An Open Letter to the Parents of

Kevin, Nate, Sabrina, AnneMarie, Nora, and the other 20-and-30-somethings in the Jenkintown Obama for President Office,
Dear Parents,

We've never met and aren't likely to. But please read this letter from a stranger. It is the kind of letter I would love to receive.

For the first time in my life, I have played a small part in a political campaign. I went over to the Obama office in my area on the day it opened to see whether there might be something I could do. There was.

I spent my late afternoons for the next couple of weeks entering data from calls that had been made that day. It was a mindless job, and one that I was very good at. (I don't remember which young person it was who looked at this gray-haired grandmother and exclaimed, "You kick ass at data entry!") I could enter my data and watch and listen to what was going on around me, at the same time.

There was a lot going on. There was phone calling. There were other data entry people. There were lawn sign buyers. There a woman in a wheelchair helping to man the front desk. There was more phone calling. There were volunteers delivering dinners. There was someone printing out maps for canvassers. There were people assembling packets. There was someone shredding. There was Nora with a phone apparently permanently affixed to her ear. There was cheering. There was activity of every kind. And more phone calling.

And all of it was put together by your kids. Kids I would be so incredibly proud to call my own! They are warm, friendly, dedicated, polite, forgiving, patient, tenacious, sincere, hospitable, organized, tolerant, kind, and just downright lovely individuals.

There was a lot of talk these weeks about Hope and Change. Whatever happens tomorrow here in Pennsylvania, I have personally experienced both Hope and Change at the hands of Sabrina and AnneMarie and Nora and Kevin and Nate and the others whose names I never managed to learn. I left the office each day blinking back tears of hope, of joy, of inclusion. After these years of George Bush and the very real fear of John McCain, I had been afraid to believe there could be anything different. I now know that the spirit that you and I once felt when Bobby was running is alive and thriving in this current generation, in these amazing people that you have raised.

You should be so very proud.

Sincerely,

Nancy, Near Philadelphia
The Kick-Ass Data Enterer