"Oprah put him up to it." No kidding. That's what my white, 76-year-old mother told me today. I am so depressed. And I don't know how to answer her. It started when she called to thank me for a present. It ended in barely civil language. I need help!
My mom calls today to thank me for a belated mother's day present. We then got to talking about her teeth (she needs $5000 worth of work done, not covered by Medicare); her hearing (detiorating daily but hearing aids are not covered by Medicare); her eyesight (not too bad, but vision is not covered by Medicare either).
We then went on to the high price of gasoline and why me with her two youngest grandsons can't afford two trips to central Illinois this summmer to visit her. And they can't come here, because their social security isn't keeping pace with inflation. And we talked about how my nephew-in-law (with a new baby on the way) is out of work (he's an electrician). And my sister is out of work (she's in IT).
So ... I made the mistake of saying "so isn't it great that we could get these problems addressed with Obama?"
"I'm voting for McCain" she says, "he'll know how to deal with Iraq." I then pointed out that he/his party are the ones responsible for getting us in, and that he has publicly stated we should be there "100 years if need be." She says "that's just campaign speech."
She says:
Obama's too inexperienced. I don't care what he promises, he's not going to be able to get anything done. It doesn't matter that Obama says he'll take on these issues. He's only been in the Senate for two years! McCain has lots more experience.
Plus, and this is the kicker, she says:
I dont' trust him. I think he's been put up to this [running for president] by somebody, I don't know who, I think Oprah. He is somebody's boy.
Then, before I could get her to explain what she meant by "Oprah" she ended the call.
WTF? Oprah? What is THAT code for?
Am I missing something here?
How do you argue with someone who is determined to vote against their own self-interest?
Now, my mom is a little nuts and well, unschooled. When I went to Nicaragua in 1985, fresh out of grad school and I wanted to see how the revolution was going, she said that she knew the US Communist party was funding my way and then refused to speak to me for five years.
But I can't help but think there are a good chunk of the electorate in her camp (the nuts/unschooled camp). Is this a senior thing? What to do?