I just attended a conference put on by a software company. This software is used by banks and investment managers and other financial services companies. So you can maybe imagine the kind of crowd it was; I may very possibly have been the only person there who was not a Republican. The keynote speaker was some Wall Street type, in fact I believe he appears on Wall Street Week. I found his talk pretty offensive personally, with his assumption that everyone in the room must think as he does, that we are all fixated on money. He shared some real gems, like when he said that recessions are unpredictable because they can't be predicted. He said that the election would no doubt have a big impact on the economy, but didn't enlarge on that. During the Q&A session at the end, someone asked about that. He said that Obama is too inexperienced. Hillary, well, we don't want TWO presidents running the country. And McCain is just too old. The only thing that really matters is cutting corporate taxes. Then he went on this bizarre rant about his family and liberals. Riveting.
At lunch, I was sitting with people I didn't know. (I was subbed in at the last minute for this conference, so I knew a couple people from the company putting it on). The talk turned to the speaker, and then the election. This is where it got interesting.
One of the guys said that he'd always been a Republican, which brought lots of nods of agreement, and he was a McCain guy. But then he heard Obama speak, and Wow! Now he's leaning that way, and would probably vote for him...Another guy said, I know, isn't it scary? There was general agreement that it's frightening to think that this guy, a Democrat, could actually appeal to them. They are all pretty much thinking they'll vote for him! Shocking! It's almost as if they were waking up to the idea that there was something they've been missing all this time, and here was some guy that could appeal to that, and just listening to him speak was enough to make them question their political identity.
It was pretty amazing to see, and I wish there had been more time to really get into a discussion. It really made me think there's a chance Obama could break through and get not just independents but Republicans, even those who don't hate McCain.
I voted for Obama in the Wisconsin primary, mainly because I just couldn't vote for someone who supported the war. I attended an Obama rally last summer, but wasn't blown away by his speech. (I think I'm too spoiled from spending so much time at Feingold events to be blown away by a pretty speech alone. Feingold is substance over flash, but he is also a pretty inspiring speaker.) I don't think that Obama is lacking substance, I just think that people with a superficial interest in politics think that, so I'm glad they can at least be inspired by the rhetoric. Anyway, I am really encouraged to find Obama's appeal reaches to the kind of crowd I was with.