Okay, I know it took me a long time to post this. Sorry. It turned into a tome, there was so much to tell, I found I just couldn't condense it, but if you're interested you'll find the nitty gritty details here.
Before I left for Brussels, I received an email from the Obama campaign connecting me and others with a woman who was an active organizer and fundraiser for the campaign in the UK. She would be hosting an early (7:30!) morning breakfast to talk about fundraising techniques that everyone could use.
I surprised myself by waking up in time, and making my way to the meeting in a small conference room off of the main breakfast buffet. It became increasingly clear that certain people were ‘movers and shakers’ and real activists within their local democrats abroad chapter and the Obama campaign itself. For example, the woman from the UK had helped organize a fundraiser involving a Michelle Obama visit to London. Another woman in Italy had organized several conference calls, silent auctions and other events raising thousands. A tall business-y looking man living in Madrid shared ways they had mobilized the ex-pat community all over Spain, A preppy looking blond woman stood up and talked about how she had organized a screening of Charles Fergusons No End in Sight as a fundraiser. A friendly down-to-earth woman who was not only a DNC official running the caucus, but also an Obama-supporting super-delegate gave us some do’s and don’ts about fundraising (money can only be accepted from Americans) and shared how a lot of the Super-delegates were really in a rock and hard place this election (except those in the DNC who tend not to have any political IOUs). Somehow it seemed that these people were all in the loop and knew each other.
The hour passed quickly and it was soon time to head towards the large conference hall for the main event – the caucusing. I still had no idea what to expect. Conversations the night before led me to believe that those running to be delegates to the convention had to convince the Electors (designated people from each DA chapter who had voting power) to send them, via convincing speeches. It began to occur to me that I didn’t really have a leg to stand on terms of a powerful argument for sending me nor did I have anything prepared. I figured I would just go up to my room and print out my 150 word candidate statement during lunch before the whole thing started, and read that – At the end of the day I was just here for the party (as in ‘fun’).
In the conference room, row after row of conference tables faced a stage. On the stage stood a podium, a long table where Democrats Abroad leadership figures sat and a large American flag. The meeting was called to order. The International Chair made some remarks, commenting how wonderful it was to see “Democrats of all stripes from the far left to the...left” which prompted laughter and applause. A lot of ‘Motions’ were put forward asking all in favor to say ‘Aye’ and those opposed to the motion to raise hands...I was still, confused. A woman from Sweden stood up, who I recognized as leading a lot of the ‘small country’ rabble rousing from the night before – She put forward a motion asking for a ‘conversation period’ between the first and second round of votes – there was some heated debate. A woman next to me kept muttering ‘No. Why? No. No.’ It was clear something was going on here – again I just didn’t know what. Ultimately her motion passed.
It was time to start caucusing. The handful of Hillary supporters had moved to a smaller conference room to do their caucus. A big to-do was made about our selection being ‘fair’ and representative of the party, so all electors should take into account Affirmative Action criteria – 2 women, 2 men, and all were asked to consider a balance of: African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans, Indigenous Americans, Peoples from Identifiable Regional Geographies (this is not a joke) and LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender candidates), yada, yada, yada. Interestingly I noticed a lot of eye-rolling from people my age and younger (including my own), but fine, whatever.
A coin was flipped, the women won, so the women would all go first and make their “2 minute speeches”. This is the point where panic set in. I realized that I was one of the women that would be called up to make my statement; it was all going to happen now (not after lunch). People started to walk around passing out ‘candidacy’ flyers listing their political activism achievements and activities over the years. In a hot minute I realized I did not stand a snowballs chance in hell of getting chosen (which was fair enough, I did just ‘show up for the fun part’) and would look ridiculous trying to persuade anyone to send me. My objective rapidly changed from trying to get sent to Denver to simply avoiding public humiliation. In the next hour I would have to stand in front of a conference room full of people and say something, and I had no idea what it would be. I started to jot down some notes and decided I would simply share why I felt so passionate about this election and the Obama campaign. In between jotting things down I watched the other women called up in groups of five and give their two minute speeches.
The blond preppy woman listed off her achievements: starting an anti-apartheid student group in High School, volunteering for the Kerry and Gore campaigns, chairing her local young democrats chapter. A woman in head-to-toe American regalia – her voice cracking- when she talked about the work she was doing with injured veterans who were coming into Landstuhl, Germany daily. I was surprised by the significant amount of black women there, most older than me, living in places like Sweden, Holland and Norway. I was astounded by the ease in which a 21 year old girl spoke in front of everyone about her engagement in the election and the curiosity and enthusiasm towards Obama from other students in the country where she was doing her junior year abroad. Another sullen twenty-something girl kicked-off her speech by saying “I think this whole process, is, like, totally undemocratic, but here goes” and continued to speak her mind. My name was called. I walked to the stage and then up to the podium. I stammered something about not really having any ‘Democratic Party street-cred’ ‘Speak into the mic please’ said the woman on stage sitting next to the podium, who was also keeping time “Oh, sorry” I said shakily, and went on to share why I was so excited about Obama “10 seconds” the woman whispered after what seemed 3 hours. I wrapped it up and walked of the stage silently berating myself for being such a stoopid, dummy dum-dum, lame-o, idiot asshole.
I made it back to my seat in a daze but happy to relax and enjoy the few remaining women give their speeches. When all were finished it was time for the voting. There were to be two rounds. There was an hour pause to count up the votes. In the meantime a couple of people approached me an said they very much enjoyed what I had said, a tall man from Texas living in the UK who looked like a secret service agent deliberately made his way up to me and shook my hand heartily and suggested that I seriously consider going into politics. This truly shocked me because I had earlier that day concluded any ideas I ever had about politics would be retired this weekend. I don’t like all the self-promotion and ultimately just don’t have the stomach for it, but it was unexpected and nice to hear.
The vote was tallied and it was time to see who won. I was surprised and delighted to hear that I came in 13th out of about 45 – quite an accomplishment as it meant someone used their precious votes for me instead of someone who actually had a real chance to get elected. Prior to the results announcement, I would have not have been surprised or resisted if someone had instead ushered me out into the street and asked me not to waste everyone’s time.
When the second to last round of votes was tallied, I had to admit I was shocked by the 4 women at the top of the list. To be clear – I didn’t expect I would be one of them, but out of the many women in the group they were certainly not the most inspiring (and if you want to be picky in terms of age were not a very diverse group). In an instant I suddenly understood that this had all been pre-decided. The women were indeed from France, Germany and the UK, including the woman sitting next to me that was getting agitated at the small country motion for a ‘conversation period’. These countries had a huge amount of votes and voted in blocks and made agreements prior to the speeches on how they would vote, effectively making all the other countries votes useless as most countries voted for their own. What a sham!
Then, the real caucusing started.
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