While I was on the way home from school the other day a light popped into my head that screamed for barbeque, so I called my brother to see what he would like for diner and decided to head over to my favorite BBQ place on the west side. Now when it comes to bbq, this is one of the only subjects that can get even more heated than politics so believe me when I say this place means business. Kobe beef ribs that fall off the bone, and yes the sauce does come on the side like it should! All your favorite bbq dishes made with the top ingredients with great care. To top it off Jalapeño cornbread muffins and peach cobbler for desert if you could possibly stack that on top of your already belt loosened gulliver. Let’s suffice it to say that I am a fan.
So I order my food and am sitting at a table speaking to my cousin on the celly about the latest Clinton fiasco Bosnia-Sniper-Gate chewing on some peanuts that they provide instead of bread or the like and I see the owner Christine was restocking the to-go table with supplies within ears distance. So I’m ranting on about how this completely destroys her credibility as the most experienced democrat nominee to be president and that this will probably blow up in her face more so than the reverend Wright story has hit Obama.
My cousin agreed and she said that it was very stupid for her to try and beef up her role because she did have a role and she should have just stated that instead of distorting the facts which calls into question all the other statements she has made and she pointed to her statements on NAFTA and that now it looks like she lied on her position in the beginning to gain favor with industrial blue collar Pennsylvania. I told her she was absolutely right and that I had picked up on that and already blogged about that very subject. At the end of the conversation we came to the conclusion that we both hate the tactics of the Clinton machine but would vote for her for if nothing else than not to see John McCain in the White House.
After hanging up the phone satisfied that someone else on this rock we call earth feels the same way I do regarding this campaign season, I start to watch the UCLA game on the tube waiting for a break in orders to speak to Christine. She finishes with her order and comes over and sits across from me. We get the niceties done and all is well and she says that she overheard me talking on the phone. My attention jumped from half game and half chitchat straight onto politics that I assumed would be the focus of what she was to say next. Christine than asks me who I voted for in our primary inquisitively as to suggest she wasn’t sure if it was ok to talk politics. I’m a proud Obama supporter so not one second goes by and I kinda yelled BARACK OBAMA without giving it a thought for the other people in the room. She smiled and said that she voted for barrack Obama too. I asked her if it was a hard decision being that she is a woman and an AA? She said hell no, after watching the debates and how the two campaigns have been run she felt it necessary to vote for Obama. She went on to say that she has family back home in the Atlanta area and she spoke to her grandmother who is now 97 years old about this election and she asked her who she voted for and it was Barack.
At this point I was secure enough to pretty much babble incoherently on why I support him. Going on about it’s my generations’ time to be the "Deciders", a non-scorched earth fifty state strategy that actually might appeal to more than %49 of the populous. Then I happened on a couple of talking points my brother and I were discussing earlier this week.
There have been four distinctly harmful events last week that hurt the Clinton campaign. One being the Richardson endorsement, two being the Bosnia-Sniper-Gate, three being the fact that she is broke, and four was the speech Barack Obama gave on race. At this point in the conversation her eyes got wider and wider as she noticed my complete enthusiasm. I told her this was the first time in my life that I had seen any politician that even remotely looked interesting and could go on to be our next president.
Right then I could tell something had happened. It took a second for it to sink in and I’m sure it still is. We confirmed something that was in each of us that we also see in Barack. It brought it to a human level, it was as plain as day in both of our eyes. Here were two seemingly completely different people that in a matter of minuets came to the conclusion that we have so much more in common than we will ever have apart. My order came up and Christine asked the woman working the front to throw in some home made cup cakes. I gave her a hug and expressed my gratitude for the common bond we just shared. This little story is why I voted for Barack Obama, any hey who doesn’t like free cup cakes?