My Mother is Going to Kill Me

I recently had a conversation with my mother that I expected to devolve into a competition in how many more facts one she party could recite than I could. I would say something negative about John McCain, and she would counter by defending that negative quality and explaining how I was misunderstanding it, blah, blah. And then she would do the same thing about Obama. However, I was swiftly stalemated, facing a brick wall mortared with stubborn repetition and dropped g's (I don't know where this tick came from, but she said "I'm not votin' for..." about twelve times). She might as well have put her fingers in her ears and started humming. What I found out is that she really didn't know much about Obama except that, according to her, he "panders to crazies." I'm not sure if that means my mother thinks half the country is insane, or that she just refuses to listen to the man because (despite her claims that she is an independent) she has voted Republican since I've been alive.

I decided to write her an email outlining the educations and early careers of both candidates (she claimed Obama was a "career pol." Uh, okay). I didn't end up sending the email, because I again came to face a fact about my mother and the way she votes and thinks about politics. The major issue for her, in fact the only issue for her is abortion.

It doesn't matter that health care is an issue that Obama is trying to do something about and is making one of his primary objectives. Health care that would save the lives of thousands of people and would make the life of her own daughter easier, not to mention her three other children, all young, all about to enter or are just entering the work force, the highest demographic of uninsured Americans. But none of this will convince her. In fact, she even said (and I'm paraphrasing here) something along the lines of "It doesn't matter who becomes president, it's not going to effect me." Well, Mom, it sure as shit is going to effect me. I am terrified of these people. I am terrified because my mother lives in Massachusetts and still doesn't seem to know or even have to desire to learn what Obama is about (he's not perfect, by the way). And now I'm even more scared because McCain picked a pretty lady who wears glasses and has a shitload of kids to make him look less mean and roboty. The Grand Ol' Party full of good ol' boys let a skirt into their smoke filled room. And I bet my mother loves her.

The choice of Palin for VP has made this election about abortion. Or it has at least prompted the press to slap the issue around for a little while. Ironically, it is distracting voters from Obama's global agenda that has avoided making the campaign about some of these divisive issues (he called them small in his acceptance speech, which I thought was a poorly chosen word) despite his supposed lack of foreign policy experience.

I have been lucky enough to have never had an accidental pregnancy (I've also never had an intentional one). I have used birth control in some form responsibly and regularly since I have become sexually active, and once used plan B when a condom broke. But if I had gotten pregnant while in high school or college I would have aborted the pregnancy. I hope in my lifetime I never see Roe v. Wade overturned. If it were, I would readily expatriate myself, as I would see it as a discriminatory step in the wrong direction (if the sexual dynamics of this country were identical in every way except that men bore children, I'm certain that abortion would have been legal around the same time as the Industrial Revolution). I don't think Palin's parenting choices should be questioned, and I admire Obama for saying they are "off-limits" for the rest of the election (he's really doing a great job of undermining nasty political tactics and leaving the Republicans with nothing left to say). What should be questioned are her qualifications and her policies. And why, until she had one of her own, Palin didn't very much care for unwed teen mothers.

p.s. I love you, Mom.