Today I heard from my sister that my 86-year-old Fox News watching father now residing in an assisted living complex in Williamsburg, Virginia has cast his vote via absentee ballot for Barack Obama. He is a registered independent, but has never voted Democratic in his life--until now. Although he is not an in-your-face racist, he has never had an enlightened regard for African Americans, to say the least. But he has just voted for a black man.
My father worked most of his life in a civilian job with the U.S. Army alongside colonels and other high ranking officers. He understands and respects the military world and culture. But he has been anguished by the war in Iraq, and feels betrayed by those who led us into this debacle. McCain, with his military background and POW experience, should be someone squarely in my father's comfort zone. But McCain offered no solution on Iraq. So, my father wavered in his support.
My father has always been a religious person, though not an evangelical. He has been an Episcopalian all his life, and John McCain, at least the former John McCain, who attended the Episcopal High School in northern Virginia, would seem a natural fit for my father. But apparently, McCain's choice of Sarah Palin, religious extremist and otherwise unqualified, was a deal breaker for him. My father voted for Obama.
Real vote, real Virginia.
It's over for McCain.