(no subject)
To start, she'd been so disappointed when Hilary hadn't clinched the Dem-nom that she'd almost gone for McCain, cos' she didn't like Obama. She'd gotten all those stupid forwards about how he was against America, how he was Muslim (as if that should be a hate factor, anyway), then when he WASN'T Muslim he had an EBUL preacher, all that. I got some of these forwards from my cousins, and wrote back a few times stating my position, and not to send them anymore. But my mom's friends were more vigilant.
But over the last six months or more, she did a total turnaround. She started wondering what the hell McCain was doing, and when Palin hopped in--lol, she was all "WTF?" So she came to me and we'd talk all about it; she started sending the forwards about Obama to me, asking if it was true that Michele had spent $450 on a lobster lunch (such a bald-faced lie, just to sway attention from Palin's wardrobe from hell, of course) and she gave me the opportunity to explain that "No, Mom. It's all propagandist bullshit." Sometimes she doesn't take me seriously, but she really got into it this time. When it came time to vote, she picked me up and off we went to vote for our man. The next day, she called me to gush and let me know that she found the story about how Josh was at the CNN party, so she had me fangirling twice (even though I already knew, she was impressed that she could give me tidbits about my boy, lol).
She's always had trouble with prejudice; not a real racist, but she's fallen into the trap of 'Who's To Blame?' when things suck, and our crap-assed leaders try to point to different races or religions, welfare, etc. Her mother was heavily prejudiced, even racist in some ways, and it was something that always got me heated. I'd argue with them all, being made to feel like a liberal moron.
I was at work when she called me tonight, and she hit a milestone. She told me that someone that helps run the antique shop she has a booth at, someone she thought was a McCain supporter because of her hard-assed attitude turned out to be for Obama. She and her started talking about him, how happy they were that he'd gotten elected, and one of the other seller-guys jumped in. "He's gonna suck" was his attitude, talking about how terrible he was gonna be. My mom pointed out that if Colin Powell stuck up for him, it couldn't be bull. The guy went on to say "That's because he's black"... and the woman got PISSED and told him to leave. After he sputtered and ran out with his tail between his legs, the woman bitched to my mom about how he'd always been a terrible bigot, and she'd had it.
We went on to talk about how it's asinine to call Barack stupid, with his education and obvious intellect. So my mom said, "These bigots are terrified of a highly-educated black man--they're intimidated." This floored me. I honestly couldn't believe how far my mom had come in this. I know the election is NOT all about race and religion, whatever else, but it can't be denied; if Obama can enlighten my mom, he can do it for anyone--and HAS. I was almost hyper with the excitement I felt at how awesome my mom was, and how far she'd come. I'm sure she's still gonna have some issues, but she now LOVES Obama. I told her that I was gonna give her one of the moveon.org's stickers I'd ordered, and she was all "Ooh!" It's exciting.
So people can disagree with Obama, not LIKE him... but what he's done already, without having stepped into the Oval Office is in effect. The world is changing, and fast. There's still going to be some serious crap that goes on (a predominantly black church next to our town in Springfield, MA. burned down under suspicious circumstances... *groans and seethes*), but so much good is on its way, too.
And if people want to say, "He's all talk, and this 'Yes We Can' is just a generic catch phrase!"... well of COURSE it's all talk, of COURSE it's generic. He's not prez yet, and what's better as a slogan? Some highly detailed campaign promise? 'Yes We Can' fits on a sign just as well as 'Country First', correct?
Sorry for gushing. I'm just still breathing in hope by the quart. :)