The half-way point

So, day two down, two more to go. Seems like a good time for some reflection.

T and I survived the Slog. I told Annie that I think the Slog can be snarky and downright scary, so that might have helped. She was gentle with us. Woo hoo! There was much joking about the unfortunate shade of orange of our salad dressing, so that also probably helped in a clutch.

The Emily's List meeting (right after) with Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama was inspiring, and I have to say, was a great pre-indication of the speech she gave tonight.

But so was Barbara Mikulski, who I have to admit, I hadn't heard of before. She introduced Hillary Clinton before her Emily's List speech. Barbara was about as tall as the podium, with painted on eyebrows, and she seemed like one tough old broad (and that's a total compliment).

Today, of course, was the anniversary of the vote for women (which Barbara talked about), and I wouldn't be much of an Mount Holyoker if I wasn't into that, especially considering that showing love for the suffragettes was part of my college graduation ceremony. I was also amused when Barbara Mikulski had this good line: "When I was running for the senate, I was told: 'you don't look the part.' I told them: 'This is what the part looks like.'"

Michelle was also great, talking about how women should never settle. "We know we can do better, and make the world over as it should be." Righteous.

So all in all, a good day to be of the lady variety here at Dem Con. But on a weird side note, T mentioned that some people have said stuff like: "I bet J will want to run for office or something after this."

Um, no.

OK, slight diversion: Whenever I see the gays in the New York Times wedding section, I'm always like: "Huh. They are our astronauts." Because for a while, to be a gay couple pictured in the section they all seemed so accomplished, it was absurd. Like, all of them had eight post-graduate degrees each in various sciences and humanities before starting their own non-profit while running a start-up company. I called this the Sydney Poiter era, where you had to be really, really good in order to wedge that toe in the door and make yourself acceptable to the mainstream.

So, you know, I'm happy to put a face on gay support for Obama for a day. That's cool. I'm glad to do that.

But I also deeply know that this is not about me. As in, at all. I'm here because an awesome group of volunteers is standing with me, and working their butts off while I'm here. (Shout out to Rose, Andy, Michelle, Nick, Amy and the 43rd crew!)

So, again, to repeat: Fun to be here, but it's not about me. At all. I'm here to do a job: Get. Obama. Elected.

After that's done, I'll go back to my normal life, thankyouverymuch. There are plenty of delegates here for what feels like personal reasons, and frankly, I sort of want to gently remind them that although it's awesome to be on the camera (and makes everyone's moms happy), it is so, so not about us.

We have to get Guantanamo Bay closed for good (and all the secret prisons open in all of our names). We have have to restore our standing in the world. Obama will have a lot of work to do: the wars, the economy, the housing crisis, and larger issues of justice and equality. (Note: McCain voted against an equal pay bill this year. Who exactly is against equal pay for equal work?!?)

To quote Michelle today: "We need the world as it is and the world as it should be to be one in the same." That's why all of us are here, and it's why there will be so much damn work to do once I get home.