In late October, I cheated on my political crush.

Since hearing his speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, I’ve had a crush on Obama (see below). I was the first person in my small Alabama town to put an Obama ‘08 sticker on my car (and have the key marks to show for it). But, on October 30th, before the Democratic debate at Drexel, I betrayed Barack’s trust and campaigned for Hillary Clinton.

It happened for the same reason that many affairs do. Convenience.

Having not consulted with Penn Students for Obama or any other group, I trekked to our neighboring campus with no plan. I arrived on the scene and spotted a Penn student who I vaguely recognized from a Penn Dems meeting. He was putting up signs for Hillary. I joined in to appear as though I belonged. It wasn’t long before the main campaign staffer on hand (”Max”) was giving me his digits and delegating tasks to me.

After only fifty minutes on the job, I was leading masses of Clinton supporters to and from various locations and shouting orders at those who were holding signs. I managed to fool everyone. In an hour, I had transformed from confused onlooker to mid-level volunteer for the campaign of the inevitable Democratic nominee.

Some of you may recall that the Philly debate marked a turning point in the Democratic race. Hillary stumbled mightily; Obama seized the momentum and ran with it. After trailing by more than twenty points before that debate and my involvement in his rival’s campaign, he recently declared victory in Iowa and is considered a frontrunner for the nomination.

Of course, I can’t take full responsibility for Obama’s resurgence. But Barack, you’re welcome.

And to the eventual Republican nominee, beware. I could be your next volunteer.

Tags: crushes, Obama

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 16th, 2008 at 4:15 pm and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.