin Laden is; I know how to catch him” yet evidently won’t share information with the military or intelligence communities that will help capture the #1 most wanted person?

    If waterboarding works, as the right insists, then let’s see what McCain will spill after a few invigorating sessions of simulated drowning.

  15. nuvue

    Hey good idea
    While we are into torture you think we could add some Wall streeters to the list of candidates. Maybe tell them, “hey come into this room, your big bonus is on that board over there, if you will just strap your self in, we’ll give you your big taxpayer supplied bonus”
    And Greenspam….etc..

  16. Mr. Wayne

    Undecided but objective voters may be concerned that some John McCain supporters charge Barack Obama really wants a socialist revolution, while these same supporters insist instead the solution to present problems is to remove all restraints on capitalism, and let the very rich run everything their way.

    But actually, the harder job is to calmly and rationally find the right balance between creative free enterprise promoting growth for all — and effective government checks and balances on overreaching private interests. This is what Obama is committed to, and what his “come from nowhere” smart and dynamic campaign has demonstrated only he and his team can do.

    McCain, whose former cohort Charles Keating almost single-handedly caused the last housing financial crisis, is only a “Johnny Come Lately” to such reform, and his credentials for change “Palin” comparison to Obama’s. Erratic stands and half-baked last-minute proposals urged only for political drama do not make on a true “maverick.” And McCain’s negative campaigning and inconsistency on principles have so angered both liberals and conservatives that he’s lost any chance to be a “bipartisan” president.

    What’s more, when a country (like a person) even heroically overextends itself for a cause that’s not really in its vital interest — as the U.S. did in the latest Iraq war, which McCain supported — it unwisely risks failure (militarily, economically, or even psychologically) for no good reason. This is when judgment really comes into play: Discretion is the better part of valor.

    Barack Obama represents a bright and energetic new generation that wants to use such better judgment to bring America into the more rigorous, but moral and self-controlled, leadership requirements of the 21st century.

    The only real question now is whether enough American middle-aged and senior middle-class white voters will actually vote for what’s in their true best interests — for themselves, their wallets, their families, the future, and the country — if it happens to be represented by a black man.

    — Wayne Bastedo
    Hendersonville

    (Mr. Bastedo is a former Democratic Party candidate [2004] for the State House of Representatives from northern Henderson County.)

Leave a Reply to travelah ×

To leave a reply you may Login with your Mountain Xpress account, connect socially or enter your name and e-mail. Your e-mail address will not be published. All fields are required.