About supporting Obama — the speeches are inspiring, his values are grounded, and the policies sound reasonable. But one of the biggest reasons I’m supporting Obama has to do with the idea that “change comes to Washington, not from Washington”.
In the wave of this massive grassroots-generated support and passion for Obama, I’ve come to realize how we can make our voices heard. I’ve also realized how much the characteristics of grassroots initiatives are reflected in my own work in conducting outreach — in taking my guitar and my music into churches, hospitals, libraries, and other community venues.
In 2005, Eliot Fisk and I founded the Boston Guitar Project, hoping to bring our music into the community and to share the privilege of being a musician with new audiences. Joined by guitar students at New England Conservatory, we began spreading our music all over Greater Boston, from churches in Cambridge, to Latino community centers in the South End, to Jewish retirement centers in Roslindale. In the process, we unknowingly began to change public perception and conception about the guitar.
Without intention, Boston Guitar Project reflected the values of grassroots movements–a core group of dedicated minds, working together for a greater cause, and in the process, discovering a greater sense of meaning and worth within our community. I see this value embedded within Obama’s campaign, and that’s just another reason why I support Obama. I believe that in the same way a group of guitarists were able to get together and warm some hearts, a new wave of young and mature voters will be able to join Obama and Biden in bringing the change we need to Washington.
PS. During the Republican Convention, Rudy Giuliani took special care to ridicule and mock Obama’s work as a “community organizer”. As former Mayor of NYC, where there must be tons of grassroots activity and community organizing, he must understand the value of community work. (What else would you call the community response to 9-11?) In the past few weeks, McCain and Palin have also taken their shots as well. So, either the three of them are just hypocrites, playing into the distasteful and dispicable narrative that politicians have dug for themselves, or they simply “don’t get it”. Or they’re all of the above — clueless, distasteful, hypocritical politicians. Whatever the case may be, these attacks, and the mentalities that allow them, represent an insincere and disingenuous attitude towards ordinary citizens that can not possibly serve our country well.
