A good friend of mine who, through geneology research, found a chunk of white family members in rural Arkansas, told me recently that most of them were going to vote for Obama.
On one hand she was a little distressed because they weren't necessarily driven by the issues but thought he was the type of person "they could have a beer with". On the other hand, these were folks who lived in a largely segregated society for most of their lives and to actually have them commit to voting for someone like Obama is pretty darned amazing.
At this point, I'm willing to take any little bit of progress we can get.
I hope humanity can rise above our petty racial bias. It is our only hope. As a white truck driver from the deep south I have have been amazed at times by the inherent understanding and compassion for others that truckers have. When you see a emergency on the road you will see a trucker running to help. We have a national emergency. I hope you will see us run to the polls and vote for Obama. Keep the faith.
Helen, We've needed that in this country for a long time. Hope peeps see that on November 4
1:54 AM
[Image] 'Rednecks for Obama' want to bridge yawning culture gap
by Michael Mathes Thu Oct 9, 9:50 AM ET
SAINT LOUIS, Missouri (AFP) - When Barack Obama's campaign bus made a swing through Missouri in July, the unlikeliest of supporters were waiting for him -- or rather two of them, holding the banner: "Rednecks for Obama."
In backing the first African-American nominee of a major party for the US presidency, the pair are on a grassroots mission to bridge a cultural gap in the United States and help usher their preferred candidate into the White House.
Tony Viessman, 74, and Les Spencer, 60, got politically active last year when it occurred to them there must be other lower income, rural, beer-drinking, gun-loving, NASCAR race enthusiasts fed up with business as usual in Washington.
Viessman had a red, white and blue "Rednecks for Obama" banner made, and began causing a stir in Missouri, which has emerged as a key battleground in the run-up to the November 4 presidential election.
"I didn't expect it would get as much steam and attention as it's gotten," Spencer told AFP on the campus of Washington University in Saint Louis, the state's biggest city and site of last week's vice-presidential debate.
[Image]"We believe in him. He's the best person for the job," Viessman, a former state trooper from Rolla, said of Obama, who met the pair briefly on that July day in Union, Missouri.
The candidate bounded off his bus and jogged back towards a roadside crowd to shake hands with the men holding the banner.
"He said 'This is incredible'," Spencer recalled.
It's been an unexpectedly gratifying run, Viessman said.
Rednecks4obama.com claims more than 800,000 online visits. In Denver, Colorado, Viessman and Spencer drew crowds at the Democratic convention, and at Washington University last Thursday they were two of the most popular senior citizens on campus.
"I'm shocked, actually, but excited" that such a demographic would be organizing support for Obama, said student Naia Ferguson, 18, said after hamming it up for pictures behind the banner.
"When most people think 'redneck,' they think conservatives, anti-change, even anti-integration," she said. "But America's changing, breaking stereotypes."
A southern comedian, Jeff Foxworthy, defines the stereotype as a "glorious lack of sophistication".
[Image]Philistines or not, he said, most rural southerners are no longer proponents of the Old South's most abhorrent ideology -- racism -- and that workaday issues such as the economy are dominating this year's election.
"We need to build the economy from the bottom up, none of this trickle down business," Spencer said. "Just because you're white and southern don't mean you have to vote Republican."
To an important degree, however, race is still the elephant in the polling booth, experts say, and according to a recent Stanford University poll, Obama could lose six points on election day due to his color.
Racism "has softened up some, but it's still there," Viessman acknowledged from Belmont University, site of Tuesday's McCain-Obama debate in Nashville, Tennessee.
Despite representing the heartland state of Illinois, and having a more working-class upbringing than his Republican rival John McCain, Obama has struggled to shoot down the impression that he is an arugula-eating elitist.
Surely he alienated many rural voters earlier this year when the Harvard-educated senator told a fundraiser that some blue-collar voters "cling to guns or religion".
But Viessman, who says he owns a dozen guns, said Obama "ain't gonna take your guns away."
[Image]The South traditionally votes Republican -- victories for southerners Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter were exceptions -- but with less than a month to election day, four states in or bordering the South are considered toss-ups: Florida, Missouri, North Carolina and Virginia.
Viessman says he'd like to think his grassroots movement could sway enough people in small-town America to make a difference.
"There's lots of other rednecks for Obama too," he said. "And the ones that's not, we're trying our best to convince them."
posted by Monica Roberts at 1:46 PM on Oct 9, 2008
"'Rednecks for Obama' Want To Bridge Culture Gap"
7 Comments -
Love that sign. lol
3:46 PM
has anyone tried to log on to that rednecks for obama website? i tried, but i got a message that said 'no N words allowed'
hahahhahahahahaha - i'm only kidding - excuse the tacky joke!
4:24 PM
A good friend of mine who, through geneology research, found a chunk of white family members in rural Arkansas, told me recently that most of them were going to vote for Obama.
On one hand she was a little distressed because they weren't necessarily driven by the issues but thought he was the type of person "they could have a beer with". On the other hand, these were folks who lived in a largely segregated society for most of their lives and to actually have them commit to voting for someone like Obama is pretty darned amazing.
At this point, I'm willing to take any little bit of progress we can get.
2:25 AM
I hope humanity can rise above our petty racial bias. It is our only hope.
As a white truck driver from the deep south I have have been amazed at times by the inherent understanding and compassion for others that truckers have. When you see a emergency on the road you will see a trucker running to help. We have a national emergency. I hope you will see us run to the polls and vote for Obama. Keep the faith.
3:06 AM
I love that they are doing this and doing it so publicly as well. It is good for healing the wounds of racism.
1:19 PM
imho, this is what Obama offers to people - to give them space to let their best, & not their worst, shine.
gives me hope for my race. ;)
8:57 PM
Helen,
We've needed that in this country for a long time. Hope peeps see that on November 4
1:54 AM