My mom and I usually do not get into political conversations, there is a history there you see. My mom and I are both pretty solid democrats, but she has long been to the right of me ideologically, which has lead to quite a few heated arguments, and hurt feelings on both sides. Generally, if we do talk political shop, we keep it fairly light and cordial. I love my mom to death and I hate calling her out but I will when I think she is being over the top or just completely wrong about something.
I gave my mom a call yesterday, just to tell her how its going at work and such and see how she is doing. Just catch up after a few days of not talking to one another. The conversation slowly moved to the democratic primaries and I thought I was in for an earful about my support for Bernie Sanders.
Last go ‘round, she was a Hillary Clinton supporter. Full stop. She did not like Barack Obama at first, thought he was too extreme and would take America in a direction that she did not like. She was, quite frankly, incensed that anyone would challenge Hillary and just did not want to hear about anything to do about Barack Obama.
I was a bit younger back then, and I was very much pro-Obama. I was, quite frankly, an Obama fanboy for a while, and I read and watched everything I could get my hands on about the man, and the more I heard, the more I was absolutely impressed by him. The debates, lets just say, got ridiculously heated. She would vent about this or that; Obama did or said something offensive/unamerican. I was much more “anti-Hillary” back in the day and I would retort in that fashion (I am sure you all can use your imaginations).
It went on like that for months, until finally, around the time of the convention my mom had her come to Obama moment, realized how bad McCain was for the country, saw the Palin and was horrified for America and pulled the lever for Obama in the end. I was proud of her.
So when the conversation started drifting toward the democratic primaries (which we have not discussed at much length until yesterday), I tried to steer clear of it. I knew in my head my support for Bernie and hers for Hillary would be another combination for disaster.
But then something entirely unexpected happened.
We started talking about Bernie, and my jaw hit the floor. She said she has never seen a politician like him, that she has never, ever been more excited to vote in a democratic primary, and that she is totally, totally feeling Bernie Sanders. Down to the core. I couldn’t be more shocked, and frankly, elated. Smooth-sailing this time!
She loves Hillary Clinton but feels she represents more of the same old thing. We both agreed that we would both enthusiastically support the Democratic nominee over whatever the republican cat dragged in or coughed up in the case of the Donnie “the Hair” Trump, we both agreed that Bernie Sanders absolutely represents the best way forward for the country.
It doesn’t mean much to the outside world, but this is a personal indicator to me that something is happening here. That the message is trickling through. The ballot-box revolution is starting. And in a lot of ways that one personal experience is a lot more powerful than Bernie starting to lead in the two very early primary states.
To me, it means that this could really happen. If he is appealing to my mom, who really isn’t the lefty type, he is breaking through. Slowly but surely, he is!
Ha! Would have never even dreamed of this 3 months ago.
