Campaign Journal: What Do You Do If Your Parents Are Rednecks?

Tania Arias is an OffTheBus grassroots correspondent. Each week she contributes a campaign journal documenting her life out on the trail.

Once again, I chose to spend another gorgeous October weekend helping the Obama Campaign, this time in Yardley, PA canvassing door-to-door. Being a Manhattan resident, it is a very daunting task indeed. First, I had to rent a car and then follow MapQuest while tackling the NJ Turnpike. Going door-to-door is not one of our strong points. New Yorkers are fiercely private people who barricade themselves behind doormen, intercoms and video security systems. We are not used to the weekend visits from strangers with offers of salvation and/or political redemption so the thought of invading someone's privacy at home was terrifying.

Things began to look increasingly grim as I approached Yardley when McCain/Palin lawn signs and bumper stickers started sprouting like mushrooms from every direction. We do not have cars or lawns in NY so bumper stickers and lawn signs are alien to us. Furthermore, 99% of us do not wear our affiliations anywhere on our body or belongings; it is too much of an affront in a city of 8MM people crowded into subways, buses and public places. I felt that I had just entered enemy territory. Then I met Peg.

Peg was the canvassing organizer, and proved to be a feisty, no-nonsense, kind woman who instructed us on the finer points of canvassing. Since I was the only one without a partner, she volunteered to go with me but, she said that first she had to deliver an Obama lawn sign to a friend because in the last few weeks, hundreds of Obama signs had been stolen and removed from lawns all over the area (this might explain the vast amount of McCain/Palin signs that terrified me). She explained that, after neighbors got sick and tired of the thefts, surveillance caught the culprits. It turned out to be two young men that confessed to being paid by the local McCain/Palin office to remove the signs (they just go lower by the minute!). My anxiety level rose by a couple of more notches.

Peg and I headed out to the neighborhood we were to canvass and then she surprised me with the news that I would be left there on my own since she had pressing personal business to attend to. Are you kidding me? I took a deep breath and headed towards the first door. My deep and true dedication to having Barack Obama lead this country gave me the strength to intrude on them. I was immediately stopped by a young man who was doing lawn work at the first house and asked me if he could have my Obama button to give to his grandmother since she was an Obama supporter, just like him. Much to my surprise, the homes without the signs (there were 3 for McCain) turned out to be mostly pro Obama. As the first lovely young lady said to me "Oh, the Republicans live on the other side of the street". Home after home was inviting, friendly and mostly pro Obama/Biden. The dwellers were mostly 30-40 something white couples with yards full of playpens, swing sets, an array of sports gear and at least two kids. ALL of the wives were staunch Obama supporters while the husbands were either uncommitted or pro McCain, it appears that the white male population has yet to be convinced of Obama's vision. As I told one husband, "What happens when you do not listen to your wife?" He answered, "I get in trouble" to which I answered, "there is your answer, listen to her".

The older generation (70+), still held out for McCain. As one fantastic young woman said to me "Oh, I am so glad you are one of mine, I am so tired of fighting with my husband and mother. Sara Silverman has the great schlep but, where do you go when your parents are rednecks?!" As I pressed on, I gave away my other Obama button and convinced an undecided woman to read the literature on Obama's plan that I had given her. She was truly and sincerely grateful for the information. As I finished my canvassing and on my way to meet up with Peg, all of a sudden, I started seeing more and more Obama lawn signs, I was taking a different route than the one I came in on. As Peg tallied the results of all of our efforts, she told me that that weekend over 1,000 homes were visited and that support for Obama was now 4 to 1 when in the past it had been 3 to 1. It turns out that it is not the number of lawn signs that decide an election, it is the convictions of the people in the homes of all Americans.

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Comments

[ched]

Getting your hands on an Obama sign in SE PA these days isn't easy. They're almost as hard to come by as World Series tickets (Okay, that's a huge exaggeration, but you get the idea).

So happy to hear that Bucks is going heavily Obama. My neighborhood in Lower Montgomery County seems mainly Obama, but the farther you get from Philly, the red-neckier, ergo more McPalin, you get.

Thanks for helping out here in Ground Zero, PA.

[vrob125]

Rednecks want jobs too. I think they may vote for Obama secretly.

[timmmahhhh]

As a white 41 year old male it frustrates me that more white males can't figure out what a joke the Republican Party always has been but truly is nowadays.

OBAMA/BIDEN 2008

[shanefish]

At the end of the conversation, he summed it up and said he's going to be selfish and vote for what is best for him, and I responded that he should and I would vote for what is best for my children and i guess our votes will cancel each other out!

[shanefish]

Part 2

On healthcare I got him to admit that I might be on to something with my proposal for universal preventative care. His arguement that there would be long waits and sub-standard care, like in Canada, I again had to question where he heard this. I have heard the arguement from Americans, not Canadians. At any rate, the arguement only bolstered my arguement that the country take on preventative care because it would be easier to schedule and would benefit the nation greatly. Then, my employer and I would be responsible for catastrophic and accidental insurance only. He said, Shane you might be on to something.

On taxes, my dad says the democrats would tax him higher, although, if you look at the proposals, you would see that you'd basically break even with either candidate and I would make out 3:1 under Obama's plan in comparison to McCain. Now, if you look a few years into the future, one would have to wonder what good a lower tax bracket from McCain (which is not even true!) if we don't even have jobs or a secure nation to pay taxes to. I told him I am upset at the current administration because 8 years ago, the world feared and respected us, now they do neither!

[shanefish]

I come from a family of mostly republicans and I can testify that, with perseverance , you can slowly chip away at their agruements. I made much headway with my father this weekend during a 4-hour phone call where we discussed guns, healthcare, taxes and overall preparedness.

He fought me tooth and nail regarding his guns...he says that Obama and Biden want to go in his closet and take his guns. I asked him where he had heard that and his response was that it was how they voted. I said, I live in West Virginia (he lives in Missouri) and I can see why you and my neighbors want to keep your guns, not that my dad even hunts, he's just ex-military and never got the urge of shooting out of his system. I was in the military too, but own no guns and only want one in case the revolution finally has arrived. Anyway, I said, surely you can see why the senators from the larger cities have to vote to lower the number of guns in their cities because it is what their constituents want. Are you aware that there are more handgun deaths each year in Los Angeles alone than in the Iraq War???

[pons1595]

Tell your parents this: McCain is a bad choice: Palin, a complete mess; health care from employers, taxed; economic policies benefiting the rich only; keeping too high a troop level in Iraq—and you don't want someone as Racist as yourself in the White House!

Obama, too inexperienced [like Reagan, JFK]; raising taxes, baloney; too liberal, judge how the current compassionate conservative did for you; today 55 percent of us believe that Obama shares their background and values. I don't want a guy I can have a beer with; I want a guy who is smarter than me so he can begin to cure the flaming problems engulfing us. [Colin Powell believes it.] You don't know the difference between Shiites and Sunnis, but McCain doesn't either.
NOT voting for Obama because he is half black is unpatriotic.

[Ohg]

We live in Punkin Center, Missouri - rural Missouri. Our children call us rednecks but we took our own pole - us rednecks are voting for OBama. ...............................

http://thefiresidepost.com/2008/10/21/rednecks-for-obama/

[Hare]

When the sweaty Obama man came to my door I felt so bad for him. I live high on a hill and the day was very hot. He had been going all morning around my McCain neighborhood to have all the doors slammed on his face. I should have offered him a drink but didn't, the best I could do was tell him my husband who had also slammed the door on his face had already voted for Obama, and that my son and I were voting for Obama on Nov. the 4th. I think that lifted his spirits a bit. I also sent him next door since my neighbor keeps going back and forth on Obama. If he didn't help her make her mind up I'm sure at least she offered him a drink, but then again she only drinks vodka. We did get to talk about the Obama signs dissapearing.

[Strywever]

Given the kind of day the poor guy was having, he probably gratefully accepted the vodka! ROFL!

[TrooAmerican]

Nice Job Tania! Way to go!

Yeah to the post below.... the MSM should be covering this onslaught of illegal activity from the Nasty McCain Palin campaign.

They have money, just not enough homes to put signs in, so they use the leftover to pay out of work kids to be bad.

[consideration]

Really, the local McCain office is paying two guys to steal signs?

If that's true, it deserves MUCH larger play.

Thanks for the information.

[blaqntelligence]

Tania, thank you for this report from the trenches.
Stay strong, you are in my prayers.
Yes we can! Yes we will!!!
Obama/Biden '08

[TAIsabel]

Thanks, it will be a fight to the finish so we'll take all of theprayers we can get!