said a colleague of mine yesterday. He's a nice enough young man, (for a Republican) and he's heavily involved in local politics, with an eye on running for a national office in his hopeful future. We've become fairly friendly over the last few years and we sometimes team up on projects together, as we did the last few weeks. Politics, of course, often come up in our conversations.
So there we were yesterday, working on exhibits, when he turned to me and said "I know you were glued to the primary coverage last night. I see your guy did well, congrats."
My younger friend is painfully conservative in his appearance. Tie, suspenders, wingtips, and always the impeccable suit, with close cropped hair that you can just see turning into a comb-over over the next ten years or so. I am, proudly, unabashedly, openly, a liberal. Always have been, always will be. We are such total opposites in every respect. Sometimes, I can't help but have a little interior giggle with myself when my friend and I have to work together. There he is, the young male picture of conservatism, next to the older white woman with the streaked, slightly spikey short hair, multiple piercings, and the big Obama button on her purse. Of course, if we're not in the office, his tidy business attire is a counterpoint to my jeans, Reboks, and my Obama T-shirt, which blends nicely with the Obama sticker on my laptop.
Last February, the subject of the primary had arisen. Of course, he knew where my vote had gone. "That Obama, he seems like an okay guy..... for a liberal." (I waited for that part, just knowing it was coming... "for a liberal.") "You know, I think I could handle it if he won. I could live with it." A few weeks later, "Of course, I have to vote McCain, 'cuz I'm a Republican, so I have to. (Long pause here, small sigh.) I don't really like McCain much. But, I have to vote for him 'cuz I'm a real Republican." At this point, I just engaged in smile-and-nod sympathy, because his heart clearly was so not into what he was saying about supporting McCain. It made me feel very fortunate, because I am supporting a candidate I can be passionate about.
My friend has had some tough years behind him. He's bravely fought an ugly battle with cystic fibrosis, and endured a double lung transplant. Needless to say, he's very familiar with the health insurance mess. The struggles have given him some empathy for others. He is a vocal opponent of racism, sexism, discrimination, (thankfully, or working together would be nigh impossible) and frankly his Republicanism is deeply rooted in only two issues: he is fiercely against abortion and equally fierce about lowering taxes and the right's fiscal policies. He is enraged about Bush, considers him a disgrace, mostly because of his economic failures and, of course, constitutional issues (after all, my friend is a lawyer.) He's a nice young man, genuinely nice, to the point where sometimes I can't help but imagine someday he could be turned to the light, but no, he's stanchly Republican; which made what he said next even more interesting to me.
"Obama is the model for what I'd like to be as a politican." He really likes Obama's campaign, his approach, and most of all, the anti-divisive approach that is so very unlike Bush Co. He's so frustrated with the status quo, the gridlock, the absolutism, and most of all "you're with us or against us." It doesn't work and we all want our government to work, whether we're left or right. My friend admits he'll never agree with Obama on all his policies, but he respects him. He told me that for the first time he thinks we can find a common ground from where we all can work, and Obama presents that opening. So yeah, when my friend finally gets to his dream of running for a Senate seat in the distant future, he wants to emulate Obama, LOL, just not his platform. But give me time, I'm working on that.