To those of you who don’t know me, as I’m fairly new to Kos, I’m a single parent, minority female, and die-hard Democrat, who lives in the Philly suburbs in a district that was once bright red, but has slowly transitioned to purple and is now nearly leaning blue. I volunteer at the polls, work to increase voter registration, and organize GOTV operations every year.
Most voters in my area are middle-of-the-road as far as policies are concerned, but Republicans have controlled our local government for the majority of the last half-century. We are slowly starting to change that, one vote at a time. This is not a highly partisan area and I think there is plenty of room for Democratic growth, as most residents are open to discussions and/or civil disagreements. I’ve made some major inroads and created some Republican converts by simply talking about Senator Obama’s policies –vs- Senator McCain’s, and by educating individuals who had believed lies and misconceptions being pushed about Barack online. Two days ago I came across the toughest, most stubborn anti-Obama voter I’ve encountered thus far. Strangely enough, the "confrontation" occurred on my own back-yard patio.
More after the fold...
Tuesday was the last day of school in our district, and my son asked if he could have a pool party. I, being such a wonderful mother and/or slightly insane, decided to invite twenty-something six-year-olds to my home for a pool party/picnic. Some of the parents dropped their kids off, while a few chose to stay and hang out and enjoy the festivities. At one point of the afternoon, the subject among the adults turned to politics. I hadn’t planned to broach the subject, as I was too busy dodging water balloons and feeding ravenous children, but as the conversation developed, I couldn’t help but drop my ammunition (the stockpile of water balloons I’d hidden from the kids for my own surprise assault) and dive headfirst into the political debate. One statement in particular caught my attention and instantly switched me into Obama Mode:
I just can’t vote for someone who refuses to place their hand on their heart during the Pledge of Allegiance...he won’t even recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
I nearly got whiplash from the involuntary double take caused by the rapid firing of synapses throughout my nervous system. The words came from the father of my son’s best-friend, a man I’ve know well for quite some time and who is fairly liberal IMO. He’s a small business owner, opposes the Iraq war, is non-religious, and a former soldier. He's a white man who is registered Independent. This man opposes the Bush Tax Cuts, values the Separation of church and State, and is suffering financially because high fuel prices are hurting his business. The only issue in which he is firmly entrenched in Republican ideals is that he opposes gay marriage; I believed he represented the quintessential swing voter of my area. Yet again he repeated:
I just can’t vote for someone who refuses to place their hand on their heart during the Pledge of Allegiance.
Once my initial shock began to subside, another revelation unexpectedly hit me; I was talking to a "low-information" voter. Call it naivety, call it prejudice, call it overconfidence, but I didn’t believe that my neighbor would be a person capable of voting against his own self-interest because of such a trivial and inconsequential falsehood. I was dumbfounded. Up until that point in time, I’d assumed (incorrectly) that "low-information" voters were the plague of Pennsyltucky and Appalachia. They were supposed to be uneducated, have little to no contact with minorities or "others," and fearful of change. How could this college-educated, business-owning, middle-class man be swayed by such flimsy logic, and how many others are there in my area?
I immediately began by debunking the Pledge of Allegiance rumors and explaining why I believe Obama is the best choice for president. I went through the Obama policies and positions with which he agreed. Other parents and relatives, including several life-long Republicans that admitted they were jumping the ticket in November, chimed in and shared their reasons for supporting the senator. All of those in attendance, with the exception of this one gentleman, planned to vote for Obama in November. We all tried to reason with him, we all asked his reasons for supporting McCain, yet his only defense was:
I just can’t vote for someone who refuses to place their hand on their heart during the Pledge of Allegiance.
After a while, he seemed to be getting defensive, and I am very aware of the fact that someone feeling bullied is more likely to dig in their heels, so I diverted the subject to another topic. The political talk subsided as the water balloons began to rain down upon us. The children, bless their evil little balloon-wielding behinds, were very helpful in diffusing the situation (and getting the adults completely soaked in the process).
A few hours later, when my son’s friend and his father were leaving, I decided to take another chance. I walked them out to their vehicle, and politely asked the father if he would consider reading about Senator Obama if I e-mailed him some information. He said that he would read whatever I sent him, but he doesn’t plan on changing his mind. That was the best I was going to get, so I thanked him and waved goodbye in my driveway as I watched them pull away. I have not given up on him, and I plan to keep slowly and methodically chipping away at his defenses every time we meet at a play date, pool party, or sleepover. I am grateful that he reminded me that there is still much work to be done. There may be others out there who are saying:
I just can’t vote for someone who refuses to place their hand on their heart during the Pledge of Allegiance.
I was guilty of becoming complacent. After Obama wrapped up the Democratic Nomination, I assumed that we had the Presidential Election in the bag. I believed that the differences in policy positions, the muddled McCain messages, the horrible Republican brand, and President Bush’s low approval ratings would easily push Obama to victory. I assumed that my friends and neighbors were following the campaigns as closely as I have been. I thought people were smart enough to not buy into the BS. I assumed everyone I knew understood the dangers of a Bush third term. I was wrong on all accounts.
Although I am not pleased with my neighbor’s position, I am grateful that he gave me a wake-up call. I am grateful to be reminded that there is still work to be done and voters to be swayed. I am grateful that I have four and a half months to inform and educate. I will continue to keep a stack of voter registration forms, absentee ballot forms, and information leaflets in the glove compartment of my vehicle. I will continue to keep Obama yard signs and posters in my trunk. I will stop being over-confident about our prospects in November, and fight every day as if my life depended on it. I will engage my friends and neighbors, and not let assumptions lead me to overlook possibilities. I will continue to fight to elect Senator Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States of America, one person at a time.