Posted by
InchDeep on Thursday, May 22, 2008 3:24:47 PM
Obama supporters gather for "Yes We Span" in Spain
This is a bridge to nowhere folks. From Expatica.
Democrats in Spain join worldwide campaign initiative and will meet Saturday on top of Calle Bailén bridge.
22 May 2008
MADRID
- "Barack Obama is a uniter." You can hear the phrase coming from the
lips of the Democratic presidential hopeful's more outspoken supporters
both domestically and abroad.
And it was this very concept that
sparked the idea for the international initiative dubbed "Yes We Span,"
involving local rallies of overseas Obama supporters in the various
world cities where they reside.
Over the past 14 months, "Yes We
Span" has seen pro-Obama groups pose in over 35 cities for collective
photos on landmark bridges, sights symbolic of the presidential
hopeful's uncanny power to bring people together.
A spin-off
from the music video Yes We Can that instantly popularised US Senator
Barack Obama's campaign slogan, bridges over the past year have become
the backdrop to Obama supporters from Paris to Jakarta, London to
Istanbul, and Berlin to Barcelona.
The photos run on loop on
Obama's website, and a montage is being set to music with the idea of
it being shown at the Democratic National Convention in August.
The
initiative was brainstormed by Meredith Wheeler last March at a
Democrats Abroad meeting in Brussels. Wheeler, an American living in
Strasbourg, France, and chair of her Democrats Abroad (DA) chapter, saw
the initiative as a way for her to use her influence and connections
with the organization's chapters worldwide to support her choice for
candidate.
"Why not use the bridge as the symbol of his campaign
and gather photos of supporters on famous or scenic bridges around the
world - showing that the world wants Obama?" she says.
Last
Saturday, 35 Obama supporters in Barcelona spanned across the Rambla de
Mar Bridge. Event organiser and member of DA Barcelona, Adam Lang, said
that the Obama issue is hitting particularly close to home.
"For
me spanning across the world shows that Obama is the choice for us
overseas Americans, who really have a front-row view of the disaster
that is the current US foreign policy in our daily lives."
In Madrid, Obama supporters will meet this Saturday at 12 noon on top of Calle Bailén bridge.
Sean
Carroll, an event organizer from DA Madrid explains: "The idea is that
Obama is unifying. He is the candidate that bridges differences. And
the international initiative shows that relations between us and other
countries are broken and we need to build these bridges back up."
Describing
the Illinois as "electric” and not hesitant about using what has been
Obama's buzz word, "change," Carroll says that he has never been so
excited about a candidate.
A veteran of Democratic campaigning,
he has previously volunteered for candidates from Walter Mondale to
John Kerry, but "it is Obama who really gets people excited," he says.
"If he gets elected, it will be the right change."
Although
Obama is one step closer to the nomination after Tuesday's primary win
in Oregon, Hillary Clinton, unwavering in her allegiance to what Obama
supporters criticize as the opposing message, has vowed to "fight on".
[El Pais / Kelly Ramundo / Expatica]