5/21/09
A year ago, Mateo Peixinho gathered with a small group of Chimayó residents and started making “Obamanos” signs for then-senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. Last week, he was in Rio Rancho shaking the newly-elected President’s hand.
Obama visited Rio Rancho for a town hall meeting on credit card debt May 14 and spent a few minutes afterward greeting the community organizers who helped his campaign. Peixinho, a contractor and anti-nuclear activist, recruited a group of friends and long-time political activists last year to become the core of the Española arm of Obama for America, Obama’s national campaign.
“It wasn’t even a meeting, it was just a handshake,” Peixinho said. “Most people there kind of shook his hand and stayed for the photo opportunity. I pressed for a few seconds to tell him a few things I’d prepared.”
Peixinho gave Obama a signed copy of an out-of-print book by an activist who opposed nuclear testing in Nevada and a handful of letters from friends and family. One was from Linda Pedro, a former state senate candidate and current health care organizer whom Peixinho called his “adoptive mom.”
Pedro said she sent Obama a copy of her biography and resume, to make herself available for a role in any health care reforms the Administration puts together.
“I do (have faith Obama will make significant reforms),” Pedro said. “Though he’s up against Mount Everest to do it.”
Pedro, a quadriplegic who has participated in state health care initiatives, said one needed change is to income caps for disabled people to Medicare and Social Security benefits.
“I don’t want some big job or appointment,” she said. “But I’m available. I’d be willing to at least consult.”
Another was from Peixinho’s wife, Michelle, a midwife and head of a health program for Tewa Women United. She wrote him about federal funding her program received through a competitive grant, he said.
For Peixinho, however, the big opportunity was not his eight seconds of face time with Obama, but the subsequent conversations he had with the President’s staff.
“Big politicians, they don’t really have the attention span to really focus on you when you meet them in situations like that,” Peixinho said. “The work really starts when you meet the right aide and you get the right materials in the right person’s hands.”
During his visit, Peixinho pushed for a field office for Organizing for Greater Española, the political group that grew out of the Española chapter of Obama for America, and also for Obama to make a repeat visit to Española.
Organizing for a Greater Española has been meeting monthly since the November presidential election, and Peixinho thinks it could develop into a way for citizens to stay informed on and provide feedback on government initiatives.
“The idea is to encourage interaction with elected officials,” he said. “Right now, there’s no clear communication with the executive branch. Maybe through something like this, we can stay ahead of the curve, find out about a bill before it’s passed, maybe get to the Administration some input from the public.”