I called my father in California today to catch up on family matters and discuss a little politics before super tuesday tommorow, and ended up with a very interesting insight on the mindset of one specific older voter.
First a little background: I'm a native Californian, age 43, and have been living in Texas for the last 14-15 years. I've always loved politics and have followed it since I can remember, and have voted for every Democrat since Dukakis. (at age 20, I sat out Reagan/Mondale). As a first generation American born of Mexican parents (both are now naturalized citizens), my perspective has always been shaped by my parent's immigrant experience, and specifically politics as it relates to social justice, equality, and opportunity for those less fortunate.
The interesting part of the conversation was when my father told me who he voted for and why. My father (who is now 88 years old), was heavily involved in East L.A. Democratic politics for many years, which can be descibed as typical machine style big city politics. So, he's always been politically active and aware. He stated that he and my mother both voted absentee a few weeks ago for Hillary, without any enthusiasm or joy. He fully expects any Republican to tear her apart in November if she wins the nomination. When I asked why he didn't consider voting for Obama, he said he didn't want Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and those guys to take over the White House, as some of the local politcal scuttlebutt has suggested.
My father has never expressed any racist sentiment to me or my sisters, or anyone else. So I really think it's a matter of an elderly mindset in general, and some of the Latino / African-American divide at work as well. This divide is generational in my family, as my siblings and cousins and friends in California for the most part are for Obama. I think this is why Obama is cleaning up with the younger voter in general, and Hillary still wins with elderly voters. As an enthusiastic Obama supporter myself, it was some interesting food for thought for me to ponder. I really hope I can make a difference for Obama once the primary race comes to Texas.