My office is in downtown Portland, a few blocks west and north of the Willamette River waterfront, site of yesterday's massive Obama rally. From walking these streets on a daily basis for several years now, I encounter all variety of working folks and young activists, but mostly the homeless, and sadly, the same homeless people who never seem to find a way out.
For the past few weeks (especially the last week), and also from the vantage point of my office near Powell's City of Books, I've encountered/seen many supporters/volunteers of both Senator Obama and Clinton walking up and down SW 10th Avenue.
I just got back from getting coffee at the Peet's at SW Broadway and Washington, where I had a less-than-pleasant encounter with a Hillary Clinton supporter.
She was in her late 40s, heavy set, and white. At first it looked like she was wearing a sandwich board with a Clinton logo, but it was a flat sign, maybe 2' long by 1' tall, hanging around her neck with three strands of red, white and blue twine.
I came out of the Peet's as she headed south on Broadway toward Pioneer Courthouse Square. I tried to look away but I had studied her for a second too long and she made eye contact with me. I'm in my early 30s, male and white.
"Did you vote?" she asked.
I said yes and tried to move past her.
"Whom did you vote for?" (she indeed said "whom.")
"Senator Obama," I said.
Her posture changed immediately. She shifted weight from her left leg to her right and leaned in like a cross-examining attorney.
"Are you Muslim, sir?"
That's what she asked me, verbatim. After the encounter my head swam with responses I should have said, such as: Why does that matter? What business is it of yours? What are you implying about Senator Obama? Obama is not Muslim, but I would vote for a qualified Muslim candidate, etc.
Instead, all I could muster was a defensive "no."
"Are you pro-Israel?"
"Yes," I said uneasily. "But it depends on what you mean. I think the occupation is wrong..."
She cut me off. "OK, I understand where you're coming from."
"What do you mean?"
"You said you voted for Barack Hussein Obama."
"Hussein is not an expletive," I said.
She scoffed and was finished the conversation, moving past me. Like Iowa, the Carolinas and (soon) Oregon, I no longer mattered to her or, by proxy, the Clinton campaign.
I started to quiver with anger. I'm not proud of it, but I shouted at the back of her head:
"So you're going to vote for John McCain?"
She stopped, turned around, revealing a florid-faced scowl.
"Well, I'm not voting for your hero!"
With this she walked away. A few onlookers raised their eyebrows. My hero? Barack Obama is my preferred candidate. He's a politician who's made mistakes and will continue to make mistakes. He's not my hero, nor will he be our nation's savior. But calling Obama "my hero" reveals how this particular Clinton supporter saw me: a swooning neophyte lost in hero worship.
I could probably accuse her, more accurately, of the same behavior.
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I just wanted to share this personal experience. By no means do I consider this woman typical of all Hillary Clinton supporters, but I think it's interesting to note the change in her stance after determining that I wasn't an undecided voter. In short, it was open hostility, thinly-veiled rage.
November is a long ways away, yet I fear there will be a certain percentage of Clinton supporters who will not vote for him. I'm not talking about voting for McCain, necessarily, but not voting at all, which will hurt candidates down ticket.
In Oregon, for example, we'll need every progressive vote we can get to oust faux-moderate Gordon Smith from his Senate seat. We'll need progressive votes from the south Portland suburbs (and beyond) to keep the 5th district from falling into Republican hands, not to mention keeping our state legislature Democratic.
So, in short, today's encounter shook my faith a bit. I try to imagine the disappointment she must feel as a die-hard Clinton supporter, but I cannot imagine unleashing my anger on a like-minded progressive who supports a different candidate. On a busy street, too, where she didn't exactly represent her candidate with aplomb.
Regardless, here's to hoping we can straighten out the proverbial "circular firing squad" when it comes time to keep John McCain in the Senate.
That's the person filled with rage I'm really concerned about.