How do you redefine issues and terms that all
Americans care about, words & ideas that have been taken away from
the majority by a few political operatives? How do we stop the
out-of-control spinning that a few people
have done to American ideals of family values, pride and patriotism,
and economic responsibility, making them into complicated, sinister
camouflage for forwarding their own agendas? How do we stop the
erosion of American values like habeas corpus, a balance of governmental branch powers, privacy, and
a sense that we are all for one country and one country for all its
people's needs?

You stand up and say: we're mad as heck, and we're not going to take it
anymore.

Get on the phone, go to a swing state, email your friends, talk to your
neighbors, and pick up a camera...

• Family Values (the Burton family): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GucPUtWjYE

Our real extended Burton family (grandparents, daughters, spouses,
and grandkids) got together to make a video about how our family
values are driving our support for Barack Obama in the coming
election. Like the flag and other symbols of patriotism, the idea of
"family values" has been increasingly marketed as belonging only to the
conservative right. The Burton family made this spot to emphasize how
family values are fundamentally those that help all American families.
We five sisters are filmmakers (who helm the production company Five
Sisters
Productions, www.fivesisters.com).  Maria
directed, and the other 4 produced the spot as part of the
Mamas for Obama (www.mamasforobama.net)
campaign. Everyone donated
their time and resources, including Joan Churchill (camera), Alan
Barker (sound), Ted Hayash (gaffer), Chrome (editing), Amy Sampson
(still photog), Anne Wile (make-up), Jonathan Schwarz (AC), Real Food
Daily, MD Dundon (web), and more. We all feel this is a critical
election, and we needed to step up and start redefining what real
people's values and concerns are.

• Julia Sweeney spot (with her daughter
  Mulan): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wG_CWdG2lkQ&NR=1

We sisters also directed & produced an ad with Julia Sweeney (from
Saturday
Night Live), called "A President To Be Proud Of." Maria worked with
Julia on turning her show LETTING GO OF GOD into a film, and they had a
great experience together. Maria wanted to direct Julia in something
regarding her thoughts on the election... and this came out of that
collaboration. Julia and her daughter Mulan talk about the former
president and the path he's taken, and
how Obama promises a much brighter future in a new direction. Bob
Garfield of ON THE MEDIA just wrote about the ad in Advertising Age (http://adage.com/garfield/post?article_id=132037):

In the past week, in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania, the
average Philadelphian has heard more about Barack Obama's middle-class
tax cut than about the World Series-contending Phillies.
...Obama
doesn't swing for the fences. He plays small ball.
...

For those of us infuriated, disgusted and just plain saddened
by McCain's embrace of standard GOP fear 'n' smear tactics, it's also
been a bit frustrating that Obama hasn't lashed back to debunk lies and
expose hypocrisy. But not taking the bait has been shrewd strategy,
too; the absence of such advertising became advertising for his
preternatural focus and poise. Meanwhile, for once, the press has done
a pretty good job exposing the smears, and Tina Fey's Palin turns on
"Saturday Night Live" have been a priceless expose-the-hypocrisy proxy.

Indeed, in terms of memorable advertising, the Obama campaign
has left it to proxies, too. ... Now, as the campaign draws to a close,
comes another, far less
ambitious but uniquely pointed spot from a grass-roots group called
Mamas for Obama. It features another ex-"SNL" cast member, Julia
Sweeney, and her daughter.

"You know what I want? I want a president that I am not
embarrassed about. For eight years, I've been embarrassed about our
president. My daughter is 8 years old. That means for her entire life,
I've been embarrassed about our president. ... And then along came
Obama. And not only am I not embarrassed by him, I look up to him. And,
no, I don't love everything he has said or every single thing he has
voted for, but he inspires me. ... It's such a relief to actually
admire him. ... Because he represents the best of us: our
open-mindedness, our fantastic educational system. I love his
internationalism. I love his intellect. And when did 'intellectual'
become a bad word, anyway?"

The kid pipes in here and there, more cutely than obnoxiously,
to punctuate things and remind you this is a mom talking. Finally,
Sweeney returns to the pitch: "How exciting would it be to have him
president? So the opposite of embarrassing!"

As small a desire as you can imagine. But a small little swing can
bring the runner home.

• The "Party's Over" spot with baby
  Dashiell, sisters Ursula & Maria, & Burton parents as
  actors: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT7fGFOvKso

Lastly, in the same "Mamas For Obama" campaign
(www.facebook.com/mamasforobama),
our friend Terri Miller directed this
spot called "Party's Over." It shows the current Republican party's
penchant for
rewarding the super-wealthy and giving welfare to corporations, while
deferring the bill to future generations. In it
is featured as actors: baby
Dashiell, sisters Ursula & Maria, & Burton parents (writer
Gabrielle Burton and actor Roger Burton). This is a call to arms
equally for Republicans to redefine what it means to be Republican, to
take back that term from the neocons and get back on the playing field
where we can have a straight-forward debate about our values, with
policy positions to back that up.

We sisters feel so strongly about this election that I (Gabrielle) am
living in Ohio, working on grassroots organizing for registering
voters, encouraging all voters to participate, and working on
particular issues (protecting the environment and stopping
global warming, doing smart development, & pushing
accountability for both businesses and electoral reps). In this
particular election, this includes: stopping payday lending gouging
practices (where lenders charge up to 391% interest) and stopping the
constitutional amendment (hello?!) to allow a casino (who won't pay any
taxes because of careful loopholes in the language),
as well as another constitutional amendment (hello hello?!) to state
that groundwater rights
are landowners', when that is aalready established and doesn't
need a change in the constitution to reiterate, and rather is creating
a loophole for businesses to get involved in murky practices.

What's more, my second sister Jennifer flew with her daughter to Ohio
to work on
registering voters during "Golden Week" with my and my
children, encouraging EVERYONE to get involved and informed in each
election.

American voter turn out is so low, it's shocking. Everyone
needs to educate themselves and CARE about who wins elections, because
-- from school board to local judges to President -- these are the
people who affect our daily and long-term lives.

We encourage every one of you to get on you feet, get on your phones,
get on your email, and GET OUT THERE. There are only 6 days left.

Vote early. Then spend the day driving others to the polls, or joining
"election protection," or being a poll worker, or helping remind people
where to vote and how important it is.

Your values are family values. You don't
have to be embarrassed by other people controlling the definitions.
Your money is being spent whether you like it or not; do something
about
it, don't just complain about it.

Your hopes can be realized.
All it takes is you. Get up. Get out. Get involved.

Your country needs you.