"I'm here because of Ashley".....why are you here?

[better tomorrow]

Wonderful speech by Obama. I'm here because I believe we CAN change...."this time"....

So, why are you here?

[wndycty]

1. Casting young Ashley, young Ashley and old Black man

9 year old Ashley Abigail Breslin

23 year old Ashley Scarlett Johansen


Old Black man Morgan Freeman

[better tomorrow]

2. thanks for the clever bump, wndy.....

[Schema Thing]

3. Who is Ashley? What did I miss?

[KittyWampus]

4. mustard and relish sandwiches...

purposely trying to be cryptic

[better tomorrow]

8. the end of his speech....

[grasswire]

14. isn't Ashley Governor Spitzer's hooker?

right?

[DrFunkenstein]

5. I'm Here Because of Ashley

My wife and I have gnawing doubts about raising children because we are not sure that the adults in the world are not preparing to give the next generations a chance.

I can honestly say that Obama gives us hope, in the fullest and most profound sense of the word.

[Zueda]

9. Same situation here!

[nashville_brook]

6. that was devastating -- i'm "here" because "the blood that was spilled was our blood."

that line summed up my entire political life.

[YOY]

7. Pardon, but who is Ashley?

n/t

[better tomorrow]

12. re: speech Obama just gave....

she was the community organizer he spoke about near the end of his speech that choked him up.....

I think I'll eat a mustard and relish sandwich for lunch in her honor....and, I'm giving my burly husband one, too...

[suston96]

10. Why am I here? I am here because I am not all there....Mustard and relish....?

When I was little we had mustard sandwiches all the time. Couldn't afford the relish.

[uponit7771]

11. ...change...

[better tomorrow]

13. :)

[better tomorrow]

15. in case you missed the reference......here it is

There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.


And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that's when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.


She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.


She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.


Now Ashley might have made a different choice. Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother's problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But she didn't. She sought out allies in her fight against injustice.


Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they're supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who's been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he's there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, "I am here because of Ashley."


"I'm here because of Ashley." By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.

[better tomorrow]

16. Who is Ashley? Here you go.....

There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.


And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that's when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.


She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.


She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.