I've read several "my friend the republican is going to vote for Obama" diaries here. For the most part, though, I skip them. They're my second-least-favorite type of diary, right after candidate bashing diaries. And, frankly, many are hard to believe.
But after the conversations I've had with my stepdad over the last week, I've changed my tune. In fact, I'm writing my own.
My stepdad is a throwback. Sixty seven years old, a former Marine (with three children who served themselves, two of whom are currently air marshals).
After leaving the Marines he became a police officer (and later a detective) in the NYPD.
He's very religious.
His stance on crime? Extremely tough. His stance on immigration? He'd be happy with machine guns at the borders (and has said so).
He's a flag-waving, religious conservative. Yellow "support our troops" bumper sticker conservative. "All taxes are bad" conservative. He once switched churches because his church stopped displaying the American flag at services.
Mom and stepdad are visiting me and Mrs. Oaklander for a week. Typically during visits like this, we all avoid any mention of politics -- it just gets too heated.
But this time, things are different.
Stepdad has made it clear, unequivocally, that he thinks the nation needs to elect Barack Obama.
I don't know when he came to this conclusion -- it may have been after the speech, but it may have been much earlier. But he has decided, and he's sure.
I haven't pressed him on it; even though we agree on this (and I can't tell you how much it shocks me to write that), I don't like to get in issue-by-issue discussion with him. But he's offered a couple of observations unbidden.
First: he thinks Obama talks like a president. He's made references to this a couple of times -- Obama is the only candidate who sounds presidential.
Second: he thinks the war in Iraq is a huge mistake. This is a big deal, because I'm sure he thought it was a good idea in 2003, probably in 2004-2006 as well. But sometime in the last year or so, it's dawned on him that this is the worst mistake our nation has ever made. Mind you, this is a Marine. A military guy. A support the troops guy. And this guy has decided that Obama is the only one he trusts to get us out of that quagmire.
Third: he believes Obama. Again, this is an observation he's brought up on his own. He doesn't trust Clinton or even McCain, and thinks they'll say anything to get elected. He doesn't think that about Obama -- he thinks Obama will be truthful even when it hurts his chances of getting elected.
The question I'm dying to ask him is what he'll do if Obama doesn't get the nomination.
My guess is: he votes McCain. Even though he hates McCain's stance on immigration and Iraq, Stepdad has been trained to hate Hillary for the last 16 years (I can't begin to tell you how many anti-Hillary e-mails I've gotten from him).
But if Obama gets the nomination, this military-raised, Arizona Republican will be voting for him in November.
As I said at the top, I've skimmed a few of these diaries. And frankly it'll surprise me if anyone actually gets this far into this one. But this has been a powerful, transformative experience for me, and I wanted to put it into words.
Obama has given my stepdad hope.