Obama Blitzed Me and It Felt Great
If you missed the Obama “Special” that simultaneously aired on seven networks last night, I highly suggest you steal away from whatever you’re doing and treat yourself to the 30-minute blitz [donate.barackobama.com].
Dim the lights, light a candle, grab the box of tissues, (don’t worry about the sappy music, Obama will take care of that for you), and prepare yourself to drift away to an place where the audacity of hope, change and corniness reign.
I won’t lie, like most spa treatments that are good for the body, mind and soul, this blitz too may feel highly uncomfortable at first. But like a deep-tissue massage or a chemical peel, if you endure the initial the pain of seeing the modest Senator from Illinois that you fell in love with appear in a Perot-esque infomercial, you will be rewarded later. Once you adjust to the montage of favorite Obama speech moments, talking points in front of a large American flag and individual stories, you will find that your worries begin to turn to hope, and your cynicism fade into belief.
The key to repeating maximum benefits from the Obama blitz is to let your mind go: stop thinking and start feeling. Odds are you know the candidate wants to cut taxes for the middle class, that he wants to provide healthcare to everyone and begin to bring troops home from Iraq. But when before in your entire life have you seen so many people father behind a candidate who they actually believe in? And when was the last time you saw a candidate run for president who has the capacity to truly represent so many Americans and whose eyes tell us he really wants to serve for the sake of bettering our lives? I for one have never in my life felt this way about a candidate.
As I watched, bored at times with the personal stories or hearing the same soundbites for the umpteenth time, but nonetheless, inspired. I let my thoughts drift to 2004 when the only candidate I was behind was “Not-Bush,” but my heart was not for Kerry. I recall, even before the Democrats lost the election, I (albeit cynically) began making homemade “Obama 2008” signs and changed my password to everything at work to “Obama 2008.” Butt the hope Obama gave me with his 2004 Democratic Convention speech was quickly washed away when Bush secured another presidential win, and I knew things were going to get much worse before I could even dream of them getting better.
To see my optimism—as expressed by my early belief in Obama more than four years ago—realized, as we are five days away from Election Day, engendered a visceral feeling completely foreign to my body. Similar to the toxin release, and the subsequent revitalization one experiences from a good schvitz, I felt the chemicals of cynicism depart from my body, and a strange tingling sensation (I think this was hope), replace it. Ah, there’s nothing like a good blitz.
(Of course this all could have been the M.S.G. from my ramen noodle dinner, so if that’s the case, I’m full of sh*t, so feel free to disregard).
–Jamie Wong
