Last week my husband and I went to a fundraiser for President Barack Obama in Culver City. The reason I bought the tickets was so I could take my 7-year-old son. I thought it would be the experience of a lifetime. And not only that, it was on the Sony Pictures lot so what could be safer?
Well, unfortunately I didn’t work it out for my son to go so the husband and I went. I don’t know if it was because my son wasn’t there or because of what the President was saying, but I wasn’t moved in the way I thought I would be.
I wanted the President to be mad. I wanted him to say he was going to fight back hard against the Republicans. I wanted him to say he was going to fix education, hang onto healthcare, and protect a women’s right to choose with his last breath. I wanted him to say he was going to somehow get the Dream Act passed. He kinda sorta said those things, but not in the way I wanted. I wanted to be moved to action, to tears.
Part of why I wasn’t moved might have been because of a conversation I had with my son. We heard a story on the radio about fundraising for Obama (this was before I knew about the event we attended). He said “That’s funny that they’re raising money for Obama when he’s rich. Why aren’t they raising money for the people of Japan?” And the conversation went on from there. I explained how campaigns in America are expensive and we give money in the hopes that the person we elect will make good choices for us. But, my God, it’s hard to explain to a 7-year-old why presidential campaigns cost so much money. Money that could be spent on feeding hungry families or paying for counseling or medical care for wounded soldiers. “Television ads are expensive” was part of my lame reasoning.
Looking back on the fundraising event, it probably didn’t take an aggressive tone because the people in the room didn’t need to be convinced to be on the President’s side. It was a very nice group of Democrats and many of them, like me, volunteered for the campaign at some point. There was a lot of love in that room and in that way it was inspiring.
Okay, and it was amazing to be in the same room as the President. I do think he’s doing a good job, I’m just worried that he compromises too much. I’m worried about what the haters and the ones with the loudest voices will do in the next election.