My momma loves Obama. She sent me a picture this morning of her wearing her new Obama sweatshirt, which she's committed to wearing to work at least 3 days a week until the Indiana primary. (Don't worry, she plans on washing it.)
So, in honor of how proud I am of my mom for standing up for Obama in rural Indiana, in what is probably relatively hostile territory, I just want to say, Yay Mom.
My mom is, to put it simply, one of the greatest people I know. She still lives in the tiny Indiana town where she and my dad were born. (Coincidentally, that town is right next to Rushville, Indiana, where Dinner with Barack winner Bonnie Lochetta lives.) She got married right out of high school and had my brother a year or two later, so she never had the chance to go to college to become a nurse, which was always her dream. But making sure my brother and I had a good education was always the most important thing to her - when she found out she was pregnant with my brother, the first thing she bought was a set of encyclopedias.
She cares deeply about nurturing and educating children, about ending this shameful war in Iraq, and about ending the staggering poverty that she sees all around her every day. These are the reasons she supports Obama. She is widely respected in our hometown and knows practically everyone - and did I mention the woman loves to talk? She'll have a 20 minute conversation with a stranger in a grocery store parking lot about the latest rumors that the next town over might be getting a Target. For all these reasons, I really believe that her Obama "endorsement" will make at least a small difference for Barack in Indiana. And if, by some miracle, Obama takes Fayette County, we've got my mom to thank.