Contrast

Workout notes I am getting ready for a swim/walk combination; not quite ready for the triathlon workout just yet.

Update: 2000 yard swim (500 free, 10 x 25 fly, 25 free on 1:05, 10 x 50 (alternate 25 drill, 25 free, 50 free), then 5 x 100 (alternate 100 paddle, 100 free).

Then 5+ mile walk outside in 1:08. Chilly, but great footing. Some ice remains on the water.

Samatha Power talks about her comments. Note the contrition.

Hat tip to Ari the Edge of the American West.

On the other hand Tanya at the Daily Kos alerts us yet another bad example, this one from the other campaign: (source)

I voluntarily left the Hillary Finance Committee after I discovered more than $3, 000 in unauthorized charges from HRC campaign on my own VISA card! And that set off a wave of overdrafts and $400 in bank charges that I was stuck with. And the compliance officer Allison Wright at Hillary VA headquarters refused to reimburse me for the charges. And the senior finance reps who I notified about more than $3, 000 in Unauthorized Visa Charges: never once aplogized or empathized with my plight…Much less send me a “sorry for all the trouble” note and a check!

Unbelievably, it took me more than a month of pleading and begging VIA email to get the money back. I was told verbatim:

“Kathy Callahan, you are going to be with us all the way to the White House…So let’s leave the money where it is and we’ll save time on inevitable future donations and transactions!”

Note: aside from the staggering immorality and the unwillingness to take responsibility, note the lack of knowledge of the rules. The maximum campaign contribution per individual is $2,300 dollars per person per year.

One long month later, and at the behest of a bank executive who said to me a few days before Christmas Eve,
“You are way way way over the legal donor limit, Kathy! What are they thinking? Are they thinking at all?”
So I followed his direction and filed a police report in Ridgefield. I then notified Allison Wright and Cc’ed senior finance reps (who I met many times) via email again -about the police report and said,
“Enough is Enough, already! Christmas is coming!”

It was then and only then and within a matter of seconds that I got a cell phone call and email from Allison Wright imploring me, “Kathy, please don’t do anything, formally! I will send you whatever you want back, immediately!” I told her,
“You can send all of my money back!” Finally, $5, 300 large came back to me but not $400 in overdraft charges. And to think that the legal limit during the primary is $2, 300 and I had already generously and enthusiastically donated $2, 000 to Hillary legitimately!

I had no other choice but to walk away! And I am so glad that I did. Every cloud has a green, gold and silver lining. And in my case it’s Barack Obama.

Ok to be fair, some of our local campaign offices have insulted people too. We can’t afford things like this:

On my way in to work today – I read this opinion piece by Clark DeLeon in the Philly Metro “Is a free poster too much”.

Apparently some people are thinking they can get Obama swag for free. While I don’t blame the campaign for this misconception, and can agree that dealing with the public can be very trying at times – it’s the attitude allegedly displayed that hurts the most.

She was told that such a sign would cost $5. And she paid. “I felt guilty,” she said later, noting that when she worked as a volunteer for Chaka Fattah during his run for mayor no one charged her for campaign posters. She didn’t have to add that she also felt stupid and vaguely insulted…
She was treated like a bag lady trying to get over on eBay. “You people come in here expecting free material,” said a shockingly unpleasant man.

Evidently, this isn’t an isolated incident. I don’t like it at all; were that to have happened here I would have dressed this person down.

(Source)

So why would Obama campaign people act like surly sales clerks at The Gap? I could venture a guess or two, none of them kind and none of them a valid excuse. Maybe they were tired. Maybe they were hungry. So what? They’ll never have another opportunity to make a good first impression. And that’s bad politics. The last thing the Obama campaign needs is to appear uninterested in and disconnected from people in Pennsylvania, a state that doesn’t love you back, as well as one thickly populated by lifelong residents who never forget a slight. And if a free campaign poster is too much to ask for, what are the odds of getting universal health care?

I agree to a point. Here is how we handled it here: we just didn’t carry yard signs; when asked we told them that they were available on back order off of the internet.

The Obama campaign is NOT a “stick a yard sign up and be done with it” type of event. Those who want to be part of the campaign are expected to do something, be it contribute money, phone bank, go door to door or whatever. This is really a “it all depends on you” type of affair.

Still there is no excuse for rudeness.

Note: this criticism was relayed from the very Obama friendly site Daily Kos. We believe in holding ourselves accountable.