The gym where my partner and I work out is not the place where politics is discussed much. But this past week that changed, and boy did we learn a lot by talking to a lifelong conservative and Republican who voted for Barack Obama - the first time she ever voted for a Democrat. The conversation shed more light on exactly how and why Obama blew away John McCain, here in Florida and across the country, and offers some food for thought on how Obama, and the Dems, can hold on to the support of these converted Dem voters. Jump down for the tale from our aerobics room!
My partner and I attend an aerobics class several days a week at our gym. There are a number of other regulars like us in the classes, but for the most part our conversations have never gone beyond saying hello and exchanging bland pleasantries. Politics is certainly never discussed, and we know little about the private lives of these people who sweat with us for an hour, three days a week.
But that changed a bit this week when we got into a post-sweat conversation with a class regular who I will call Keri. She's white and I'd guess that she's probably in her late 30s. Perhaps because we were in the midst of the post-election euphoria, the conversation turned to politics. We learned that Keri's husband is fighting in Iraq right now. She told us that she and her husband are diehard Republicans who have never, ever voted for Democrats (she emphasized this point with us), but this year they voted for Barack Obama for President. Naturally, we asked her why.
The first thing she mentioned was the economy. They were both very concerned about John McCain's erratic response to the economic crisis, and felt that he did not seem to know what he was doing. Obama, on the other hand, seemed consistent and confident in their eyes. For Keri and her husband, the candidates' wildly different responses to the economic crisis was the top reason why they voted for Obama. We've heard all along from the pundits and pollsters that the economy was on the top of voters' minds this year, but it was interesting to hear a diehard Republican echo the concerns of all of us here on dkos regarding McCain's clear inability to handle economic issues.
Next, Keri said that at first she did not like Michelle Obama at all. She did not tell us why (and we did not press her, afraid of what we would hear), but we suspect that it had something to do with Michelle's infamous "proud of America" comment that was replayed over and over again ad nauseum by Fox News and right-wing radio. But to Keri's credit, she proceeded to learn as much as she could about Michelle Obama, and said that she watched every interview with Michelle that she could. The more she watched Michelle Obama in action, the more impressed she became. Keri noticed that the interviewers were always trying to egg on Michelle to say something negative, but she "never took the bait." She was impressed that Michelle "always took the high road," as Keri put it. "She is one class act," Keri concluded. "She is one classy lady." I found it interesting that Keri put so much focus on the first lady in making her voting decision, but I guess different things matter to different people.
Anyway, Keri now appears to be a huge Michelle Obama fan. She told us that she's absolutely appalled that the conservative pundits and blogs are launching an intensive line of attack against the Obamas for considering having Michelle's mother live in the White House. "They have small children!" Keri screamed. "Those little girls need to have their grandmother nearby for goodness sake." Keri got very emotional on this point, and I could almost see the final nail being driven into the coffin of the Republicans' hold on "family values" issues and voters. Rest in Peace.
We found it interesting that given that her husband is in Iraq right now, Keri did not say anything about the Iraq war in terms of explaining their decision to vote for Obama. But clearly there was nothing about Obama's stance on the war or on international security and foreign affairs that dissuaded them from voting for him. We also found it notable that Keri did not mention Sarah Palin's name once. But the Palin pick did not help McCain win over this particular conservative female voter.
The question now is: How can Obama and the Democrats keep people like Keri and her husband voting Democratic in the future? They clearly represent "movable" Republican voters who did not drink the Kool-Aid. If Obama succeeds as President and moves our country forward in a positive direction, will that be enough to keep them voting with our party? Or do we need to do more to build, ahem, a permanent Democratic majority? I'm interested in your thoughts.