CrankyBuddhist   the learning never ends …

We live in a bubble, here in Berkeley. There are Obama/Biden signs all over town. I have yet to see one for the other guy, although I’m sure they exist, just not on my usual routes from here to there. The only potential McCain voter I know is the guy who lives downstairs. He tells me I should feel ok about it since 98% of his friends are voting for Obama. But that’s as far as our conversation goes, because, you know, talking about politics isn’t polite. pfft.

I ran into aother neighbor yesterday out on the street. She had her Obama t-shirt on. Yesterday was the last day for voter registration in California, so we made sure that each other was registered. She had just come from the Berkeley Obama Campaign office where she had gotten another bumper sticker. “That place is a zoo,” she said. Yep. It is. The Berkeley campaign office always seems to be packed to the rafters with phone bankers, data entry folks, and people who just want to do stuff.

Here in Berkeley the town is full of people who want to do what they can. People are driving to Nevada on the weekends. I went a few weekends ago. People are phone banking, making calls primarily to Nevada but to other states as well, having phone banking parties, and prior to yesterday, registration drives. It’s like we can’t do enough to get Obama elected. But doing anything here in town locally is just preaching to the choir.

I was having a hard time dealing with the crowds at the campaign office, so I decided to work from home instead. I’ve been emailing my own personal ‘base’, letting them all know what I’ve been up to and what they can do too. I’ve also begun phone banking, using the nifty ‘Neighbor to Neighbor’ program on the campaign site.

The other day I called a man in Ohio, who seemed happy enough that I called, but was flumoxed on who to vote for. He was a fencesitter in the truest sence of the word. One day he was for McCain, the next for Obama. I asked him if he had any issues on which he’d like to have more information. Like, you know, maybe I could clear some things up for him. He rattled off the litany of the economy, the war, healthcare, and any number of others. He truly wanted to know where Obama stood on everything. When I took a moment to think, he interjected, “See, you can’t tell me either!” I said I was taking a moment to mentally sort through the list he had just given me and was trying to figure out where to begin. I asked him if he knew about Obama’s web site, and he replied “No, where is it?” I gave him the information on how to find the site and how to find the information he was looking for. He was happy as a clam.

On another call to Ohio, a woman was suspicious because she had never heard Barack talk about his father. She wanted to vote for him, but thought this might be an issue. So I told her everything I knew about him, and reassured her that yes, Obama has spoken about his father from time to time, and even wrote a book about his relationship with him. She seemed much happier and also welcomed the URL of the web site.

It’s hard to feel like I am making a difference while sitting in a bubble where everyone else is thinking the same way that I am. But I know that each small thing that I do matters.

You really have to wonder how the next few days and weeks are going to play out. I’m spending way too much time watching, reading, twittering, and listening to the political news of the day. But maybe Andy Kaufman can come back from the dead and save the day? There’s always hope. Egads. I said hope.

Well, not necessarily Buddhism. It could be any religion or philosophy where opinions matter.

I have read somewhere, and a while ago, about the possibility of a religion gene, which would dictate whether or not someone would be inclined to believe or participate in a religion or philosophy. I often have thought that both sides of family have it considering what zealots they all are.

But in my case I feel just as strongly, and in the same way, about politics. So I’ve been beginning to wonder that if there is a religion gene, would it be the same gene that would make the same person a political zealot. I use the word zealot, but that’s probably too strong of a word.

Any thoughts?

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that McCain has fallen off his rocker with one. He’s run some really unfair ads already and silly season is only just beginning – or so it seems. But this ad, which I first found over on The Huffington Post takes the cake. This ad implies that if you vote for Obama you are voting for the ‘Anti-Christ’ or at the very least looking for a proxy for Jesus. What a way to offend just about everyone with or without a religious gene. The person who created this ad should be fired.