WE TWO KINGS

Well…..Maggie and I went to Bethlehem after all.
We dithered and flubbered, probably trying to figure out
a way not to go. Was there going to be room at the inn?
Would we make a difference? It was tough country…there
were dogs and hostile ex steel workers. Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania wasn’t going to be a piece of cake for two
old canvassers for Obama.

Were we wrong!

It’s a wonderful town….ol Joseph knew what he was doing.
It’s full of generous, gracious people (with a couple of
exceptions, see below). We walked into the Obama Hq.
a day early….young folks were moving swiftly
back and forth; packing kits, answering two phones at once,
sorting out buttons and lawn signs….. Even though we were
early…they sent us out to two senior complexes on the
edge of town to check out the cliché that the old people
are all voting for Hillary. We found a lot of folks sitting
around in the spring’s new sun, and we got to talking with
them. Lo and behold, most of them promised to vote
for Senator Obama and were grateful for an opportunity
to talk about it. One old gal (she announced to the world
that she was born in 1919) said, “well…it’s about time” and I
(born in 1930) agreed.

That night we worked the sidewalk in front of the Wired Café
where a circle of drummers were pounding away on anything
that resonates from tin garbage cans to regular drums.
We passed out all of the slick pamphlets that the headquarters
had, to a motley crew of Bethlehem’s night people….pasting little
adhesive stickers saying “OBAMA!” on the kids and telling
everybody who passed that “When America gets in trouble,
guys show up! Lincoln in 1860, FDR in 1932 and Obama
today!”

But the big deal for us was Saturday. We actually canvassed!
The headquarters handed us a well-organized package of names
and addresses and maps and pamphlets and we drove (Maggie
drove…I navigated) into the heart of working class Bethlehem,
badly paved streets, badly-painted houses and all. We knocked on
a couple hundred doors…and met some remarkable people….
most of whom were Obama supporters! A lot of the houses
have rocky steps leading up to the front door, so halfway through
I was pretty wasted. Maggie kept me going and we searched
for addresses on the plain streets. The few Hillary supporters we
met were…interestingly….all cheeky middle-aged women with
enormous chips on their shoulders. I can’t tell you how great the
whole thing was….the “blue collar” vote (at least where we were)
wasn’t so unanimous and hostile to Obama as we had been told.

Finally, we completed our assignment….finding the odd household
left on the map….and after reporting in…so our information could be
pumped into the Pennsylvania-wide computer…..
we went home toMassachusetts.

This is being written on April 21…primary eve….I don’t know how
Obama’s going to do….those damn polls keep changing,
but whatever happens…it was worth it!