Views of Family Members

Last weekend, I spent some time with my family. Some of these family members (in fact all of them) do not like Obama, as much as I do. My Latino sister-in-law, who is a naturalized citizen, distrusts him so much that she bought a Glock after the election last November. I fear that she will accidentally shoot a family member (me?) or a friend with such a weapon in the house. A friend of mine claims that those who are killed by intruders are often killed by their own gun. I told my sister-in-law that I hoped that she knows how to use it properly. I’m somewhat of a clutz, which has always prevented me from considering getting a gun. I would do a Plaxico Burress and shoot myself.

My sister, who is a Republican, was oddly quiet over the weekend. She is one of those Reagan Democrats, who is liberal on a lot of issues, but very conservative on fiscal matters. She will be entering the job market soon, as her son will be going to college. I think she will be interesting to watch. Her son voted for Obama in the school mock election. Since then, he has come of voting age. I need to remind him to get registered to vote.

My husband’s parents are anti-Obama. John said that his Dad called him today almost in tears because he fears the United States is becoming an Islamic nation. Come again? I have no plans to start wearing a burka any time soon. The in-laws fear the amount of money that Obama is spending. What did they think when we were spending billions in Iraq to rebuild a country that we blew up. What about the billions that Bush gave the financial institutions before Obama took office.

I did not support President Bush and was often critical of his policies, I feared during his tenure that my personal freedoms were being taken away from me. I participated in an anti-war rally the weekend before we invaded Iraq. I was verbally abused by one passer-by who claimed that I was supporting the bombing of the World Trade Center. Come again? I often feared during President Bush’s time in office that my freedom of speech was threatened. I never participated in another anti-war rally.

We are probably going to have lunch with the in-laws over this weekend. I guess that I will get a second dose of Obama fear.

I argue up to a point. I mostly express my opinion, but I’ve learned that I cannot change their opinion.

The Day After the Election

The day after the presidential election of 2008, I left town early on a flight to Wisconsin for business. While Barack Obama won (what the political pundits call) A Historical Election of the First African American as President of the United States, I woke up to the same world I had been living in on November 4. My husband was unemployed and looking for work. Trash still littered the interstate I was driving to the airport. My retirement funds were about 70% of what I had previously accrued in my modest investments.

Early during the primary season, I had decided that I would vote for Senator Obama in my state primary, Tennessee, on SuperTuesday. He lost to Hillary Clinton. Finally on November 5, I woke up to election results in which my candidate won, a candidate I strongly supported.

This blog will be about life during the next four years, after this Historic Election. I’m a 56-year-old white female, born in the election year of 1952, to Democratic parents in the south. I was reared on the fantasy of Camelot, briefly tempted by southern pride, became a liberal and voted for George McGovern in my first presidential election. I’ve always voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in every election, but I was not always convinced that the Democrats had run the best candidate. This time, this place in history, I’m sure that Barack Obama is the person to lead us.

This blog is my observations about Life in ObamaNation.