'Role models a mother could be proud to have her daughter look up to' [View all]

[bigtree]

from the Obama campaign blog: http://www.barackobama.com/news/entry/staci-is-all-in


“In 2004, I was watching the Democratic Convention with newspaper in hand. Suddenly, this man started speaking to my heart. My paper came down slowly, and my husband and I hung on every word of then-Senator Obama’s speech. My husband turned to me and said, 'We just saw the first African American President of the United States.'

“We hung on his every word again when he announced his run for the presidency, and that January night in 2008 when he won Iowa. That was when I started volunteering—a little here and there when I could. Then in February, Barack Obama came to Wisconsin and everything changed.

“My husband and I took my daughter, Caitlin, to see Senator Obama speak to a crowd of thousands in Madison. The next day I pulled her out of school to hear him speak at a smaller event in Waukesha County. When he arrived, he took off his suit coat and rolled up his sleeves. He treated my very conservative neighbors with respect, and answered their questions honestly. In short, he did what I personally had never seen another political candidate do successfully: He spoke to us like we were adults. As I walked out of the event, I told the organizers: 'I'm all in and will do everything I can to help this man win.'

“That day in Waukesha, my daughter got to shake the hand of the future President of the United States. In November of 2008, she cast the first vote of her life for Barack Obama.

“A few months later I had an opportunity to meet President Obama. There are so many things I could have said. There are so many things the President has done to help American women and families, but all I could do was thank both him and the First Lady for being role models a mother could be proud to have her daughter look up to.”

—Staci, Wisconsin