Barack Announces Dinner Guests
August 14th, 2007 11:15 pm by Ian G.Time for another dinner with Barack Obama. While I most certainly knew that I would not get chosen to attend this dinner, I figured that it never hurts to donate earlier than anticipated. Maybe me winning a sweet sweatshirt from the recent Moutain Dew promotion “Transform your summer” in conjunction with the July 4th release of Transformers got me excited, but either way whatever. Here is the text of those that have been chosen to attend Barack’s dinner….
Gabrielle Grossman of Exeter, New Hampshire
Gabrielle worked as a 7th grade teacher but recently became a stay-at-home mom. She’s been volunteering with the campaign for more than a month. The day she signed up to volunteer, she received some tough news: her two-year-old son was diagnosed with autism.In her letter to Dinner with Barack, Gabrielle said, “Autism is an epidemic, there is not enough funding to get kids the services they need. So many kids are getting diagnosed, and there just aren’t enough resources out there for kids. That’s a huge issue for me personally.” The campaign has kept her motivated and energized throughout this tough time in her life. She adds, “At a time when you don’t feel like you have a lot of hope, it’s done the total opposite, the campaign has got us involved and given me more hope than ever.”
Brittany Washington of Los Angeles, California
Brittany is a Howard University student who wants to join Teach for America, get her doctorate in education and public policy, and possibly open her own charter school. She currently volunteers in Washington, D.C.’s public school system and says, “The windows are broken out, and there are never enough chairs or lights. It’s just ridiculous. And we expect these kids to compete with other kids who have chairs and windows.” Brittany’s mother, who relied on California’s welfare medical coverage, recently passed away at the age of 38. Despite Brittany’s repeated pleas for a cancer specialist, she was told doctors wouldn’t look at her mother because she didn’t have the right kind of insurance.
She says she admires Barack’s style of politics because “it’s honest and realistic.” As a political science major, she’d want to ask him how he’s able to work in politics and stay true to his beliefs.
Michael Wilson of Cocoa Beach, Florida
Mike is an Air Force veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom who disagreed with why we went to Iraq. He plans to talk to Barack about some of the people he met an Iraq — for example, an Iraqi physician who invited him into his home and wanted to talk about anything except war and politics — and a young Iraqi who dreamed of coming to America. Although Mike is a registered Republican, he believes Barack reflects “what America is and what America needs.” And that, he explains, is the place where “people look for freedom and hope. It’s not imperialistic; it offers a light.” He hopes that Barack will position the country to be that light again.
Dorothy Unruh of Lakewood, Colorado
Dorothy is a senior citizen who is fed up with the current state of our government. As she said in her letter, “I’m sad that our great nation has lost its stature in the eyes of the rest of the world. I have been a registered Republican for years, but recently officially changed parties so I can attend the Democratic caucus and help elect Senator Obama. He is like a breath of fresh air to my husband and me.”Dorothy has never taken part in a political campaign before, but she and millions of other voters who want change are going to be the key to Democratic victories up and down the ballot next year.
Gabrielle, Brittany, Michael, and Dorothy are just four of more than 258,000 individuals who have made a donation to support our movement for change.
Thank you so much for being a part of this drive. By participating you are making good on Barack’s promise to run a campaign funded by ordinary people, not Washington lobbyists or special interest PACs.
Think about what you would ask Barack and submit your questions now:
http://my.barackobama.com/dinner
Just like last time, we’ll film the dinner and share the experience with everyone online. It should be an evening full of good conversation and good ideas about restoring the power of our government to the people.
P.S. — There’s one other opportunity to join Barack and help build our movement that we’d like to share with you.
Next week, Barack is going to be a guest on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. You and a friend could receive free tickets and travel to New York to be part of the studio audience.
http://my.barackobama.com/dailyshowtix
To participate, all you need to do is invite someone to join the campaign this week. We’ll choose an interesting story from those we receive, and send a new supporter to attend the taping. They’ll get a ticket to the show along with the person who invited them — you!
Invite as many of your friends, family, and colleagues as you want. Our movement is about reconnecting regular people with our political system, and restoring a government that serves everyone.
If they join our movement and share their story, you could be heading to Comedy Central’s World News Headquarters in New York.
Click here for more details and to participate:
August 18th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
hi i enjoyed the read