De Campaña en el Mundo Desarrollado

Por favor disculpenme por hacer estos dos posts en ingles. Tengo que llevar un blog en ingles para una clase y no tengo tiempo para escribir lo mismo en ambos idiomas. Sin embargo, ambos articulos tratan temas interesantes para nosotros (economia, politica y petroleo) y pense que valdria la pena publicarlos aqui tambien. Por favor diganme si es un problema y los podemos borrar o dejamos un link o algo por el estilo.

This past Sunday I spent my day canvassing for Barack Obama in Central Falls, Rhode Island. It was my first experience canvassing in any country or language, and it ended up being was a very enriching experience. Some thoughts:
-I went to canvass in a country different from my own for several reasons. First, I wanted to see how the Americans do it. The political organization in US elections is arguably the most advanced in the world, and I wanted to understand it, be a part of it, and (hopefully) import its best characteristics to my native Venezuela. Since Obama's organization is widely considered as the best ever, it was the perfect opportunity. Second, like many other Americans and foreigners, I have been inspired by Obama's campaign. What attracts me most to Obama is his message of establishing bridges, going beyond partisan politics and building a broad coalition. As a Venezuelan, where politics have recently been many times more polarized than in the US, that message struck a nerve with me. Also, Obama's apparent understand of the world given his varied background, is a refreshing trait for US presidential candidates. The world could use a fresh perspective from a new US president. I have also realized that while I disagree with Obama on several policies, I consider him the best candidate in terms of character. The positive and consistent way in which he has handled his campaign are, I think, a testament to his character.
-I was incredibly impressed with the organization. I signed up both through Harvard for Obama (with whom I ended up going) and through the webpage. I received at least three calls from Obama staff to confirm that I was going to be able to help out and to offer me transport (and even acommodation) to Rhode Island. The Harvard for Obama group ended up renting a van to take all volunteers.
Once there, there were sign-up sheets and breakfast, followed by a short training session. During training, groups of four were given (1) a Do's and Dont's of canvassing sheet, (2) a sheet outlining how the typical canvassing conversation goes and a summary of Obama's positions, (3) a list of people (from the voting registry), with addresses, and other characteristics (sex, age, professed political affiliation) organized by area (called "turfs") with a map showing all the houses to be visited, (4) a tally sheet, and (5) the keys to a rental van. The job was to go to each of these houses, contact the voter, inquire if (s)he was going to vote, if Senator Obama could count with his vote (if not to try to persuade him otherwise, if possible), to inform him of his polling place, and ask if he needed a ride. An anecdote helps explain my amazement with the organization. The person who had organized the Harvard for Obama trip accidentally hit another car with his "campaign" rental car. Well, before we had even left Rhode Island, he had received a call from Obama headquarters in Illinois to get everything sorted out, assuring him that it wasn't a problem and telling him the next steps to resolve the issue.
-It is arduous work! and a little discouraging since most people had either moved or weren't home. But it is very satisfying. The best was to find an undecided voter, many were open to talk about politics and what was going through their mind. Hopefully we had an impact and convinced some people! Some people were just polite and didn't appreciate the visit (I might be guilty of having been this person in the past, at least with the Jehova's Witnesses that have visited my house), and some were very nice but confessed they were supporting Senator Clinton. People in general were happy to open their doors to a perfect stranger that was essentially trying to sell them something, I very much enjoyed that.
-It is probably somewhat inefficient work. I must have talked to people in around 15% in the houses that I visited. The rest had either moved or weren't there. One could think of alternate ways of utilizing the volunteers. However, I don't want to double guess, I guess even at those percentages it must have a significant impact.
-This system probably needs to be "tropicalized", and wouldn't work as is in Venezuela. Crime would make it much harder to find volunteers to walk around, at the same time people would be much more hesitant to open their doors, addresses (from the voters registry) and maps would be much harder to find (no Google Maps), rental vans would surely be impossible to get. However, I have never actively been a part of a Venezuelan election and am probably overreacting. I will get my chance to see how things are done (and perhaps give suggestions) soon!
-It was great to visit a much different part of the US from what I've visited in the past. Since we all spoke Spanish in our group they sent us to a very run-down and Hispanic part of town. Two realizations came to me during the day: (1) These are the type of areas that have been hurt the worst by open trade and technological advancements. I'm very much in favor of free trade and am aware of its unequal impact over different regions, but I guess I had never seen it; (2) Having had a chance to visit many different people and walked the streets of Central Falls, I could imagine the transformation that the town must have undergone in the past two decades. A sixty-year-old person who has lived in the same house for several decades has probably seen his neighbor's house change from a one-family house to a four-family house, his neighbors last name go from Smith to Gonzalez, Perez and Rodriguez, his local grocery store go from "Joe's Market" to "El Mercado de Juan: Colombian Market", and most of his old friends move to other parts of the country. I'm not saying its good or bad, but I can understand how so many changes might make him feel.