and I can say that Barack Obama has a lot of work to do there.
I live in Northern Virginia and my son's Boy Scout troop (yea, I know, many people on this list have issues with Boy Scouts. Please accept that our troop is somewhat different from the National Council and emphasizes the good parts of scouting without the burden of some of the more archain policies) scheduled the annual family white water rafting trip to take place in Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania (yes, its a real place).
To get to Ohiopyle, we drove through Western Maryland, West Virginia and Southwest Pennsylvania. I was thrilled before I started the tip because I had just received my Obama 08 car magnet (one of the campaign's fund raising "prizes") and I immediately put it on the ol' mini van.
Getting to Ohiopyle is a trip on a number of two-three lane major interstates with tons of truck traffic. The drive is pretty (very green) with picturous rolling hills (I grew up in the west, so I refuse to call them mountains). As we tooled along on the highway, I got a few beeps from passing cars and some thumbs-up (have to assume it was Obama magnet since the van is fairly non-descript besides that). The trip was going well until we stopped for dinner at a restaurant in Cumberland, MD.
Cumberland is a city that is literally squeezed into a narrow mountain valley. When I left the Interstate, I literally felt like I time travelled to a different generation. Immediately off the highway, I was winding my way through on tiny, narrow poorly maintained, streets surrounded by dilapidated row houses. It was literally a scene out of a bad movie. Keep in mind that this was the route to a major fast food restaurant close to a major Interstate. Two things struck me about this area. One, all of the houses, cars and people looked old and tired. Two, if was a hot day and everyone was on their front porch.
Anyway, as I was going down one little side street (I couldn't believe it, but my GPS was telling me that yes, this was the way to the restaurant), three different people (on different streets) called out to me using the N-word in reference to the magnet on my van. Needless to say my children and I were shocked at the vehemence expressed. I was ready to find my way back to the highway and out of this nightmare when I spotted the restaurant in the near distance. Pulling into the parking lot (wish I had pictures), I was greeted with an amazing cross section of Appalachia. There were several "well-used" pick-up trucks with the requisite Dixis flags and gun racks. Many of them with the hound in the back. The parking lot itself was a mish-mash of corners and angles squeezed into every corner of the lot it was on. I didn't want to stop, but the kids were hungry, so I did my best to manuever into a spot.
We went in, got our food, and sat down. This particular restaurant had one of those small play areas with tunnels, etc. It was very crowded. As we were sitting there eating, I noticed a nice car pull into the parking lot (I'm not a car guy, so I couldn't tell you what kind it was, but it was well maintained and "flashy"). Out of the car stepped a very handsome African=American couple. They were dressed in comfortable elegance (don't you hate when people can look comfortable and elegant). I could tell by their transportation, the way they carried themselves, and their clothes, that they were of a fairly high social stature. There license plate indicated that they were from the District of Columbia, and they had the same Obama car magnet that I was so proudly displaying on my van.
I love to watch people, and I'm a keen observer of how people react in certain social situations, so I was watching the people I had identified as locals as this couple walked into the restaurant. What I observed truly shocked me. I saw two or three mothers immediately rush into the play area, grab their children and drag them screaming (literally) out of the restaurant. I turned to see how the couple were responding to this, and I was befuddled to see that no was waiting on the couple. The staff was gathered in a circle and finally one girl stepped out of the circle and in a very pissed off voice, asked them "what do you want" (not exactly the way people are trained to greet their guest). The couple smiled at the beligerance and politely placed their order. After they were served (they said thank yous to silence), they turned to find a place to sit (I would have bolted the restaurant myself). As I looked about the room, everyone had turned their faces away from the couple, several of them shiting items onto adjacent seats so that they wouldn't sit down. The man looked around the room, spotted my Obama t-shirt and headed our way. We made room for them and they sat down. You would have thought that I had loudly passed gas based on the dirty looks I was getting.
We proceeded to talk about Obama and had a very enjoyable discussion. We all ignored the people around us making rude comments in loud voices and finished out meals. We left the restaurant together and both found that our vehicles had been keyed. No big deal for me because my van is a wrech anyway, but it really showed on their beautiful paint job. I offered to stay there with them as a witness if they wanted to file a police report, but he quickly decided that it wasn't worth it.
I have seen several posts on this board stating that Obama needs to travel to the appalachian areas so that the voters can get to know him. Based on this one experience, I'm not sure how effective it will be. I believe that the only way that Obama will be able to appeal to these areas is with the inclusion of the right running mate, and quite frankly, I'm not sure they're worth it.
It was a sad, frustrating experience, only made bearable by the discussions it led to with my children.