Inlaws and Politics

I just spent the week in Florida with my inlaws. It was an enlightening week. Here are a few things I learned:

1. They didn't understand the issue involving the Florida Delegation to the Democratic National Convention. They were mixed up between the delegates that were elected to go the the Denver and the Electoral College. They couldn't express it well, but thought that somehow the Democratic National Committee would be preventing Florida's votes from counting in November. My father in-law kept saying that Obama was in favor of taxation without representation.... Even after I explained the what had happened and how it would have no impact on the Electoral College, I am not sure they fully understood.
2. In general, they have a very superficial view of the issues in the campaign, but they feel strongly about their views. A couple of examples about this is how they said that Obama isn't talking to them about what really matters - Social Security and MediCare. I didn't say that they weren't listening, but that is what I thought.
3. My mother in-law supports Obama and my father in-law supports Clinton. Neither ever really told me what they liked about the candidate they support. The one thing I did get from my father in-law is that the fact that Obama is black might prevent him from voting for Obama in November. He doesn't support Bush, he doesn't support anything that McCain says from what I can tell, but the idea of voting for a black man will definitely be a hurdle to get over.
4. Both of them are very anti-immigrant. They talked about how the immigrants were taking over all the good jobs. It was interesting that they took this very personally even though they are both retired and not looking to work. They could point to no situation in their personal experience where an immigrant took over the job of someone they know, but the whole concept got their blood boiling. I guess the good news here for the Democrats is that the anti-immigration wing of the Republican Party can't be very happy with a candidate like McCain who supports "amnesty" for illegal immigrants.
   
5. My father in-law reads the newspaper religiously every morning. While he seems to comment most on things like the weather and local issues, I see that he reads the national news. The frustrating thing for me is that there is so little national news in their local paper. Thank God for the Internet!

Other ramblings....

Obama is ahead in the latest Gallup Poll by 10 points. This even after Geraldine Ferraro and the Jeremiah Wright controversy. I wonder what his lead would look like if those issues hadn't happened...

Hillary has no plans to drop out.

I found it interesting that the week before I left for Florida, Hillary's campaign said that the Jeremiah Wright story was off-limits for discussion. Now that the patriotism innuendo seems to have fallen on deaf ears, Hillary is talking about Reverend Wright.

While I was away, both Governor Richardson and Senator Casey endorsed Barack Obama. Has anyone noticed that in the last two months, there has been a steady stream of major national figures endorsing Obama and virtually no major endorsements for Clinton. The fact that Obama continues to roll up endorsements is pretty amazing when you consider how many of the major players in the Democratic Party must owe a lot to the Clintons.

Speaking of endorsements... I thought it was interesting what both Richardson and Casey said about how they arrived at their decisions. Casey said that his kids lobbied him to endorse Obama. (I don't find that surprising since mine did the same to me. Nice to know they are paying attention.) Richardson said that he was torn and went back and forth between the two for the last month or two. He seemed to say, however, that Obama's approach was a lot less pushy. Obama seems to be a true gentleman in everything that he does. He also said that Obama's speech in Philly last week helped push him over the top.

Of course, the Judas comment by James Carville probably reaffirmed that he made the right decision. The Clintons and their whole team seem to treat everything as good vs evil. Obama would never have reacted that way. And that, I think, speaks volumes.

That's all for today....