Last night I had the opportunity to try to convince a very dear friend of our family, a very bright and dynamic woman, that she should vote for Barack Obama in November. Normally this would be an easy sell with this very liberal college professor but she seems to be a victim of some very bizarre distortions of just who Barack Obama is.
This friend was a very committed Hillary Clinton supporter and I think is stilling hurting badly from her defeat in the primaries. Hillary's campaign was her source for information about who Obama was and she will be the first to admit that Hillary vetted Obama viciously. We both agreed that probably helped him as much as it hurt him. As Hillary faded away, she was left with traditional media sources as her source of information with CNN the primary outlet. Our friend had really no exposure to the online resources that many of us used for a more balanced look at the candidates and issues.
Her primary distaste for Obama stems from the fact that she perceives him as an elitist that is all talk and no action, something that seems to be reinforced from the media portrayal on places like CNN. I'm certain that image began during the primaries since that was one of the messages from the Clinton campaign. She's convinced that his promises to remove us from Iraq are just empty rhetoric and that he's flip-flopped on key issues. She also was greatly upset that "he didn't visit the troops". I explained that she was a victim of the corporate-run media and that CNN was no longer the Ted Turner balanced news organization that it once was and that there was a huge resource of facts on the Internet that would counteract all of her concerns.
I showed her a wide selection of online blogs including Daily Kos, Andrew Sullivan, Huffington Post, even MyDD although I know that there's some real Obama bashing still going on there. At least on a site like that she can see how unreasonable some of the hatred looks from the rabid Hillary crowd. I showed the area on Obama's website that answers all the vicious rumors out there. I told her that if she's going to watch television news pundits that she must include people like Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow for a bit of balance. I showed her the diary from Brandon Friedman yesterday that quoted the former Chief of Medical Operations for HQ USAFE at Ramstein Air Force Base supporting Barack Obama's decision not to visit the military hospital in Germany. I asked my friend if she saw this on CNN. I think she was a bit shocked.
She's convinced that Obama is going to win in a landslide and dislikes McCain immensely but she's still not convinced she can vote for Obama. I think she's much closer after our long talk last night. Oh, and she did say that Obama's choice for VP is going to greatly influence her vote. I think she knows Hillary is very unlikely but she wants someone strong and experienced in that role. Sam Nunn or Wesley Clark would be very palatable to her.
I have little time for canvassing neighborhoods, making phone calls, or manning booths to help with the campaign but I participate heavily on internet blogs and work hard on my personal contacts with friends and relatives. I think it's a very important step. One person may not feel like much, but if every one of us reaches one, it adds up quickly.
Oh, and just a side note. I put in another donation to Obama today and I am going to be the winner in the contest that puts me backstage with him at the convention. Sorry if that knocks any of you out of the running. I still encourage others to donate because it's the right and necessary thing to do but don't buy that new suitcase just yet.