Okay, so anyone who knows me knows that Obama is my choice. I have rotating posters for my car windows, recycled yard signs and stickers in my trunk and I am pretty much the source for all things Obama in my mostly Republican engineering firm. My partner has a love/hate thing going with Obama - he'll vote for Barack but he believes that eventually I plan on moving to DC to be closer to Obama. Much to his dismay, I've skipped a couple of bills to make a donation to Obama for America.
Anyway, I am so supportive of Obama I had to stop and check my clothing for buttons last night when, at the Hunan East chinese restaurant, the owner blurted out - "I'm for Obama - we really need a change. That George W. has really made a mess of things."
We just sat there and listened to him and another man who worked there run down their entire political thought process. Their accents were thick, but the understanding became easier as I listened longer. "The only thing about Obama is," waving his hands, "he wants change but change exactly what?" I think my mouth was just hanging open, to be honest. But I took that as my cue to begin my explanation of what needs to be changed and all of the info on the website and such. I've had exactly two conversations in my 37 year old life with people of Asian descent about politics. Both this year - both about Obama.
Having grown up in Philadelphia, I've witnessed that more often than not, there is a tension that usually surrounds conversations between African-Americans and Asian Americans, particularly in poorer communities at what I call "the bullet-proof" chinese joint. In case you're not familiar, these are store front restaurants where, in the interest of security, there is erected a wall of bullet-proof glass. The result? Aside from the rather uncomfortable waiting area for customers, attempts at conversation tend to become non-existent. The few verbal exchanges that do take place (ordering food & exchanging payment) tend to feed the tension with a combination of language barriers and bad attitudes (on both sides of the glass).
So I found it particularly refreshing to find myself at Hunan East last night, where we discovered more that we had in common than we had different. The conversation ran the gamut - from the obvious economic impact (Bush and his oil friends are getting rich) to the gross (after Bush leaves office, he is going to leave Laura for Condi). (Yes, I threw up in my mouth a little bit.) The chatter continued unabated until our food came out.
As we left, both my partner and I were shaking our heads in silence. I broke the silence - "well that was just STRANGE..." We both started cracking up at the irony of it all. This Obama dude...this is wild. I'll have to drop them off a window sign next week.