I've pretty much steered clear of posting anything on this blog or on Facebook detailing my political views. Mostly because I am in the dead center of the opposition... which I just typed as "poopsition" and that's too funny not to share. My family (most of them, anyway) are all Republicans, from my grandfather to my youngest brother. Or, if they're not all Republicans, they at least all voted for McCain. The only exceptions are my cousin, Katie, who is a hardcore Obama fanatic, and my cousin-in-law, Andrea, who lived in Illinois most of her life and also supports Obama. She's pretty vocal about it as well, which is something I would be hesitant to do when I was just about a year into the family. But that's not my call, I guess.
I voted for Obama. I figure there's no sense in hiding it anymore since he won and I might as well support the President we're going to have, especially since I helped put him there. I like Obama. I'm not going to lie and say some of it didn't have to do with how charming he appears on television. But I did watch at least one of the debates and I agreed mostly with what Obama had to say, so that's the way I went. I didn't hate McCain. I wouldn't have flipped over any cars if he'd won. But it does feel pretty inspiring to have been involved in the election of the first African American man to the presidency. Although, an incident in Lord & Taylor bothered me yesterday and is probably the only reason I wouldn't have wanted Obama to win.
I was in there with a guy I work with, who is half Puerto Rican, and the woman who was helping us was also Puerto Rican. So she asked him, "Did you vote for Obama?", he said, "Yes," and she slapped him five and said something to the effect of how all Puerto Ricans should have voted for Obama. Besides the fact that he is not Puerto Rican, I just hate that people voted for him simply because he's a minority. I understand, like I said above, wanting to be part of something historic and a great leap forward for the African American community. But, at least pretend that you listened to something he said or knew a little about his proposed policies. Don't vote for him just to get a black guy in the White House.
Okay, I'm done. No more poltical talk until next year when I will discuss whether or not Mike Bloomberg is trying to become the King of New York, a title that can only be rightly bestowed upon Bill Pullman and the cast of Newsies.
4 comments:
Ha ha... poopsition.
Anyway, while I concur that voting for him just because he's African-American is stupid, I take some solace in this: I am positive that just as many, if not more, people voted against him because he's black. The only difference is that most of those people will never cop to it- they'll make up some BS about how they think he's inexperienced or he associates with terrorists or some such- while the people who voted for him because he's black have no problem saying as much (or at least much fewer of them will).
So, basically, stupid people beat racist people, and I think that's great. And I hate stupid people.
But, if a minority votes for Obama just because he's black, why does that not make that minority both stupid AND racist?
I don't know if someone who is a minority supporting a minority is racist. I would say if a black republican voted against John McCain because he was white, he'd be racist, but someone who normally wouldn't vote voting because they wanted a minority to get in. That is kind of wasting your vote, or at the least, spending it completely haphazardly, which I think was more or less Jen's original point.
That being said, kudos to you Jen, for having to courage to voice your views. That's not said tongue-in-cheek, it's not always an easy thing to do.
So, it's ok for a minority to vote for Obama just because he's black, but it's not ok for a minority to not vote for McCain because he's white? I think we're splitting hairs there.
The main point is that decisions are being made on either side, for better or for worse, based solely on the color of candidates' skin. Isn't that ther exact opposite of Dr. King's message?
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