Mr. Dave Goes To Washington

Since I’ve been home for Spring Break, I’ve been doing a little covert election research. My father is a conservative Catholic and an avid Rush Limbaugh fan. He’s not so articulate when it comes to talking about politics (nor am I, to be honest) and he’s incredibly susceptible to Republican conspiracy theories. Basically, he’s my political opposite. However, he’s also a registered democrat (local elections in Pittsburgh are determined by the Democratic primaries, Republicans have no chance in this former steel town), and he plans to vote for Obama.

While there’s been a lot of discussion surrounding Black female democrats and whether they will vote with their sex or their ethnicity, little has been said about white male democrats who face the same dilemma. Of course, we agree that voting decisions should be based on the issues, but we must also face the reality that this is often not the case. My father, like myself, seems to be captivated by the fresh young face of Senator Obama. Good for him.

My question, though, is whether we should be concerned by the motives behind the votes gained by our favorite candidates? My father has also stated that he plans to vote for Obama because he doesn’t think the Clinton family has good values. I rolled my eyes. Should we be happy for these seemingly arbitrary votes, whatever our persuasion, or worried that voters on the “other side” might have similarly misguided reasons?

Or am I just distrustful of my father’s political opinions? He also told me that he’s 100% positive that if Clinton wins and makes Obama her running mate, she will be assassinated by a militant Black Panther group that wants a Black president. Of course, I rolled my eyes to this as well.