A group of Barack Obama volunteers have moved onto the porch of my bookstore because it is a great vantage point to meet and greet the students of Kutztown University as they return for the fall classes. My store is directly across the street from the college so the students have to walk right past it to go anywhere downtown. Whenever I have contact with the Obama campaign I am always so impressed. This was no exception. These volunteers handled themselves with class and dignity. They approached the voters with respect and friendliness. They were able to register hundreds of students in the three day period August 23-25. If this is going on all over the country, then I would say that the Obama campaign is in great hands. Here is a short interview that I had with two of the volunteers and a few photos of the event.

CS2: Who am I speaking to?

Volunteer 1: John Loomis.

CS2: John, what brings you out today?

John: I’m helping people register to vote.

CS2: You have an ulterior motive I hope…

John: I want people to participate in their democracy.

CS2: Okay. Is it a non-partisan group that you represent?

John: Yes, it is.

CS2: What’s the name of the group?

John: There is no group.

Volunteer 2: We’re part of the Obama campaign. We believe in the system and we want to help kids register to vote. Of course we want Obama to win.

CS2: And what is your name?

Volunteer 2: Karen Feridon. I’m a neighborhood team coordinator.

CS2: Are you! What do you think is at stake in this election Karen?

Karen: Everything. The Constitution for starters. I think we have to redeem ourselves internationally. I think we have to fix the economy, we have to fix the environment…everything is on the table right now!

CS2: Tell me, what difference will it make to the working person if Barack Obama is president as opposed to John McCain?

Karen: It will take a long time to fix our problems, but at least we’ll have someone there who is trying to fix our problems. I think there will be a real sensitivity to what it means to be a working person in this country that would be completely ignored and misunderstood by somebody who doesn’t even know how many houses he owns.

CS2: There are a lot of people who are apathetic and say there’s no difference between the two parties. Can you tell me what the differences would be in Supreme Court justices that Barack Obama would appoint as opposed to John McCain?

Karen: I think you only have to look at the last eight years to see what kind of Supreme Court justices we’ve ended up with. You know, honest to God I don’t know what John McCain would do, but I don’t have any faith in him anymore. I used to think that he was a maverick before, but we’ve learned our lesson about that. I think he would follow along in the same school as George Bush and put the most conservative people on. He would be pandering to his base probably.

CS2: How about working people who have seen their jobs go overseas? Would there be a difference?

Karen: I can only hope that there will be a difference no matter what, because people are just that frustrated. We need somebody in Washington— we need a whole new team of people in Washington—who are better representatives and who we aren’t going to have to fight. It doesn’t need to be a revolution, it can be done within the system and we need to have people in Washington doing it for us.

CS2: After putting up with eight years of George W. Bush, how will the rest of the world regard us?

Karen: (laughs) We had a couple of guys walk past earlier this morning who were not citizens and they said, “Man, if we could vote, imagine what kind of margin Obama would win by!” When hundreds of thousands of people are showing up at Obama events overseas and a half-dozen guys showing up at a schnitzel house for John McCain in Bethlehem, I think you have your answer right there about how the world regards him.

CS2: So how have you done out here during the last three days trying to register voters?

Karen: We have actually broken records over the last few days. The students are real mobilized, we’ve got lots of people really interested in this and we hope everyone in town is as well. We can use as many volunteers as are willing to come forward and help us out.

CS2: Who should people contact if they read about this in our magazine and want to come forward and get involved?

Karen: They can contact the Democratic Club, that’s a good central clearing house for all the volunteer activities. There’s also a big organization in Berks county, Berks for Obama, and if they want to contact me directly or anyone involved in the campaign while we’re in town, the best bet is probably reaching us through the Democratic Club, cause they know how to reach us. So I’d say local contact is the best option.

CS2: Okay. Anything else that you would like to add?

Karen: I think we can do this! We just need everyone to come out and vote. There are a lot of people who are very, very, enthusiastic, but I do hear some young people who are kind of discouraged by the system that they are just inheriting. I think its important for them to realize that they grew up, for most of their lives, in the George Bush administration and it doesn’t have to be this way.

CS2: Is there a record that you are able to keep so that you can go back and call these voters on election day?

Karen: Actually, we’re being very careful to talk with people, to get them signed up with us, to let us know that it is okay for us to be in contact with them, so we can do a big, big, big get- out-the-vote campaign.

CS2: John, would you like to add anything?

John: Nope! You did a very good job.

CS2: Thank you so much. You’ll read about it in CommonSense2 on September 1st.

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