Being Part of History in the Making

June 7th, 2009 by donald in Uncategorized

Being Part of History in the Making …

I have had an incredible journey the past year which culminated in being at the inauguration yesterday our first African- American President.  As a veteran of several campaigns, I have experienced both “highs” and “lows.”

Prior to this year, the 1992 campaign of President Bill Clinton was one of the “highs.”  Because of the emphasis on health care reform, I was involved in many events in the 1992 Presidential campaign around that theme. It was so exciting because so much of candidate’s agenda for health care matched the values and priorities of the nursing profession.  It seemed like the goal of reaching universal access for all our citizens might come to fruition when I attended the 1993 Presidential inauguration.   Little did we know the detour we would take in the intervening years!! 

Fast forward to the beginning of 2008.  In January, I and two other members of the Ohio Nurses Democratic Caucus attended the Ohio Democratic Women’s Organizing Convention.  Over 200 women from all over Ohio gathered to kick-off planning for the November elections.  As one of the founding members of the Ohio Women’s Democratic Caucus, it was gratifying to see all the Democratic  women in Ohio come together even though at that point we did not yet have a clear Democratic candidate for President.   Even though the participants were mainly Clinton or Obama supporters, the camaraderie in the room was energizing.  The mantra was “We will all be on the same side in the end.”

The other exciting aspect of the Women’s Convention was that it was multi-generational.   In the fall of 2007, I was fortunate to have met a young graduate nursing student, Stacey Booker, who was interested in Democratic politics.  She became “turned on” at the event and has become my mentee in politics.

After some personal agonizing as to who I would support in the Democratic primary (we had such good candidates), I chose Senator Hillary Clinton for a number of reasons.  One of those reasons was her understanding of health care issues and her history with nurses and nursing issues.

I and several other nurses mobilized nurses on behalf of Senator Clinton.  We did phone banking, attended events, wrote post cards and circulated via email a nurse to nurse letter.  My involvement led to being able to attend the Clinton/Obama debate held in Cleveland.   Stacey and several other nurses also attended.

The debate was an incredible high and a reminder of no matter what the flaws of democracy may be, we live in the greatest country in the world.  It was also to me, reinforcement of why I am a Democrat.  In my opinion, at this time, only in the Democratic party could the final two nominees for President be a woman and an African-American man!!

Stacey and I were re-energized by the debate.  We traveled to Pennsylvania one Saturday to go door-to- door for Senator Clinton.  We identified ourselves to nurses as voters and had a great experience.  Even those who did not share our view were polite and respectful.  I think it speaks to the respect the public has for our profession.

As we all know, Senator Clinton did win both the Ohio and Pennsylvania primaries but Senator Obama prevailed in the end.  After a very brief period of disappointment, we re-grouped and were re-energized by the Obama campaign.  In our opinion, if you believed in Senator Clinton, especially her positions on health care and women’s issues, the only choice was then Senator Obama.

Stacey and I organized nurses for Senator Obama in northeast Ohio by phone banking and post carding at my house.  We also participated with the activities with the Ohio Democratic Party and the Ohio Women’s Democratic Caucus. We watched election returns with fellow Democrats in downtown Cleveland.  It was another incredible high celebrated in a multi-generational and multi-ethnic group of individuals!!  As we talked with elderly African- Americans, some activists in the civil rights movement, we heard repeatedly “I never thought I would live to see this day.”

Standing in a crowd of 2 million citizens, watching the first African- American President being sworn in front of a magnificent structure built in part by slaves was a truly awesome experience.  The reverence of the crowd was striking.