by Cheryl Rofer
I've been thinking some of this, on and off, but maybe now is the time to say it.
Barack Obama looks like ordinary folks I'm accustomed to. Yes, I'm white, and yes, I grew up in largely white northern New Jersey, but Obama is about the same age as, and looks a bit like, the son of my bff. She qualifies as bff because we have been more or less that status since our ages were in the single digits. Some things won't ever change.
I guess I've decided to say this because another subject dear to my heart came up last night in Sarah Palin's speech. During the 1960s, I spent some time driving around northern New Mexico and helping my second bff do community organizing. It was fun, interesting and fulfilling, and I got to see places I probably wouldn't have otherwise. I don't want to claim too much for myself; it was my second bff who did most of the work. It was a way to help improve ordinary people's lives, people who couldn't afford to fly around shooting wolves and taking their kids to hockey practice. Here's a good post on the subject of community organizing.
Yes, John McCain, Habitat for Humanity is community organizing, too!
Come to think of it (added later), nobody among my friends and family acts or talks like John McCain or Sarah Palin, even though my circle includes retired military men, people of the ages of those two, and a large chunk of family in rural Oregon.
The two people within my circle who might be expected to sympathize with Sarah Palin (by what seems to be Republican reasoning) strongly reject her for just the reasons of similar life experience or their support for Hillary Clinton.
So I'm wondering whether the Republicans really have it right about the appeal of their ticket.