Lobbying of Supers - Part 3 of 4

Post Pennsylvania: The line went quite for a while, but really picked up again after the Pennsylvania primary and leading up to the North Carolina/Indiana primaries.  Both campaigns started calling and emailing on a regular basis, asking what issues I cared about, if I wanted to meet anyone, etc.

As I mentioned, I was working for Bev Perdue in North Carolina at the time.  On one occasion, we learned that Bill Clinton was going to be in the city of New Bern on the same day as Bev Perdue.  We knew that if the candidates were in New Bern at the same time, there was no way that the media was going to cover Perdue - they would flock to Clinton.  But the Clinton campaign was not letting people know what time the President would be in town.

So I figured that, as an undeclared Super, they'd surely tell me! So I got a hold of one of my contacts on the Clinton campaign, told them that I heard Clinton would be in New Bern and I wondered if they could tell me what time.  About a day later I get a call back and not only do I find out when he'll be there, but I'm set up to meet with him on the airplane when he arrives!  More than I had bargained for, and New Bern is a hike from Raleigh which made it impossible for me to get there during the work day.  But the important thing was the the President was arriving at 2:30, Bev was to be out there at 11:00 - so we were all clear on the media end of things.

Post North Carolina: May 6th was not a good day for the Clinton campaign.  A big loss in North Carolina and a razor-thin victory in Indiana did not make a good case for the campaign.  I received several calls from both campaigns.  The Clinton campaign in particular had several folks from the Latino outreach desk call me and make pitches, ask if I was ready to endorse, and asked if I would be comfortable waiting to watch future primaries unfold - they were obviously banking on West Virginia, Kentucky and Puerto Rico returns.

I told both campaigns that when I was ready to announce a decision, they would hear it from me before they would hear it from anyone else.

Long time United Farm Worker leader Dolores Huerta called to try and persuade me to vote for Clinton.  She made her case, it was a good one.  I told her I'd be making a decision in the next few days.

Third in a series of four.

Comments

[Regina]

You said no to Prez. Clinton AND Dolores Huerta? She invented "si se puede," not Obama!

[Joe]

> Long time United Farm Worker leader Dolores Huerta called and persuaded me to vote for Clinton. She made her case - and it was a good one. I told her I'd be making a decision in the next few days.

Actually, it sounds like he said yes before he said no, Regina? Unless I'm misunderstanding that :)

[Mr Super]

I never said yes until I actually declared.

[Joe]

Ok, true, but it sounds like you changed your mind in there somewhere? Or am I misunderstanding that completely?

[suekzoo]

Joe, I think it sounds like a good case was made for endorsing Clinton, just not a good enough one.

[Mr Super]

I corrected the wording. Sorry for the confusion.

[Joe]

Then I did misunderstand. I apologize.

[Regina]

I wonder how many people realized Obama ripped off Dolores Huerta's 'si se puede'? I heard her on NPR during the campaign somewhat unhappy that he had appropriated the phrase.

[Joe]

I would have to be able to speak better Spanish than I do in order to understand what "si se puede" means? My best guess is "yes we can" but that's based on only the first word.

I suppose I could ask someone here at work, though. Most of my coworkers speak Spanish.

Anyhow, whether my translation is accurate or not, is a three-word phrase like that really something only one person could come up with? I honestly don't know who Dolores Huerta is, but do you know that almost a million other people have said the words 'appropriated the phrase'?

http://www.google.com/search?q=%27appropriated+the+phrase%27

The thing about copying is that you can find it everywhere if you look, without exception. I mean, nearly every single word we use was someone else's idea at some point. Unless you make up your own words... :)

[Regina]

Joe, I know you are a former Republican so I shouldn't expect that you know this. But with one easy google you can find what I'm talking about. It's a sad day when Barack Obama wins on the backs of voters chanting 'yes we can!' when they don't even know what it means or what Dolores Huerta has done. This is why I supported Clinton, and am not hot on Obama. Obama is going to have to cater to these folks oblivious to history.

[Joe]

Regina:

I wish people wouldn't generalize about 'you $candidate supporters', but I've probably been guilty of it at some point, too.

What can I say, though? They didn't cover Dolores Huerta in the women's studies class I took, and I thought we had covered almost everyone from Susan B. Anthony and Sojourner Truth to Margaret Sanger. So I didn't know she was famous enough to have a biography online. But it seems that she is, so I now know a little about her history with the UFW and how she was beaten by the SFPD in 1988.

I had to look up Cesar Chavez before I found the slogan, though. It seems that they came up with it together.

For the record, though, I've never chanted 'Yes we can!' nor do I chant anything at all. I don't like shouting ever since the time I lost my voice when I was about 8.

They actually had me go to speech therapy for years after that, even into high school.

So it's never been a factor in my support of Obama. If I had to pick one thing that was, it would be his pick of Laurence Lessig as his technology adviser and his technology plans.

Computers are very solidly in my field of expertise and Obama's plans are definitely the best, though Clinton came in second. McCain was a very, very distant third, which doesn't surprise me given that he hired a cable TV company lawyer and a failed CEO for his tech advisers and he himself cannot use a computer. It's no wonder he was near the bottom of his class in the military.

[Regina]

Sorry if I was snarky. Obama's appropriation of the phrase just fits in with the young buck stepping on the older woman, including stealing her phrase. It's more meaningful from Dolores Huerta (and Hillary Clinton for that matter).

[Joe]

Yeah, I can at least understand that feeling a little better. Because I did learn in that class that one of the big complaints is that, too often, older women get passed over for promotion when there's some younger guy available.

But I do think Hillary was right about one thing: the glass ceiling has millions of cracks in it. And, someday, a woman will definitely break it.

I hope I get to vote for that woman, and I'm young enough that I might.

[Mr Super]

I just don't see how it's stealing a phrase if virtually every statewide Democratic campaign in California has used it for the past two decades. Seems common use to me - and he started using it leading up to the California primary.

[Truth]

I don't recall Gray Davis, Mr. Bradley effect, the Terminator, etc using the "Yes We Can" phrase. But I agree it is a silly thing to argue about.

The larger point is that Obama likes to take the ideas of others and claim it as his own (see Illinois State Senate). That was the whole point of him amost never getting the question first. It gave him time to prepare his parrot answer.

Clinton: I would like to take this opportunity to announce my fondness for, ah, Duff Beer.
Obama : I'd also like to express, er, my fondness for that particular beer.

Obama never had a Duff beer in his life.

[Joe]

Read the TV Tropes wiki sometime. Enough of it and you'll never think an idea is original again :-)

I mean, at some point, you get to things like "did Clinton 'rip off' the European model of health care"? Which is absurd. If somebody has a good idea, you *should* copy it.

As for attribution, I know that people get fussy about that, but I personally _hate_ having things be attributed to me, even if they are my ideas. Why? Because, by and large, I write to convince others. If someone quotes my idea as their own (and not as someone else's), I have convinced them completely. Therefore, nothing pleases me more.

In fact, I've actually given away one fairly lengthy academic paper (copyright and all) for publishing with the only stipulation being that I *not* be credited as author for my work.

I've actually written probably hundreds of technical news stories, too. Some that reached wide audiences. But never with my name on them :)

[Regina]

My guess would be those using "si se puede" in California elections over the last two decades probably had a history (I would hope) with the Latino/a community and may have even known Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta.

This is the NPR story I heard. Huerta doesn't explicitly say it was appropriated, but it is pretty close:

"Huerta coined the phrase "si se puede" with Chavez in the 1970s.

"I think [Obama] is trying to establish a relationship with the Latino community which he does not have. And I think he was using kind of a shortcut. So if he could use 'si se puede,' that might somehow identify him, but he really does not have a relationship and people really don't know who he is. And I think that's one of the big advantages that Hillary Clinton has, because they do know her, they trust her, and they have confidence in her," Huerta says."

It is embarrassing that a bunch of kids who know nothing about this struggle can chant these phrases at rallies, but they have no clue what it means in terms of substance. When Obama shows some more substance and less ripping off of others phrases, I'll like him better.

The use of this phrase, the calling Hillary "likable enough," the hip-hop stuff against women used by supporters all squares with the idea that "we don't need Hillary or her supporters." That's why I'm hoping and holding out for her as veep.

Or if Obama doesn't pick her as veep, maybe Obama will continue getting more specific. But he needs to also act like he cares about the policies, not just talk about them. He could propose lowering regressive taxes, like getting rid of the gas tax, which can help my husband, a truck driver. Or maybe he'll actually have universal health care. But not yet. Though I haven't seen much from McCain on this either (except the gas tax).

[Regina]

More on Huerta. She said Obama shouldn't use the phrase she created explicitly, yet he did anyway. From an article in La Opinión, which publishes in Spanish.

If you don't speak Spanish, the summary of the story is that Huerta asks Obama to stop using the phrase, because he has no experience with the causes of the farm workers. She say he is opportunist, appropriating the phrase "yes we can". Huerta says "Obama es un oportunista."

Here is more of the article:

HOUSTON, Texas.— ¿Quién tiene derecho a usar el "Sí se puede"?

Es una famosa frase de lucha, creada por el liderazgo del Sindicato de Campesinos en los años 60 y que desde entonces ha sido utilizada por numerosos políticos y activistas, principalmente latinos, como grito de batalla.

Desde hace unos meses, la campaña de Barack Obama para la presidencia ha venido usando el "Sí se puede" en español y también en inglés: "Yes we can".

Y eso no le gusta ni un pelo a la creadora de la frase, Dolores Huerta, la cofundadora del Sindicato de Campesinos y legendaria activista.

Ayer, en campaña por Hillary Clinton en Texas, Huerta cuestionó a Obama por usar la famosa frase de lucha, que ella inventó hace 40 años.

"Obama es un oportunista", dijo Huerta a La Opinión.

Entrevistada durante una marcha de "mujeres por Hillary" en el centro de Houston ayer por la tarde, Huerta dijo que personalmente cuestionaba que Obama utilizara la frase.

"¿Cómo se pone a usar esa frase que tiene tanto significado, cuando él no dio ni una gotita para esta lucha de nosotros los inmigrantes? Él no ganó el merecerse usar este tema", dijo Huerta.

Precisamente hace un par de días, en un multitudinario evento en Fort Worth y en otros mítines a lo largo de Texas, Obama ha utilizado el "Sí se puede" en español en repetidas ocasiones.

Un famoso video, de una canción compuesta por el productor del grupo Black Eyed Peas, Will.i.am, usa como estribillo la frase "yes we can", de un discurso alrededor del tema dado por Barack Obama en New Hampshire en enero pasado.

El video se ha convertido en pocas semanas en uno de los más populares de internet, y ha sido visto por millones de personas.

Pero Huerta piensa que a Obama no le toca el "Sí se puede".

"Él no se ha relacionado con los latinos y ahora quiere que la comunidad vote por él, y está usando una frase como esa. Yo fui originaria de esa frase y ésta representa muchas cosas, el sacrificio de los campesinos, los mártires que tuvimos en nuestra unión (de campesinos), gente golpeada y encarcelada", dijo Huerta.

[Joe]

Sorry, I've only studied French and Japanese, though I know a few bits of Spanish and several other languages.

I guess I can still decipher bits of that thanks to cognates. And I suppose I could ask someone at work to translate (most of my coworkers at the factory speak Spanish).

I'm pretty sure I understand this part, though "utilizada por numerosos políticos y activistas"

And I don't think all of them can be unaware. Take Mr. Super. Unless that picture of him I saw was wrong, I thought he was a Latino?