The Delay

I am currently overwhelmed by school work, as well as feelings of both jubuilation, in the result of the election, and stress, from multiple factors in my life. I will begin regualr blogging soon and might even begin to do video blogs, which would be faster and make me more interested in doing.

Be back soon.

The Mystery Of The Secret Ballot

So I spent the day knocking on doors and making phone calls for Barack Obama. Nothing pushy or anything, just asking people if they'd voted yet and for whom. If they were undecided I would ask them to consider Obama and hand them a pamphlet; if they had decided, that was the end of it, no attempts at mind changing. My basic job was to log this down for the campaigns records and statistics. 

The people who gave me the job made it sound like the question "Do you mind if I ask who you are voting for?" should be treated delicately and I proceeded in my days task as such. I didn't think it would be such a big deal but when the first guy answered the door with the appearance that talking to me was giving him epileptic fit, I began to think otherwise. People answered "Yes I do mind" and "The person of my choice" with such contempt I was baffled. 

When did it become such a big deal to say who you support. I'm just some 140 pound 19 year old standing alone on your porch, I'm not going to carve a B into your face if you answer incorrectly. Even if someone would answer me, there was that moment of hesitation in their voice to make sure that their answer would go over smoothly. It usually went something like "I'm for....uh...oOo....Obama?". Maybe it's just a desire not to upset or to please someone, or maybe it's a genuine fear of an angry, possibly violent, outburst. Or maybe it's just them being douche bags, like the 18 year old who told me he "likes to keep it personal". It's not a high school crush, but sorry for wasting your time James Carville.