A Family Divided by Elections

I received a rather energetic (see fire-breathing) telephone call from my niece. She was upset about two of my sisters who are committed to supporting Hillary Clinton in this year's Presidential election. I told her that the sister who lives in Boston and I are Obama supporters. Unfortunately, though my sister's husband is a Hillary supporter so we really only provide Barack a single uncontested vote from the north to help him win the Presidency.

After we hung up I began to realize that black family households all across the nation are experiencing similar drama regarding which Democratic candidate should win the nomination and then hopefully the Presidency. I mean if Jesse Jackson cannot convince his wife Jackie to support Obama, Charles Rangel's wife Alma is an Obama supporter even though her long time husband and big shot in the House of Representatives is a strong Clinton supporter, what chance do I have again talking Dorothy and Cynthia into joining Venessa and me in supporting Barack Obama?

What a mess! Still my Hillary Clinton supporting sisters are not ignorant or illiterate they are well read women who like the Clintons very much. Venessa and I are supporting Barack Obama mostly because he is offering some plain thinking yet radical ideas like; getting out of Iraq fast, stopping the hemorrhage of tax dollars for a useless war, talking to our enemies, engaging the citizenry to participate in government by holding it accountable, restoring our faith in the Constitution by actually following it, and a host of other really important things too. Whereas Senator Clinton has not ever suitably explained her vote for a war in Iraq for either of us to believe that she would make haste to get us out of there, we are still very much feminists who are delighted to see a woman seek the top post in this country.

Ma simply does not care. She says that she will believe it when she can see it. Knowing her (she's a race woman) if Senator Obama wins she will be over the moon about it. At age 94 this granddaughter of slaves will have lived long enough to see the election of a black man as President of the United States. How cool is that? Only daddy would be prouder.

My family is divided but we are staunch Democratic Party members and we will vote Democratic in November regardless as to whomever the party nominates.