How the Great Schlep Was Born

The Great Schlep was born out of a need to encourage Jewish grandparents that they don't have to fear Obama because of his color. I love this idea because it tackles the race issue with love and humor. If you haven't seen the video, see it here. It's a must see. 

CNN: "I grew up with Jewish people and Italian people, but I never lived in a neighborhood that was black," she said. "Somebody said to me, 'What do you object to about him?' I said, well, truthfully, our colors are different."

Overcoming the prejudices of his grandparents' generation would be difficult, Bender realized. But he was not going to be alone.

Ari Wallach, co-executive director of Jews Vote, a Jewish advocacy group, also said he saw reluctance among some older, traditionally Democratic Jews to support Obama.

But Wallach said it wasn't just a question of race. He cited a months-long misleading Internet campaign that aimed to convince voters that Obama is a Muslim or that he would reverse the United States' policy of supporting Israel. Obama is Christian and says he backs a strong U.S.-Israel relationship.

"The older demographic particularly were being hit with tons and tons of Obama smear e-mails," Wallach said. "If you really want to talk to them in a way that will bring them over to the Obama side, you want to do it one to one, ideally with people they love. And grandparents love no one more than their grandkids."

And so the Great Schlep was born. The idea was that young, Jewish Democrats would flood Florida and convince their elders that voting for Obama was OK.

Un-Scaring Voters

As I've said in earlier posts, the attacks on Obama haven't been just willy nilly. They've been an ongoing, concerted effort by the crazy wing of republicans, fueled by Fox News, to keep Obama out of office. It's been happening for at least a year.

The wingnuts have used email, Internet, YouTube, DVD and other methods to wage their hate campaign. They could've just argued against him on policies and issues but they decided to be utterly ignorant. Reminds me of the vice presidential candidate.

It seems to be a republican theme this year. But I don't want to lump all republicans together because I know that many aren't voting for Obama but they aren't racist. But it's clear that a contingent of the party has racial prejudices or is just using race to manipulate voters.

Republicans like to play victim on this, that they're being accused of racism if they oppose Obama. They know better. That's just another trick. Look no further than Sarah Silverman's perfect video to see how people have been scared and why we must unscare them if we can with facts and information.

Here's a compilation video of Fox's efforts

Barack Obama is the Goodest Person

Sarah Silverman says Jews need to schlep to Florida and convince their elderly Jewish nannas to vote Obama, or threaten never to visit them again. "Barack Obama is the goodest person..." Barack Obama is the goodest person. That needs to be said more often.

This video is hilarious.