In the spirit of true bipartisanship, Democrats Abroad-Israel through the tireless efforts of its Jerusalem branch, is hosting an Inaugural Event.
What: Obama’s Presidential Inauguration Event When: Tuesday, January 20, 2009 – doors open at 5:30pm IST, actual inauguration ceremony and address will be viewed live on screen at 7pm IST Where: Zollis Pub, 5 Rivlin Street, Nahalat Shiva, Jerusalem, Israel. Who: Democrats, Republicans, Independents and their friends How much: NIS 65 per person. Entrance fee includes Kosher dinner and beverage, snacks, music and lots of fun! Why: Because we needed a Mentch in the White House and tomorrow we will have one.
Efrat from DA-Israel just informed me that it is getting more and more likely that they will reach their capacity, so RSVP now by email or take your chances and just show up.
Avid readers of my blog know that during the 2008 US elections I was inspired by will.i.am‘s Yes We Can video, so much so that I decided to do my part and create a few pro-Obama designs in Hebrew and make them available for download for free. Well, after Obama won, the Black Eyed Peas’ frontman released a new song called It’s A New Day, which features loads of still shots from the night Obama won – and guess whose banner is shown (for less than a second) within these photos?
That’s right, the Associated Press photo that was featured on HuffPo’s front page has made its way into this video. It seems my ‘electing Obama’ adventures started with will.i.am and ended with will.i.am:
Now, I knew everyone gets to be famous for 15 minutes, I just did not realize in the 21st century it means you get a million people’s attention for half a second. Here’s the video, make sure not to blink at 38 seconds:
It is quite remarkable how something as trivial as a person’s middle name can be used as a source of shame one day, and as a source of pride the next day. Many people much smarter than me will write about the day in history when the citizens of the US grew up, and for the first time in a long time chose the most qualified person for the highest office in the land.
As someone who is not a US citizen and could not vote in the elections, I can still say I have done my part, however small, and proudly announce that I helped elect Barack Obama. Like millions of others, I, too, was inspired by the man and the campaign he ran. The Hebrew graphics I designed were viewed thousands of times and the files I made available were downloaded hundreds and hundreds of times.
Back in February 2008, my original post was first called “We Need a Mentch in the White House”. One year later, in January 2009, I would be able to proudly proclaim: We Have a Mentch in the White House!
Thanks to Tony Jassen, an Obama supporter from Jerusalem, who brought the photo to my attention:
Shahar -
Once again I can’t say thank you enough for the graphic and letting us use it.
As you can see, we have made a difference. [...]
[The photo] was taken at Mike’s Place Jerusalem at an election watch party sponsored by Democrats Abroad – Israel and attended by us, Israelis for Obama, among others. There were about 50 or so people there all night, mostly college students, watching the results. The picture was taken, if I am not mistaken, among celebrations of the first moments when the final results came in.
I started designing Hebrew pro-Obama graphics eight months ago in response to the Rovian smear campaign that was peaking at the time. I was appalled by the Newspeak that started gaining more and more strength, even to the point of bringing down prominent democrats with ‘as far as I know’ statements, changing discussions about ‘the war’ to discussions about ‘the surge’, pushing the ol’ familiar dichotomy of ‘one of us’ versus ‘one of them’.
Now, each day scores of people visit my Obama posts, usually because Google in its infinite wisdom has ranked them high in the image search results, but since I never expected my symbolic protest to go beyond its virtual existence, I am amazed to get from time to time evidence of my design crossing to the real world. Yesterday I got an email from an Obama supporter in Massachusetts named Brian, saying:
Shahar,
Attached are two photos of me campaigning for Obama in New Hampshire in a Yes Oui Ken shirt. A group of friends all went to New Hampshire together, and we went from house to house talking to people about the need for a change. We had many good conversations. […] Afterwards I wore the shirt to a dinner with a group of Rabbis and Jewish friends, and they all loved the design. […]
L’shalom
Brian
If you want a shirt like Brian’s, or want to show your Obama pride in a button, just download the graphics, and use CafePress, Zazzle, or similar online printing services – or go green and visit your local print shop:
