Despite seeing the headline first thing this morning, I chose not to read the editorial until the afternoon. Instead I read the
International Herald Tribune and the
Economist to see what they've been writing about the election and the candidates. The Economist has an interesting map featuring the on-going results of what the presidential election would be like if the whole world could vote. As you can see from the map above, Obama is way ahead with close to 99% of the vote. Cuba and Georgia are the only two countries favoring McCain, although I'm not sure why.
As for the IHT, they have an
article about how race may affect the decision of rural voters. Despite Obama's focus on the issues and his choice to run as a post-racial candidate, many rural white people are still put off by his "race," even though genetically he is equally black and white. I'd be interested in hearing white America explain why Obama's white background is ignored (or why his skin color makes a difference at all), but I'll probably be waiting forever to hear that. Anyway, one line in particular that caught my eye was this tidbit:
"What you hear around here is, would you rather have a black friend in the White House, or a white enemy?" said John Schuster, a Republican from Wheeling, West Virginia, who joined several thousand people here for a twilight rally led by Palin.
Seems like a no-brainer to me. A friend in the White House, regardless of color, would be the best option.
With these articles as background, I read the Globe's editorial. It was heartening to read that the editorial staff believes that the "charismatic Democrat from Illinois has the ability to channel Americans' hopes and rally the public together." I just hope they're right. Lately, the diversity of reasons people have given for not supporting Obama is matched by the number of articles I've seen about rural whites opposing Obama. Perhaps the Globe has insights different from my own, but I worry that this country will shoot itself in the foot for a third consecutive presidential term just because Obama has dark skin, a "funny" name, and is well-educated. C'mon, America. Shouldn't we want a young, contemporary, educated candidate? For all of you who are against Obama, aren't those the exact same qualities that persuade you to support Sarah Palin?
A few weeks ago, I was chatting with
Good & Plenty about the candidates. What if we expected more from them? Instead of limiting our choices to experience, eloquence, and ideology, what if we also required that candidates speak another language other than English? Or that they had to have spent at least a year overseas working for the Peace Corps? Those requirements would be in addition to spending significant amounts of time living and working in rural and urban areas domestically. Think of how we would all benefit by having a well-rounded candidate for president. My jaw dropped when Sarah Palin said that Alaska is a microcosm of the entire country. Is she for real with that? There are cities in the lower 48 with populations greater than the entire state of Alaska. What could she possibly understand from a ground-level point of view if she hasn't experienced that or worked with a system involved with those levels of complexity?
This isn't to say that Obama and Biden are perfect, but at least they have a diversity of experience - individually and combined - that I can appreciate and believe will make them able to relate to the majority of the country. Unlike the Bush or McCain clans, neither is from a privileged military or political dynasty. Ninety percent of the American population is neither privileged nor rich; we need people who understand what the majority of us deal with on a daily basis.
So, with only 21 days until the general election, rural America, please move past the simplistic biases an distractions of "elitism," middle names, and skin color. Exercise the common sense that us folks on the East Coast are told that small town America has. You've seen how this country has been run into the ground by 8 years of conservative policies. Unless you are truly better off now than you were 8 or 4 years ago, vote for a friend in the White House. Vote Obama.
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