Crossposted at the OC Progressive

We waited, many waited a lot longer than I did and I was lucky to be there in line, waiting and waiting.  It gave us a lot of time to talk, I’m sure the overnighter on Monday was difficult and still enjoyable, except for those who didn’t get tickets.

As I sat and President Obama came in and people chanted, “Obama, Obama, Obama” we knew it, we knew that Orange County was hungry, not for just change but for Democrats to be heard and seen in our County and for our values to be taken seriously by the media.  That 500,000 plus Democrats in “The OC” are not an anomaly but a force to be reckoned with.  And that we had found a voice for those values, a voice that was clear and proud of those values.  Orange County had arrived and was not longer just “red” anymore.

It was a long afternoon for me but worth it, worth the sunburn and the blisters on my feet.  It was worth feeling stinky and a bit sad that I wasn’t closer.  But it didn’t matter really, I was there.

I had a chance to say hi to Loretta Sanchez and she graciously allowed me to have a photo with her.  She always does, I’ve never heard her say no.  She just seems to love it.  I did not take a chance to chat with her because EVERYONE wanted their photo with her.

And a bonus?  

I got my photo taken with Debra Bowen, our amazing Secretary of State.  She’s a proud “nerd” as she put and so glad that our nerdiness was somehow okay under President Obama.  The Wonks had returned and policy issues and complex questions were okay again.

I have to admit, I follow her on facebook, she’s a tiny thing, which she admitted and she’s lovely.  I just adore when people who represent us in Government are warm and open and willing to talk to me.  Someone is willing to hear me.  It’s a nice change.

My partner in crime Gus was a godsend, I have to admit I wouldn’t have been there without him and he was kind enough to pick me up and take me, buy me lunch and give me bottled water.  Gus is a good guy and you could tell he was just overjoyed at every turn.  

President Obama didn’t disappoint, that was the best part.  Sure, I’d heard a lot of the same things I’d heard before but hell, I heard them in person.  It meant something to me to be there and hear him address all the issues we’re currently facing.  You see, Obama said that if others weren’t willing to take responsibility, he would.  He’s President, that’s what you do.

Of course some of the best things he said were important because they are so very true.  We have a President who can “Walk and Chew gum at the same time” and he does have to multi-task.  

Obama talked about how we can’t decide what issues to focus on, right?  I can’t just say, hey, I’ve got something I have to take care of and just miss a week of work?  You know, I can’t pay my mortgage this month, I’ve got other things to take care of, that okay?  It’s so true, we have to tackle all these issues together and it’s because they are so very closely intertwined.

A lot of the afternoon I thought of a friend, I thought of someone I know who’s husband is sick, he’s probably going to get laid off and they are struggling to keep up with his medical bills.  This friend works in an industry that’s struggling, will she keep her job?  I just kept thinking about her and about how she’s going to make it through this.  So much going on for her as she worked long days and struggles to keep things together.  

But I know that I’m not the only one thinking of her, so is President Obama.  I do feel that.  Obama understands that our health care system is strangling those already gasping for air.  

That we cannot fix immigration without fixing the whole thing, from employers who hire undocumented workers, borders that actually work and a humane way of dealing with all those people who are already here and have made roots in our Country.  

One questioner was a teacher who had worked in Santa Ana for 25 years and she had received her pink slip, along with a teacher of the year.  Obama promised that the bulk of the stimulus money that was allocated for education was to save teacher’s jobs.  The main purpose was to be sure that as few teachers were laid off in those States facing massive budget shortfalls just as we are in California.

Someone asked if he would run again in four years.  Yes, but President Obama had a brilliant response.  He said that if he had fixed everything he’d set out to do in the next four years, if he accomplished everything he wanted to, he would have no reason to run.  I highly doubt that will be the case, but I believed his sincerity.  

It was just a good afternoon to hear this amazing man speak to us, to those lost out here in the wilderness of Orange County.  I’m sorry to say but so many of us do feel lost.  And here was President Obama speaking to me, reaffirming my values and my priorities and representing so many dreams that won’t come true unless we do everything possible to change the path of our Country.

What was wrong with asking those making over $250,000 to pay what they paid under Clinton?  Isn’t that a good question, one that Obama was clear to ask.  They were still rich then, weren’t they?  Of course and he has no qualms about raising that 36% to 39% to pay for health care reform and all those other things that have been sorely neglected over the last eight years.

President Obama gets it and even as his Administration makes mistakes, he still gets that those mistakes are part of the learning process.  So, um, yeah, they forgot to invite Dana Rohrabacher, oops.  (Our Republican Congressman who represents Costa Mesa, where the event was held) and had Loretta Sanchez there instead.  I’m not sure if it was completely something that was an oversight or a purposeful slight.  Part of me doesn’t care.

So that was it, there were a lot of other questions and Gary and Charlotte watched it via CSPAN, no Mommy though.  I was there, I was there for sure and it’s something I shall never forget.

Lots of photos to follow. Just click on them to make them bigger 🙂

Crossposted from OC Progressive

This has been another eventful week for me and I wanted to share something I wrote for our new local blog, I think it’s universal and true for many here so that is why I share it.

Orange County, California is still a solidly red County but those of us living in “The OC”, who are proud progressives, want to find a public space to voice our ideas and to push our agenda locally and eventually on the state and federal levels.  Not only that but we want to encourage our fellow progressives to run in local elections and support them up that harrowing climb to higher office.

As we all know, none of this can happen though until many things are fixed about our election financing process and so on, but the progressive blogosphere has somewhat leveled the playing field but supporting such candidates and generously funding their runs for office.

Anyone Can Blog?

I thought of Ratatouille and the line that “Anyone can cook” when I read Paul Anderson’s piece Blogging Done Right…

In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau’s famous motto: Anyone can cook. But I realize, only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere.

Source

So, just because anyone can blog does not mean the product put before you will be the highest of journalistic standards, it doesn’t have to be.  There is a reason that Freedom of Speech is in the First Amendment, anyone can blog.

I think there is a misnomer about bloggers in general.  I don’t think many of them feel they are creating news or reporting on news in an original way but I do think they are taking what’s out there and attempting to make sense of it.

The past eight years has been filled with a lot of misery for progressives.  It was a bitter fight in 2000 and many felt cheated and that the “system” failed them miserably.  The media was not doing its job to ask the right questions, if it had been, maybe there might have been a different outcome.

You see the blogosphere in many ways thinks the Fourth Estate failed Americans by not asking enough questions, they felt that they were not doing their jobs either.  

Too many blogs these days just deconstruct some news organization’s content and spew out a bunch of conspiracy theories. Most of the time I think, who cares what you think? And that’s because a lot of the bloggers aren’t very informed. I like the Atlantic bloggers, like Andrew Sullivan, because they’re journalists and they have informed opinions when they comment on someone else’s work. That’s called perspective.

Source

This is true, I read it often on the Daily Kos but because blogs like this are on the “rating” system, the readers are able to separate the wheat from the chafe and those diaries rarely make their way to the Recommend list.  Usually when they do, the comments themselves are far better than the gaggle of quotes from other news sources and the sorry excuse for commentary.

But blogs have become more than just this, they’ve become a place to gather and collectively scratch our heads.  There are so many who felt completely ostracized by our last Administration that this was what was needed to fill that gapping maw of information or any really intelligent questioning of flawed policy.

But that’s just it.  The news, those “journalists” have an obligation to remain impartial, yes?  Isn’t that the point?  It’s really not that they didn’t comment on what was happening; they just didn’t ask enough questions.

Bloggers don’t have the obligation to keep their point of view a secret.  There is no unspoken vow of impartiality (which, if you’ve read the content of the Register, you’d realize that it’s non existent in some places) to the subject matter.  We are able to rail against the questions asked, the answers and the disappointing outcome of the whole ordeal.

Blogging was born out of a need to fill in the gaps and those “conspiracy theories” such as torture is illegal and the war in Iraq was a mistake, those aren’t theories, those are realities that many on the right refuse to recognize.

Universal Health Care?  The stories we share about young girls dying because they’ve been denied treatment from their insurance company and those who can’t get insurance because of pre-existing conditions, those stories are meant to push people into action.  Those stories are put into a context to where many can understand that a Country such as ours should not allow anyone to die because the free market deems it a necessary loss.  

I could go on and on about the topics of concern to bloggers who have, through their tenacity, made voices like mine relevant.  Elected officials pay attention to the blogosphere because they know that there is a knowledgeable voting block behind the stoic lines and blocked in quotes.  They know that the power of these free media outlets has driven the most important issues to the headlines and to the chambers of Congress.  

And when the local means of news gathering refuses to recognize an entire voting populace then that “free market” will create an alternative such as the OC Progressive. Concerned citizens believe it’s time that the right questions were asked of those who represent us and that our opinions, even if in the minority (Although I’m starting to think that’s not the case either) are valid and just as important as those of the editorial board at the OC Register.

And I’m honored to be included in the same breath as Joe Shaw and Gus Ayer as fellow bloggers.  Both showed tremendous support for Gary, my husband, when he ran for State Senate (As did hundreds of others, to us that election was a huge win)and have encouraged me to keep writing and pushing my own unique point of view.  I just hope with my limited time (Working parent) I can contribute, just a bit, to this new community and encourage others to do the same.