This weekend I was able to have some surprising discussions about Obama with my (somewhat) die-hard Republican friends Marcia and Connie. It was all very revealing.
First of all, I should say right off the bat that I am a "new" Democrat. As I was leaving the grocery store one night in early December 2007, a nice old man approached me. He was registering voters. I had been a registered Libertarian since 1994 here in Southern California, but hadn't been actively voting for several years.
He was also asking people to sign a petition to stop animal abuse and I enthusiastically signed his petition and told him I would like to fill out a new registration form so I could register as an Independent. He asked me, "Are you planning on voting in any of the primaries this year?" I said, "Yes, I want to vote for Barack Obama in the Democratic primary." He informed me that I would have to register as a Democrat because it was a closed primary (actually he wasn't entirely correct - unaffiliated voters also participated - but in hindsight, I'm glad I registered as a Democrat so as to avoid the "double bubble" fiasco that was talked about so much here on primary day). So I took a deep breath and even though I am kind of a die-hard indie, I registered as a Democrat for the first time in my life.
The nice man and I then had a conversation about who we thought would win the nomination. "I want Al Gore to jump in," he informed me. "He's my favorite." "Yeah, I like Al Gore a lot," I replied. "But I have a feeling he won't be running this year."
I thanked him for registering me and went on my way.
A few weeks later, in mid-January, I was talking with my friend Marcia on the phone. Marcia is originally from Ohio and moved to the Los Angeles area about twenty years ago. Her family is mostly Republican and one thing I learned about Marcia a long time ago is you can take the lady out of her Republican upbringing but you can't take the Republican upbringing out of the lady. "I am my Daddy's girl," she is known to say to me.
During our conversation, I brought up the Presidential race. Her initial reaction to my support of Barack Obama was one of surprise and disgust. "Who the hell is he?" she exclaimed. "He hasn't done anything!" And on the subject of Hillary - she said, "There's no way this country will put a woman in the White House - it's not going to happen."
A few days later, I was talking to Marcia on the phone and, as a side note, I mentioned I thought both Barack and Hillary did a very good job in the debate that was held in the Kodak Theatre in downtown Hollywood just prior to Super Tuesday. Much to my delight, she said, "Oh Yeah, I caught most of that. I could easily see myself voting for either one of them."
'Wow,' I thought to myself, 'that's all it took? Just listening to them?'
So my friend Marcia became an instant convert to Obamamania while still thinking of Hillary as her second choice.
So yesterday afternoon, I am scheduled to go and have a barbecue with Marcia and our mutual friend Connie. I used to think of Connie as a dyed-in-the-wool Conservative. After all, I'm pretty sure she voted for Bush twice and was a reasonably strong defender of the Iraq war in our conversations.
Anyway, I was standing there with Marcia in her garage and since we haven't talked politics in a while I inquire, "So what do you think of the political race?" Her swift response is: "Obama's doing great! I mean, isn't he?? He's pretty much got it locked up!"
I thought to myself, 'Oh that's good. She hasn't bought into the media scuttlebutt about Barack.'
Shortly after Connie arrived, I politely leaned over to her and asked, "So what do you think of the Presidential race." I could tell by her reaction she was kind of shy about telling me - but, as it turns out, not for the reason I thought! I fully expected her to say, 'Oh, you know, I will probably vote for McCain - he has the experience and I trust him.'
After a pregnant pause she revealed, "Oh, uh, you know... I'm an Obama gal."
To which I immediately thought, 'Oh. She thinks I'm a Clinton supporter- that's why she was shy about telling me.'
So I reply, "I like Obama too, I'm 100% behind him." And then Connie goes on to explain how disgusted she is at Hillary's campaign tactics and "whining" as she puts it. And we share a good laugh over the Bosnia story.
And then Connie explains to me one of her central reasons for supporting Barack: "Barack Obama was a lone voice in the wilderness against the Iraq War. And now that we know he was correct, he deserves full credit for being right at the beginning!"
I cannot tell you how much these conversations floored me. To see two Republicans come full circle and embrace the candidacy of Barack Obama is really stunning. The last point Connie left me with last night was that she thinks there is a lot more support for Barack than is recognized in the polls. She says everyone she has talked to is supporting Barack Obama and that she feels he will win in a landslide against John McCain. (By the way, both of my friends do not like John McCain - they both say, "He's just like Bush!")