Report from Economic Recovery House Party

Last night, I attended my second house party, organized by President Barack Obama to encourage grassroots involvement at the local level. These gatherings happened all through the United States over the weekend.

We watched a video from President Obama and Democratic Party chair Tim Kaines. Highlights of the stimulus package and how it can help Tennesseans were presented to us.

Job creation, tax cuts for the middle class and increased unemployment benefits are included in the package. While I welcome the increased in unemployment money, I really want a job more.

There were many economists in the group who were able to explain to the rest of us how we got into the mess. We were encouraged to Google a report called The Giant Pool of Money and watch it. One point stressed in the meeting was the need for hard news and not opinion. Also, Tennessee Democratic Party chair Chip Forrester spoke to the group via video about using the grassroots model to bring more Democrats back into state government.

I also learned about additional Green Groups developing in the area.

Grassroots Democracy is the way to change our world. Join a group in your area. And, once the package is approved by Congress, you can watch how the money is being spent at www.recovery.gov.

Attend an Economic Recovery Block Party This Weekend

I have just signed up to attend an Economic Recovery Block Party in my neighborhood this weekend. Go here to host or find one in your neighborhood: http://www.barackobama.com/index.php

There is a link to submit a question or to tell your story, after you sign up for a meeting. I submitted mine. I mentioned that my husband were both currently unemployed as are many others. We have little consumer debt and have a conventional mortgage that we were on track to pay off early before I lost my job. We bought our home in 1996 and bought less house than our income could handle, because it was more than enough house for us. We purposely bought a smaller house.

I mentioned that I did not want to get lost among those greedy CEOs who got huge bonuses despite their company’s poor performance, nor those who bought homes that they could not afford.

We are not spending money now because we are on a tight budget. We’re trying to live off unemployment and some occasional contract work. Beginning next month, our house payment will be coming out of savings. If we do not find jobs, when our savings run out, our house payment will be coming out of our mutual fund investments. Hopefully by that time, the mutual funds will have recovered. We cannot “stimulate” the economy with purchases until we get meaninful employment. Stimulate me first.

I am grateful to President Obama that his grassroots organization is sponsoring these block parties to hear from those of us who elected him. If you did not support President Obama in the election, you are also welcome to attend a block party.

The Meltdown Will Be Blogged

The above headline is from a blog post by one of my favorites, Arianna Huffington.

When I started this blog, I was not sure which direction to take it. I am elated that Barack Obama is our new president, but I am suffering from the economic recession. Both my husband and I have lost jobs. Blogging about it is a great release of emotions as I run through shock, anger, bitterness to acceptance. I think social media will be essential to my finding a new position. Yes, Arianna, I am blogging the meltdown.

With the layoffs at the Gannett newspapers, more journalists will be chronicling the recession online, too.

Reflections One Week After the Election

Last Tuesday evening, November 4, I got home from working out with my trainer around 7 p.m. I turned on the television to see the looking for signal notice. Oh, no, I thought. No Wolf Blitzer! No John King with the magic map of the United States.

Finally, the signal was found. Wolf was doing his thing as the polls started closing, and CNN made their projections. I watched with hope, and the news was good for Barack Obama. Shortly before 10 p.m., I was dozing on the couch. At 10 p.m., I heard the projection from CNN that Barack Obama would be elected President of the United States. I kept waiting, expecting, the news that the projection was wrong, as in 2000. Was I dreaming? Were those fireworks in my living room? People were celebrating in Grant Park, in Atlanta, in New York and in my living room.

I received a call from my husband that he was on his way home and that the election was a landslide. Can it be? Yes. Reality was that Barack Obama would be the 44th President of the United States, the first African American elected to the office. Not until I saw Jesse Jackson crying in Grant Park did the significance of Barack Obama being black occur to me.

Oh, my God, I thought, I can’t believe it. How far we have come in my lifetime! To me, his being black isn’t important. But it is important for the historical significance.

I like him for his vision and his intelligence. I see him as a leader for our age.

The Day After the Election

The day after the presidential election of 2008, I left town early on a flight to Wisconsin for business. While Barack Obama won (what the political pundits call) A Historical Election of the First African American as President of the United States, I woke up to the same world I had been living in on November 4. My husband was unemployed and looking for work. Trash still littered the interstate I was driving to the airport. My retirement funds were about 70% of what I had previously accrued in my modest investments.

Early during the primary season, I had decided that I would vote for Senator Obama in my state primary, Tennessee, on SuperTuesday. He lost to Hillary Clinton. Finally on November 5, I woke up to election results in which my candidate won, a candidate I strongly supported.

This blog will be about life during the next four years, after this Historic Election. I’m a 56-year-old white female, born in the election year of 1952, to Democratic parents in the south. I was reared on the fantasy of Camelot, briefly tempted by southern pride, became a liberal and voted for George McGovern in my first presidential election. I’ve always voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in every election, but I was not always convinced that the Democrats had run the best candidate. This time, this place in history, I’m sure that Barack Obama is the person to lead us.

This blog is my observations about Life in ObamaNation.