I had coffee with my Dad this morning and we talked about the Iowa caucus.
My Dad, the racist staunch Republican, would vote for Obama over Huckabee.
What fascinates me about the whole thing is that Dad (staunch Republican forever) would vote for Obama over Huckabee.
My Dad is a really good guy. He has a great many redeeming qualities. (for reference and perspective, he's 77, I'm 55, he was a 20 year Air Force guy, I was a 6 year Air Force troop myself back in the 70s).
One of the things that is not so cool about my Dad is that he's still kind of a stone racist. He pretty much loathes black people, doesn't trust them, etc. His own Dad drummed that into him from the time he was a small child. He has come a long way since I was young, but he still has a ways to go.
That's why I was really impressed when we talked. He would vote for Obama over Huckabee. He says he would really have to hold his nose to do it, but he would. I asked him "what's your big objection to Obama?" He said well, he thinks Obama would further a "black agenda" and I said "what's that?" He said, oh you know, more affordable housing, which black people would tear up and destroy, and more welfare. I sort of rolled my eyes and said "Dad...........Barack and Michelle Obama both have advanced degrees and are bigtime overachievers...........do you really think they have a lot of sympathy for people that take advantage of the welfare system and tear up affordable housing?"
I said, in my view, Barack Obama would be to the kind of people he is talking about, sort of like a "Nixon goes to China" thing...........if anything, they would be totally against that sort of thing.
He said "sort of like Bill Cosby" I said yeah exactly.
I really really apologize to any African American Kossacks that are reading this. These are not MY views. It's my Dad - which I am afraid is still too much the views of a lot of older white people who vote in droves, still.
What gives me hope is that he would STILL vote for Obama over Huckabee. We continued our conversation and he said "Obama would probably appoint Clayton Powell for VP, which would be a good thing." I said "you mean Adam Clayton Powell? he said, no, you know, Bushie's guy, I said oh you mean COLIN Powell? he said yeah, THAT guy. Hahahahah.
He said, that would be good - foreign policy creds, etc. I sort of (internally) rolled my eyes again, but maybe Dad is sort of right. I myself don't think Barack Obama would do any such thing, but that's how it's going out here in flyover country, among the CNN and Fox News voters.
Again, apologies to any African Americans who are reading this - I try to inform my parents, but it's a tough row. I have tried to impress them with the knowledge that the "black agenda" is also their agenda. Unless you're one of the filthy rich, the "black agenda" is all of ours agenda.
I'm just happy that my parents, racist as they are, can recognize that we're all in the same boat.
My Mom actually impressed me, back in the 70s - she actually got it - in the news at the time was the meme of "racial tolerance". She told me - "the hell with that - if I was black, I would be livid - you don't TOLERATE somebody because of what color they were born with - you fight like hell for your rights as an American citizen".
My parents are really stereotypical flyover white people. And they are voting for Democrats. Really makes me want to cheer. They have both come a long way since I was a child.