Let's talk about this friggin' campaign, and just exactly why I've suspended all activities that involve working WITH my fellow Obama supporters.

Make no mistake. I am as dedicated as ever to Sen. Obama's candidacy, and I'm thrilled with the choice of Joe Biden as a running mate, and my motto continues to be, "If Obama does not get elected President, it will NOT be MY fault."

I have skills. I can write halfway decently, and I LOVE to write -- letters, blogs, postcards for the campaign, what have you. I have an eagle eye for typos, and I can put together a list of email addresses and phone numbers that is not riddled with typos to the point of utter unusability.

I have aversions. I hate getting phone calls. I hate MAKING phone calls. I hate standing on street corners waving signs. I'm getting better at knocking on doors and registering voters if they're willing, and talking to voters who aren't sure about Obama and worry that he's a Muslim or some such thing.

Not that there is anything wrong with being a Muslim. There's just something wrong with SAYING that there's nothing wrong with being a Muslim. But I digress.

Last week I was dragged by our official campaign coordinator to the grocery store where I shop regularly, and urged to accost customers coming in and out of the store, to sign them up as registered voters. The manager hustled us off the property, and I was informed by our official campaign coordinator that it's what we have to do -- bend the law, break the law, annoy people -- because that's how you win elections.

Fuck that.

Just let me write. Just let me put email lists together so that we can communicate with each other better.

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The support for Obama in my very Republican county is disgustingly unenthusiastic. And I also live in a county comprised largely of elderly citizens, and most of the women who are active politically (I'm talking about Democrats now) are all boo-hoo-hoo over the fear that they might never see a woman elected President during their lifetimes.

I'm not here to bash Hillary. I think she's a great champion of liberal causes and is more deserving of a shot at the presidency than at least 99% of our current political population. But I'm still remembering how the health insurance problems didn't get fixed in 1992-93 and I blame her for it. Please don't argue with me about that. I'm just saying -- I'm only involved in politics this year because of the magnificent qualities of Barack Obama.

He is The One.

But I hate politics. I used to be so thoroughly cynical that I never ever contributed to a campaign, I never ever stuffed an envelope or canvassed or registered a voter.

And now I hate politics more than ever.

Seven weeks ago, we had a Fourth of July parade.

I was the ONLY Obama shirt in that very large parade. The ONLY Obama sign. I did some good. When I passed by each of the parade watchers, my presence gave them a chance to cheer for our candidate. Where were the other "supporters?" Who knows?

There's more. Oh, there's more.

These people who are here in this county supposedly organizing and conducting the campaign never heard of the word courtesy. I'm not talking about the rudeness of accosting would-be voters on the phone or at their doors or on street corners or at grocery stores.

I'm talking about courtesy to ME.

Listen. My wife and I are 65 and 68, respectively, and we are very very busy people and both of us are under a doctor's care for issues related to constant stress. The clinical details are unimportant. Just take my word for the fact that we are both in pretty good health but we don't have the stamina for THIS kind of crap:

A campaign worker who is among the hardest-working and most significant people in the local campaign called our house on a Friday afternoon -- about 2 p.m. -- asking us to attend a "very important meeting" at which we would receive $1,000 worth of tickets to be distributed to attenders of a future event. The meeting would be sometime early that evening, but my wife cut her off by saying she was unfortunately too busy to attend.

As it happened, we got our chores done earlier than expected and found that we COULD attend, assuming we knew exactly where or when. We called her back, and could only leave a message. "Call us back and tell us the time and place."

No callback. We guessed the meeting would be at 7 p.m. (which was the right guess) at a certain restaurant, which turned out to be a WRONG guess but when we went to the wrong place we were steered to the right place, a local Starbucks where the group often meets.

As we arrived, we encountered an 82-YEAR-0LD woman who had received even shorter notice than we did. We chatted amongst ourselves until 7:45 p.m. and finally left.

The next night, at another meeting attended by myself and that "hard-working and significant" campaign worker (HWSCW), I asked for an explanation. "Oh, the tickets didn't get printed so I didn't go to the meeting. Here are ten envelopes with invitations inside, that you can send out to the attenders."

Not a word of apology.

A week later, the tickets have been printed, and were supposed to have been delivered to us yesterday. Here's how the phone conversation went two days ago:

HWSCW: I can bring them to your house tomorrow. What time will you be there?

Us: Please, we want YOU to pick the time, and we will try to be here at that time.

HWSCW: I don't want to inconvenience you by doing it too early in the morning. How about 10:30?

Us: Fine. Bring them here at 10:30. We'll be here.

Come Saturday morning, we have inconvenienced ourselves by being home at the time SHE selected. I'll give her credit for one thing: at least this time she called.

"Unfortunately, I have to speak at a luncheon and I can't make it."

I'll leave out my sputtering response, but cut to the chase here.

Take my word for this. This young lady is not the FIRST person in the campaign who has abused us by asking for our presence at a certain place and time and forcing us into a position where we have totally wasted our precious time. I cannot tell you how many times this has occurred, or how much rudeness we have experienced from a high percentage of our fellow Obama supporters.

I can't tell you because I have lost count.

When I had that last conversation -- check that; next to next to last conversation -- yesterday, I felt my chest tighten and my breathing shorten.

I have had it.

I called our esteemed campaign coordinator -- and there have been serious issues with him as well -- to tell him I'm done with participating in the campaign with this crowd. He didn't seem to think my reason was sufficient. It was such a small thing.

"It is a small thing, yes," I said, "but it was the LAST STRAW."

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I'm going to wrap up this here blog for today.

If anyone wants to make use of the skills I DO have, and treat me with a minimum of respect and courtesy and consideration, I'll do what I can.

I would like to be alive and able to enjoy Obama's presidency. Getting aggravated to the point of having to spend five hours in the Emergency Room last week getting my brain CAT-scanned for what I think was a mere tension headache, is not worth it.

My health is good, I think. They ruled out stroke. They ruled out heart attack. They ruled out brain tumor.

But I am through working WITH these rude people that the campaign wants me to work with.