Writing a "super"delegate!

I get emails from the Obama campaign regularly.    I read them, say a prayer, and then pray again that people make good choices in their lives.

This paricular email asked if folks would write to the superdelegates and ask them to support Obama.
For whatever reason I did!

What makes this so strange is that I worked with politicians for 20plus years in the California Legislature.  Each day of those 20 years I became a bit more jaded and cynical about the political process and the way things get done in the Legislature.   I was involved in preparing analyses for committee members.  I prepped witnesses for testimony. I wrote letters to constitutents, etc.   And in my spare time on vacation, I planned fundraisers!!

By the time I left, I realized that all politicians are elected because they proposed a better way.  They became THE person who was going to make changes when they got "elected."   And many did mean that but when they got into the system, they soon found out that they didn't have the power to make the changes they wanted to make, they had to make "nice" to those members who did have the power to appoint members to committees and the ability to help legislation pass or fail with just a few phone calls.   

After 20 years of being gone from the State Capitol, only a few names stick out of politicans that respected their staffs, meant what they said, and really were compassionate about the condition of life  their constitutents experienced.     Some were powerful, some were experienced but all of them had integrity they knew who they were and what they were about.  The reputation of a newly elected legislator preceded them before they step foot in the capitol.  What kind of person?  What were their stances in the past on issues in their previous elected position or community service?   Pretty much folks were evaluated by the power brokers of the legislature and one would have to work theilr way up to a position of influence either by bucking the power and/or becoming "one of them." 

So when Barak Obama showed up on the scene and made such an impression on me as a result of his speech at the Democratic National Convention, I thought, he would make a great President one day!!    A few years later, he is here, running for President.   Hearing his endorsement by the Kennedy's  and watching the crowds reactions, made me weep.    I am hopeful and my cynicism is wavering and I am beginning to believe again that perhaps this time I will see change and the transformation process will begin in our nation with the election of Barak Obama and the hard work and support of the American people!