I was in the Vote Obama application on Facebook yesterday, as I have been several days in the last week (go there, everyone. Go there) and stated that although my mom was retired military, we'd been on welfare after she was forced out (no single mothers allowed), and so she'd be voting for Obama.
Today I was driving her back from Walmart and saw a McCain/Palin sign on someone's lawn. I decided that even though she'd voted Democrat in all the elections I knew her vote for -- I mean, she voted for Dukakis -- I might as well make sure.
"You're not voting for McCain, are you?" I asked nonchalantly.
"Yeah, I am," she said.
To my credit, I did not crash the car on hearing this -- though it was a struggle to maintain control of the wheel while my brain imploded.
"What? Really? Why?" I asked.
"I'm voting for McCain because I don't want to vote for Obama," she said.
"But why not?"
"I don't like Obama," she said.
"Okay, but that's not really a reason," I said with less vigor than you may expect.
"McCain supports the troops," she said.
"But -- no, he doesn't," I said. "Obama supports the troops. Keeping them in Iraq is not the same as supporting them."
"But he's never been one of them," she said.
"That doesn't matter," I said, though I was thinking there's another reason to support the man. "You can support the troops without being one of them. McCain voted against the G.I. Bill; Obama voted for it. And I don't like what Bush has done with veterans during his time in office. McCain hasn't said he'll do anything differently."
"Obama doesn't have enough experience," my Mom said as I parked temporarily in the driveway.
Oh my GOD, I thought. She's been watching Fox News.
"Obama just came out with his economic plan yesterday," I said, "and it's very detailed."
"That's all he has is plans until he's in office," she said. "It's all rhetoric."
"Well, it's very practical, and Obama has much more experience than Sarah Palin," I said. She was out of the car and had gathered all her bags, so I changed tones. "Bye," I said cheerfully.
"Bye," she said. "Thanks."
Wow. I mean, Wow.
Luckily, she lives in a state where her vote won't count. Connecticut will vote Democrat. I'm just exhausted by the idea that my vote will just be cancelling hers out.
There's so little explanation for this that I can only conclude that my mother likes voting for the underdog, whoever that is -- and inexplicably perceives an elderly white man as the underdog in this case.
Which would make her not a Democrat, or even a Republican, but a member of the only third party I think has ever really made a difference in American presidential elections to date: the Contrarians.
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2 comments:
My mother is voting for McCain too, but then she has always voted for Republicans. I was pleased, though, last night, when we were discussing the elections. I actually think that, save her one exclusionary issue, she would consider voting for Obama. This is progress.
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