Deep Thoughts
Apr 17th, 2008 at 11:34 am by Susie
David Broder talks to voters in the Philadelphia suburbs:
Another Democratic voter, Ellen Sharm, 49, of Fort Washington, is unequivocally opposed to Clinton, because “my father hated Bill Clinton and he hated her.”
Sharm herself is equivocal about Obama and McCain, and she said she is “halfway between” their opposing views on Iraq — with Obama urging an immediate start on a pullout and McCain saying the United States should remain there in force until Iraq is stable. Sharm described her own position on the war as “wishy-washy” and, while her disqualification of Clinton “out of respect for my father” dictates a vote for Obama in the primary, she said “if it’s Obama versus McCain, I’ll have to consider” what to do in November.
People make their voting decisions based on all kinds of silly reasons, but I think this is the first time I’ve seen a grown woman say she’ll vote how her dead father tells her to. (Plus, I have to wonder what kind of Democrat is considering a vote for McCain, anyway.)
Well if you scratch the surface you will find more irrational reasons than rational ones in voters. At least that has been my experience.
Funny how the biggest issue, getting the wingnuts out of office seems to be buried in the Clinton/Obama rivalry.
Spiegel, the German magazine, had an interesting article: “Why Americans never vote for what they really want”. Link: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,544870,00.html
Where I live, Bush actually won in 2004. So depressing.
My mom liked Reagan. I still miss her after 20 years, but no way that makes me think better of Uncle Ronnie.
Now my dad thought JFK was a crook and a faux Dem. A wee bit radical was my dad, but that unfortunately didn’t eliminate his sexist tendencies.
I’ve tried to honor my folks by following their teaching and using the education I received to make informed decisions for myself. They wouldn’t have expected anything else.
Sister of ye beat me to it - my parents were extreme right-wingers but they taught us all to think for ourselves. It never bothered either of them that 3 of their 4 children grew up to be far left. As long as live morally sound lives and think for ourselves mom and dad were content.
Erik,
Thanks for the link to the Spiegel article. It says that the “average” American voter (usually uninvolved in politics, neither left nor right) has contradictory responses: he likes social program but is unwilling to vote for them. When a program that benefits him is announced, his first response is: “How much will this cost me?”
(And while I use “he” in this comment, it represents either “he” or “she”.)
I would add that the average voter has had years of TV watching and shitty schooling to enable him to “Sleepwalk through History” (to use Haynes Johnson’s phrase about Reagan’s presidency). It takes a lot of “discipline”, to use Chomsky’s phrase, to prevent him from thinking critically about the sound-bite messages he gets. It takes some reinforcement to make him NOT think of issues, but only of personalities. (Whom would he rather have a beer with?)
We live in a hyper-fucked-up political culture. The Beltway elite (and that elite does not really include Obama, just as it did not really embrace the Clintons until Bill left office) dominates and limits public discussion America in a way that the German elite under the Weimar Republic could only fantasize about.
The right-wingers, like David Brooks, consider the questioning in last night’s debate to be flashes of genius. So we are truly fucked.
“”(Plus, I have to wonder what kind of Democrat is considering a vote for McCain, anyway.)”"
I know lots of very intelligent and rational hrc and OB supporters who will vote for mccain if their guy/gal is not the dem nominee…if the dems rule both houses (VERY likely) a mccrazy admin will be hamstrung and hard right SCOTUS nominees will be shot down.
Well my grandmother hated Reagan. Just saying. Understandable considering she was a school teacher from California.