For months, my mom has listened to my enthusiasm for Obama without saying much of anything. Her one comment was during Reverend Wright, part I, when she said energetically that Obama needed to distance himself further from the man. I did my best to defend Obama, but my heart sank. Patriotism is one of my mother's hot button issues.
I have heard her talk approvingly of McCain in the past, so I suspected she planned to vote for him. But I never came right out and asked. (I come from a family of reticent Scandinavians, where the unwritten rule is that it is okay to volunteer who you vote for, but it is not okay to ask.) But last weekend my mom was in town visiting, and at a family dinner talk turned to the election. My sister-in-law asked my mom point-blank who she planned to support, and my mom said simply, "I'm leaning Obama."
Why I think this matters below the fold.
My mom was inspired by JFK at age 21 to join the Democratic party. She campaigned for him and was active in local politics. She was devastated when JFK was assassinated, but she was still a Democrat when she married my father in 1966. They left the country soon afterward and lived in Africa for three years.
When they returned in 1969 they came back to a different country. The Consciousness Revolution was in full swing. As I mentioned above, patriotism is one of my mom's sacred cows, and she was absolutely appalled at the way anti-war protesters treated Vietnam veterans. She didn't support the war, but our veterans were sacrosanct. And this is eventually what drove my mom into the Republican party. Unhappiness with Bush led her to vote for Kerry, but I didn't know if that was a one-time-only defection.
I knew my mother would never vote for Hillary. She feels, like many, that the Clintons are dishonest and will say anything to anyone. Just as a side note, she became particularly disillusioned with Bill during the Lewinsky scandal. Not because he lied under oath, or even that he cheated on his wife. No, it was because he abused his position of power to take advantage of a young, starstruck girl. My mom's sympathy for Monica was unwavering during the entire affair. I always liked that about my mom.
At that dinner last weekend, my mom explained what led her to Obama. She said that she initially liked McCain, as I suspected. But, she said, "He obviously doesn't know things that a president ought to know." She mentioned his mixups of Sunni and Shia. She mentioned that Obama is clearly well-informed about the issues, and he is willing to listen to other points of view. She also mentioned McCain's age. He is four years older than she is, and she thinks he can't handle a job as demanding as president. "Especially now," she said, "when we have to clean up after Bush. We need a young person."
So there you go, your feel-good diary for the day: one more white, over-60, Republican woman for Obama. The best part? My mom lives in Alaska. She could be part of the movement to turn Alaska blue this year!