Those of us who closely followed the primaries know that Sean Astin was one of Hillary Clinton's most vocal celebrity backers. He was with her on the road in places like Iowa, and has been very involved in Democratic politics for a long time. One would think that he would be among the very disappointed Clinton supporters who would be so, so bitter over her loss, and be wildly interested in this new, Republican version of Hillary (I know she is, because Karl said so). Happily, I can report that he is not.
Today, I attended DragonCon here in Atlanta (note to self: need costume for next year). Sean was one of the numerous celebrities in attendance, signing autographs for the multitudinous sci-fi/fantasy/horror junkies. I, with my teenage daughter, went to the "Walk of Fame," where all the stars and sub-stars are set up to sign photos, DVDs, toys, body parts, etc. While my daughter waited to meet the stars of Serenity/Firefly, I, erstwhile middle-earther that I am, went over to wait in line to meet Sean.
Sean was clearly enjoying himself, taking time to talk with each fan, especially the kids. I walked up with my Samwise photo, very much out of place (note to self: you don't need to visually announce that you are a middle-aged suburban mom, especially at DragonCon). He smiled and said hello, and, while I was an Obama backer from the beginning, I wanted to let him know that I felt his pain, politically. So I said to him that I was sorry about Hillary, I know he fought the good fight with her.
Sean looked up at me very seriously and said yes, he did, but now it is all about "electing the first black president." Then he looked around and said in a low voice, "Did you see who McCain picked for his VP?" I said I did, and that it was appalling (apPalinning?). I went on to say that if McCain/Palin won, it made a person want to move to, say, New Zealand. He replied that he loved his country and would never leave it (Go, Sam!), but he did just happen to own some property outside the US, and it might be worth going there for an extended stay if the election went badly. He diplomatically added that he was sure she was a very nice person, and he would like to meet her sometime, but, really, she was not the person who should have their finger on that big, red button.
He ended by saying that he thought Hillary's convention speech was great, and I agreed, adding that Bill's was fantastic. He concurred, and said it made him nostalgic for another, better time.
I have never thought that ardent Hillary backers were Republicans or Independents. Both of those groups always seemed to be very anti-Clinton to me, and would likely never, ever vote for her. I always saw her supporters as true Democrats who loved the Clintons, remembered their time in the White House with great affection, thought it was wonderful to have a woman of substance and accomplishment running, and hated Bush. But ultimately, they are Democrats, and they would support the ticket that would return our country to sanity (just as I would have supported Hillary had she prevailed over Obama).
The Palin pick will not pick up any dissaffected Democrats, at least not real Democrats. It may give cover to those who would never have voted for Obama anyway, because of his race--they can now say they want to vote for a woman. Had McCain picked someone else, they would have had some other excuse. It may get some right wing Christians out of their holes to vote, but it may be a bit late to get that machine oiled and operating.
Oh, the autograph he wrote on my photo of Sam brandishing Sting? "Keep fighting the good fight. Love, Sean."