Happy Obama Appreciation Day

A personal tribute to an inspirational leader

2007 was a pretty rough year for me. I had just been diagnosed properly with PTSD by the Department of Veterans Affairs after experiencing Military Sexual Trauma a decade earlier, and had been living with the symptoms for some time.

After getting out of the military in 1996, I took several odd jobs living paycheck to paycheck including working at Guitar Center and selling Sprint mobile phones from a kiosk at Horton Plaza. But more recently, I had landed a job in the hospitality business as housekeeping at the Hard Rock Hotel downtown. My job was to hand towels to rich people in the bathroom at the rooftop bar nightclub. A humbling job to be sure, but I had used my VA benefits to earn a Master’s in Business with a focus on Human Resources and Labor Relations (HRLR) and was trying to figure out what was next for me.

That’s when the subprime mortgage crisis hit. Billionaires got richer giving high-interest no-asset, no-income loans to working people, then betting against them. It completely crashed the market. And while I couldn’t even get one of those loans, rents were skyrocketing due to dwindling supply. It got to the point where I’d have to find an ATM that dispensed ten dollar bills, and would have to float checks to buy food.

I wanted to put my new HRLR skills to use, but couldn’t figure out what I wanted to do.

Enter presidential candidate Barack Obama. On December 5th, 2007 at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, Obama issued a call to serve. The American Presidency Project recalls:

In his campaign, Obama has enlisted hundreds of thousands of Americans to join him in working for change that America can believe in. As President, Obama will increase opportunities for Americans of all ages to serve their country. In his remarks, Obama discussed his personal experience in public service, as well as his plan to call on Americans from all walks of life to serve and to build an architecture that focuses their service toward achieving leading national goals.

“That’s it!” I thought. But how can I serve my country? I’m a disabled Veteran. I can’t re-enlist. But I could work to help other Veterans get timely access to quality care. I could help other women like me. So I decided to apply to work at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

While tracking Obama’s campaign, working nights at the hotel, I began applying for jobs at the VA. Then, on January 3rd 2008 - with a record voter turnout - Obama won the Iowa Caucus defeating John Edwards and Hillary Clinton. A victory that would eventually propel him to secure the nomination. The next day, I got a tattoo of his iconic hope symbol on the inside of my right wrist.

People thought I was nuts - and technically, they were right - but I was so inspired by the promise of hope and Obama’s call to be of service to others. I was equally determined to not only survive, but to help others do the same. I often think about how leaders inspire, and wonder at the same time what Donald Trump has inspired anyone to do besides spit hate. But I digress.

Obama won the 2008 election in a landslide, and after nearly a year of applying to every job available at the San Diego VA Health System, I was finally offered a job as an entry level GS-5 clerk. Miraculously, I took the executive oath of office on the same day Obama took his oath. It was also my birthday: January 20th, 2009. I raised my right hand, Obama tattoo on full display, and repeated the words:

I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

So this June 14th, we celebrate Flag Day and Barack Obama Appreciation Day. And nothing else.

Thank you, President Obama, for being an inspiration.

~AG