My sister and I don't talk much, really, mainly because we're just about exact opposites. I'm 26, she's almost 40. She's got 5 kids and a farm. I've got an apartment and a cat. She's a registered nurse, turned housewife, I'm a retail minion. But I called her today, and I plan on calling the rest of my West Virginia relatives to see if I can scrape up some support for Obama tomorrow.
She told me some really interesting things about West Virginia politics. She's not an official of any sort, just a voter, but this was her perception.
I asked her if she was going to vote in the democratic primary tomorrow, and she said, to my horror, that she was forced to switch to republican in order to have any say in the local community because the whole place is run by republicans. I asked her if a switch to independent would work out for her, she said it might, but she can do more from inside than outside of the republican party.
She used to be a democrat, and she said she had to think long and hard about whether to switch or not, but in the end she choose to do so because she didn't want to be wholly outside the process, which is apparently where democrats seem to be in her area.
She said that if she could vote, she'd probably vote for Hillary because Obama wasn't even in the state. I pointed out that yes he was there today. She told me about Hillary going to Grafton (a town I know well there) on Mother's day with Chelsea, and that Mother's day was born in Grafton (maybe it was, I really don't know), and she felt that Hillary was actually trying to get votes, while Obama just felt he had to show up at least once. She told me about 7 or 8 different places she knew the Clintons had been in the last week.
Then she said that she didn't know much about Obama, and it was "damn sure" too late now for him to change and West Virginian's minds about him today. She said he might as well just go on to Oregon. I didn't really know what to say, but I told her there's books and newspapers and internet access to all of his positions, ideas, and past. She stuck to the theory it was all too late anyway.
I was very happy to note that despite all the things she said about Obama, that he was black was not one of them.
My mom gave me a list of all her relatives to call today, I am kind of scared to call some of these people, partly because I haven't spoken to them in a long time as it is, and partly because I remember this conversation all too well:
I was about 13 or so, sitting on a porch swing out in the mountains of West Virginia at my grandmother's house with my cousin and my brother. I was proud of my new pants I earned with babysitting money, JNCOs, and I absently said to him, "hey, do you like JNCOs?" ("Jinkos" is how it's pronounced)
"What the hell is a Jinko, a n*****?"
My brother and I fell over laughing.
I guess these days it's not quite so funny.
I'm going to call the rest of the family anyway. We'll see what they have to say. I called my sister first because she was the least likely of them to say the things I'm afraid I will hear from the others. I am not even sure any of them are democrats, but I am determined to help bring down this huge margin in West Virginia.