My usually apolitical 83-year-old mother gets it!

[MorningGlow]

Here's a good example of a middle-of-the-road voter who isn't very interested politics:

My mom has never followed politics very closely. Half the time she doesn't even vote. But over the past eight years, she's come to loathe Dubya (she grew up during the Depression and said a couple of years ago we were in another one, even when the folks in power couldn't bring themselves to utter the "r" word). So she started paying attention to this election cycle.

We've had several conversations about politics recently, and she's said in no uncertain terms how horrified she is at the idea of a McCain/Palin administration. She's watched Palin's interview segments with Katie Couric and cannot BELIEVE the crap that Palin is spewing (today she was spluttering, " 'All of them?!' This woman can't name one newspaper?!") She's called her an outright idiot on several occasions and today said the best thing would be for her to quit before she embarrassed herself any further. She also despises McCain and is completely creeped out by him.

This from a woman who doesn't even know all the dirt that we mention here on DU on a daily basis. And this is a good point we need to remember--although we know every detail and nuance of both campaigns and all the candidates' personal histories, a lot of voters have no idea. My mom didn't know what kind of "experience" Palin had (and she practically fell over when I told her how little it really was). She didn't know about McCain's past--how he dumped his first wife after she became disfigured in the car accident--or Cindy's addiction to painkillers. (I told her because she wanted to know who this Cindy person was--she doesn't like her either.) I've been on the phone with her for the past half hour filling her in on all the ugly details--she's got a LOT to process!

Also interesting--she "doesn't quite trust Obama." She repeated the meme that he doesn't have much experience. My next assignment: schooling her on how great this guy really is. :evilgrin:

Oh yeah--and she just discovered Olbermann last night. She LOVES him!

[MorningGlow]

1. Kickity for my cool mom n/t

[LiberalAndProud]

2. If she didn't know all the dirt about the other guys, I'm sure

you've got a lot to tell her that's good about Obama. Stress that he taught Consitutional Law. I've astonished people simply be mentioning this fact. Apolitical people simply don't know this.

[MorningGlow]

5. OH yeah. I have been.

I know where she's coming from, because I didn't know anything about Obama when the primaries began. I was for Edwards (yeah, yeah, I know) because I liked his "for the little man" platform, but when it came down to Obama and Clinton, I had to do some serious homework. Obama won me over, and now I'm sharing all those good points with her. The other thing I have to do is get her to watch a couple of his speeches--on top of his knowledge, IQ, great ideas, and skill, his charm wins anybody over!

[LiberalAndProud]

6. I'm looking forward to your progress reports.

It's fascinating to hear about how votes are won (one at a time).

[MorningGlow]

9. Will do, LnP!

:hi:

[steve2470]

3. k and r nt

[rufus dog]

4. Great

My mother loved Olbermann too, right now she is not processing everything, but she loved the guy from day one. I forget where he started, but one day he came on and she stopped and sat down to watch him saying this guy is so smart. The only other person she would sit down for (after Cronkite) was Ted Koppell.

[Cha]

7. Great, Morninglow..now your mom

knows how bad mccain/palin would be so all you have to do is give the long time line of Obama's history which I find quite impressive..expecially on his prescient judgment and work in community organizing after graduating from Columbia and then on to Harvard where he was the President of Harvard Law Review.

Then he spent 7 years in the State Senate in Illinois..

<snip>


"According to this article in The Nation, Obama moved to Chicago in 1985, a little more than a year after he graduated from Columbia University in NYC. He was 24 years old. He was hired by Jerry Kellman, a Chicago organizer, to lead the Developing Communities Project (DCP), which would target African American neighborhoods on Chicago’s South Side by working with African American churches in the area. During Obama’s time as a community organizer, Harold Washington was serving as Chicago’s first black mayor. This was a source of hope and inspiration for Obama and other blacks and progressives in the city."

http://riverdaughter.wordpress.com/2008/04/21/obama-the-community-organizer/

<snips>

"Barrack Obama began his political career in 1996 and after an eventful campaign focused in the south-side neighborhood of Hyde Park he was elected to a seat in the Illinois Sate Senate as the 13th District representative. In 2000 he made a bid for a seat in the U.S House of Representatives; however he was defeated in the primaries by Booby Rush, the four-term incumbent candidate.

Not to be deterred in his political ambitions, however, Obama would continue to work hard in the Illinois State Senate passing many bills and reforms till his official resignation following his election to the U.S. Senate in November of 2004.

A review Obama's career in the Illionois State Senate, reveals many interesting and noteworthy accomplishments and works of legislation. One of which is noted by an issue of the Washington Post in February of 2007. In the issue the Washington Post points out his ability and willingness to work with the Republican Party despite his own Democratic ideals by mentioning his work on and contributions to many bipartisan legislation dealing with ethics and health care reform."

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/353645/barrack_obama_his_time_in_the_illinois.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama

[MorningGlow]

8. Thanks so much for the links, Zidzi!

That really helps me get my ducks in a row to share facts! :hi:

[Cha]

12. You're Welcome~This is important, too..Obama's Oct, 2002

speech against the War ON Iraq that is full of prescient thoughts of what would happen if we bombed Iraq.

<snip snip>

"What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other armchair, weekend warriors in this administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne.

What I am opposed to is the attempt by political hacks like Karl Rove to distract us from a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate, a drop in the median income - to distract us from corporate scandals and a stock market that has just gone through the worst month since the Great Depression. That's what I'm opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics. Now let me be clear - I suffer no illusions about Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal man. A ruthless man. A man who butchers his own people to secure his own power. He has repeatedly defied UN resolutions, thwarted UN inspection teams, developed chemical and biological weapons, and coveted nuclear capacity. He's a bad guy. The world, and the Iraqi people, would be better off without him.

But I also know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors, that the Iraqi economy is in shambles, that the Iraqi military a fraction of its former strength, and that in concert with the international community he can be contained until, in the way of all petty dictators, he falls away into the dustbin of history. I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a US occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of Al Qaeda. I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars.

So for those of us who seek a more just and secure world for our children, let us send a clear message to the President today. You want a fight, President Bush? Let's finish the fight with Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, through effective, coordinated intelligence, and a shutting down of the financial networks that support terrorism, and a homeland security program that involves more than color-coded warnings. You want a fight, President Bush? "

<more>
http://www.barackobama.com/2002/10/02/remarks_of_illinois_state_sen.php

[MorningGlow]

16. Oooh tasty

I had heard about his speech but never got around to checking it out. Most grateful!

[Cha]

17. My main issue was the War On Iraq

..I had already decided on Obama but when I read that I know I would have been following his career from October, 2002 and not only getting to know him in December 2007.

We've come so far and are so close..it's mind boggling.

[glitch]

10. You are so lucky to still have your cool mom. She will get it about Obama. nt

[MorningGlow]

15. I am grateful

Spot on, Glitch. My mom's side of the family is known for its longevity (and for retaining all their faculties right up to the end), but I definitely don't take the fact that she's still around--and yes, sharper than most people half her age--for granted. She will come around to Obama--I'll make sure of that! :D

[ClarkUSA]

11. LOL! Many Obama supporters are converting their parents...

Good work! ;)

[krkaufman]

14. It worked on Claire McCaskill, eh? n/t

[krkaufman]

13. If she loves Olbermann, I'd say make sure she sees Maddow.

[barack the house]

18. Once she's hooked she won't ever turn back. Get her to listen to some Malloy and Bob Kincaid too.

[CitizenLeft]

19. kickin' for your Mom!

[Liberal Mommy]

20. k and r for your mom! nt