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Walking in Obama's shadow: A nine-year-old boy shares his experience on the campaign trail

Submitted by Arjun Pandey

About/Bio: Arjun Pandey is a nine-year-old student from Waterloo, Ontario. Along with his two brothers (six and eleven) he became so captivated with Barack Obama over the last year that he travelled to Virginia to campaign door-to-door. In honour of the president elect, Arjun has written a speech commemorating his experience on the campaign trail. Arjun and his brothers are hosting a "Hope Has Arrived" inauguration party for their class mates, friends, & teachers.

My take: Imagine 90,000 pairs of eyes staring up at you. Each waiting anxiously for your next word. Eager, anxious, excited. You walk on to the stage, the entire world stares back at you. Cameras are flashing. The press hangs on your every word. You start your speech. The crowd goes wild with applause. This is the real life event of a special man. A man for our times, a man of change, a man named Barack Obama. I was one of those eyes staring up at Mr. Obama on November3rd, 2008 in Manassas, Virginia, on the final election rally, on the very last night of the 2008 U.S. presidential election. This is the story of how I got there.

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Arjun and his brothers in Virginia.

How did I, a 9 year old boy from Canada, end up just seven feet from the future president of the United States, the most powerful man in the world? Let me tell you my story. My story of how I came to walk in the shadows of Obama.

My adventure began on January 3rd, 2008. I was visiting my great grandmother in India. I was supposed to be writing my speech for the last speech competition, in grade 3. But I was having trouble getting started. My grand-uncle told me excitedly to come watch a historic speech with him, to learn how a great man delivers a great speech.

The speech was Barack Obama's victory address in Iowa on the night of January 3rd. We watched it live on the internet. We downloaded the speech from YouTube , to watch over and over again. I was amazed that a man could inspire so many people with his words. His words were powerful, they were moving, they made you believe. Words were important. It made me think. Perhaps I, too, could learn to speak effectively. I, too, could move people with my words.

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The Pandey family meets with other campaign volunteers

Inspired by this man and his words, I wrote my own speech. It was about the importance of Canadians supporting our brave soldiers in Afghanistan, even if we did not support the war in Afghanistan. To learn to speak more effectively, I chose to watch Obama during his debates, his caucuses, and his primaries.

My family and I became captivated by this man. On most school nights, I go to bed at 8:30. During the primary nights, I was allowed to stay up to watch the results come in, sometimes way past 11 o'clock!!

Even my little baby brother, Ashok, became enthralled by Obama. My dad loves to tell the story of a night he came home at 8:30 to find Ashok eager to stay up late. He told Ashok that it was time to go to bed, but Ashok insisted he had to stay up to watch TV. My dad was getting upset. He said "Ashok, we don't stay up on school nights to goof around and watch TV." What could a six-year-old want to watch so late at night? My baby brother said excitedly "but I need to stay up, Barack Obama is going to be on Larry King Live." How did a six-year-old know about Larry King and how could he possibly have known that Barack Obama would be on the show that night? We stayed up to the end of the show.

As the U.S. primaries went on, I was also taking part in many speech competitions. Over the course of the spring, I had won over $150! All of this inspired by the words of one man.

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The three brothers pose at Obama headquarters

All of a sudden in May, I lost at the Legion's Regional Speech competition! Barack Obama had also started losing a number of primaries to his rivals. We worried that this inspirational man may not succeed. He may not get the chance to change the world. Could we help? Was there something we could do?

My brothers and I each wrote letters of support to Barack Obama. Each of us collected all the money we had saved up and sent it to him to help in his campaign. My baby brother had no money. But he still wrote Obama a letter in green crayon wishing him well. Since he had no money to send, he sent his most precious possession, his lucky shell. A special shell he had collected long ago and always kept with him. He wrote to Mr. Obama asking him to keep it in his pocket as it would bring him luck.

My dad said we would only get a form letter back from Obama. But I knew better. I knew this man would acknowledge my letter. Sure enough, a few weeks later we received a couriered package back from him. A personal letter to each of us, congratulating us on our enthusiasm and thanking us for our support.

I made my dad promise that if Mr. Obama was selected the Democratic nominee for president, he would take us to Washington to campaign for him.

The summer whizzed by, and sure enough Barack Obama was chosen the Democratic nominee. My dad always keeps his promises. In November, we went off to Washington to help the Obama campaign. We met the chief of the Washington campaign headquarters. It was so cool to be there. To be a part of it all. She knew we were enthusiastic to help. She sent us to the battleground state of Virginia, the former seat of the Confederacy. A state no Democrat had won for over 40 years. We went door-to-door in little towns of Virginia convincing the undecided to support Obama.

We were invited to attend Barack Obama's final rally of the campaign in Manassas, Virginia. Security was so tight. We had to walk for miles from where we parked. Seven helicopters hovered over head. We all went through metal detectors and were searched by security guards. There were snipers on roof tops, atop trucks and buses with three foot rifles & night vision binoculars. It was daunting.

At last, after many hours of waiting, Obama walked on stage. 90,000 pairs of eyes stared back at him, hanging on his every word. Eager, anxious, excited. I was one of those eyes. I had walked in the shadows of Obama.

Will you be in Washington or are you throwing an inauguration party? Share your experience.

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