My phone rings every morning with a call from my blind 86 year old grandmother, so she can tell me whatever political news she heard on the morning shows and I can add to her information what I read online already that morning.
This morning was only a little different.
My grandmother was a Hillary fan from way back in 1992, and she supported her throughout this campaign. She said many times in June and July that she would not vote for McCain, but she didn't think she could bring herself to vote for Obama either, because she thought Hillary would have made a better president.
Of course, when she heard Hillary and Bill speak in Denver, she called me with a resolve to vote for Obama because that's what Hillary was asking her supporters to do, and the next night, when Barack spoke to the crowd of 80,000, she called me halfway through the speech and said she would now vote for and actively support Obama because she now wanted him to be president.
She's always respected Colin Powell, and thinks he was unfairly duped by the Bushies and he's regretted it ever since.
This morning, when she heard on MSNBC that he was going to endorse Obama, she called me, crying, because of the historical nature of this moment, and because Powell's endorsement, and his words, told her that the undecideds in the military, and those who are hearing lies about Obama, and those who need an excuse to support Obama and vote against McCain now have them, so well explained and paste-able into emails that can be sent as replies to those scurrilous lies we all get in our in-boxes every day.
Powell isn't out there to convince us. We're sold, and we've bought the bumper stickers and pins to prove it.
But for the soldiers who are told to vote with their wallets hearing Powell's words of support for Obama may cause them to look a little more as to how Obama will actually be better for their wallets than McCain. For those who aren't 100% sure of Obama's commitment to national security, perhaps Powell's words will convince them.
For those who are fed up with the tone from the McCain camp, Powell's words will certainly convince them that McCain is the wrong man for this moment in time.
As Powell said this morning,
We have two wars. We have economic problems. We have health problems. We have education problems. We have infrastructure problems. We have problems around the world with our allies. And so those are the problems the American people want to hear about, not about Mr. Ayers, not about who is a Muslim and who is not a Muslim.
As the Washington Post said this morning, the endorsement "complicates any attempt by John McCain and others within the Republican Party to cast Obama as naive on world affairs and unready to lead in a dangerous time."
And that's all good.
Unrelated to this, but as a side note, my husband and kids are biking around the neighborhood, and some kids are doing a mobile bake sale, selling polar bear cookies to raise money for the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund. Adorable, and the perfect thing for an October day.
ETA: Oh my God. First time I've ever been on the recommended list, and I am so flattered now that I am the one in tears. I just called my grandma - who is doing early voting tomorrow - and she is thrilled to be a part of this amazing process, and through me, a part of this site.