Obamanation

I talked to my dad this weekend. We started talking about the upcoming election (since we both have free weekend minutes) and - no surprise here - did not agree on a few issues. He asked me if I was supporting Obama and I said I was. He said "I don't think his heart is in the right place." With no real support for his argument, I asked him to quit watching the cable tv politicos, and tell me why he thinks Obama's heart is out of place in more concrete terms. It could be because he doesn't like B.O.'s Iraq stance, or his health care plan, or his lack of experience (after all, no credit is worse than bad credit), but not some generic, vague notion about him.

He also told me that it actually did bother him that Barack's middle name is Hussein (sp?) which made me cringe. It surprised me because I always figure the conservative in my dad is just a reaction stemming from a lack of understanding of a situation. It's his safety net, I suppose. Not that I'm so brilliant, but I know this onset xenophobia disorder is purely marketing-driven. I don't like to think that my dad is susceptible to this crap, but it appears he is.

I know I don't have to explain this, but Hussein is not even the name of a sworn enemy of the United States, really. The one we captured and killed (for all practical purposes) was an ally for much longer, and he had zero responsibility for attacks on the World Trade Centers if recent news reports are to be believed. So why is this name a problem? I made him laugh by asking if he was bothered that McCain's middle name was Adolph. (It isn't [as far as I know].) He got the point, but he's still "bothered".

So, my request of my dad is to tell me something concrete about Obama that would make me change my mind and vote for Clinton or McCain instead. He said he couldn't think of anything but he'll keep it in mind.

One more thing about the big "O" - I do like that he will debate with anyone. I do appreciate that he tries to keep the debates on the issues - not on character slashing. I am signed up to receive his e-mails, and I will say, there are a few notices of what Hillary is up to now (a little melodramatic), but nothing I'd categorize as an outright affront. It's more like pointing out where her ideology and his do not agree.

In the past two elections at least, I felt like I was watching kids on a playground calling each other names. Pundits say the negative stuff is necessary, but I don't think it's working for Hillary at the moment. Who knows, when the chips are down, maybe I'll find out that you can't fight the folds. In the meantime, I still haven't heard anything to put me off the Obama wagon.

(Sorry, Liar.)