Amish For Obama?
I was a little amused when I saw a section of Senator Barack Obama's webpage entitled "Amish For Obama." It looks as if the Obama campaign is trying to rally support among Pennsylvania Amish ahead of Tuesday's Democratic primary. I'm making generalizations here based on experience, so these are only my opinions, and I'm sure there are exceptions, but I doubt Obama's efforts - laudable that they are - will bear much fruit. First of all, as I've said numerous times, the Amish rarely, rarely vote. If they do vote it is usually on a crucial local issue, not a Presidential race. Second of all, IF they were to vote in the Presidential race it'd generally be for the real deal in November, not in some primary. Thirdly, most Amish tend to vote Republican based almost exclusively on the abortion issue. Lastly, and I want to tread carefully here, I think many Amish would be suspiscious of voting either for a black man or a woman. Both Democratic candidates challenge traditional molds....it has taken 200 years for non-Amish America to get to this historic election that features both a person of color and a woman (and don't count out Condaleeza Rice running on the GOP ticket as the VP)....The Amish are generally a generation or two behind the rest of us in their thought processes, so I think the few Amish who do vote this year will likely embrace John McCain.
Re: Amish For Obama?
Not wanting to become embroiled in controversy over some issues, I will say simply that I am hoping voters will try to look at character, including the way others are treated in word/deed, rather than just looking at gender, race, age or other attribute in a stereotypical way. CS
Re: Amish For Obama?
Hi
In the last presidential election, George Bush attempted to rally the Amish and OO Mennonites into voting for him based on his conservative stance. Although it was tempting to many, almost no plain person votes in a general election. It would be totally against their injunction to be separate from the world. The ad in the Obama '08 site was absurd to say the least. Barack Obama is a liberal candidate who is the very antithesis to what a fundamentalist Christian would want in a leader. The advertisement just shows how out of touch Obama campaign must be with the people in our country. First we have the commentary by his racist "Pastor", then we have his crack about Pennsylvania working class and their religious crutch and now we have him yakking up Amish voters. It is amazing that this man is taken seriously as a candidate. Susan
Re: Amish For Obama?
I personally don't feel we should hold him responsible for remarks made by anyone other than him.
Cindy/KS
Re: Amish For Obama?
Cindy,
Barack Obama made the unfortunate comments about Pennsylvania working classes himself. His "Pastor's" comments were never fully refuted by Obama. He only said he disagreed with them,but understood why they were made. He asked the American people to consider the Pastor's generation. So conversely,does that mean old white men who favor segregation should be ignored because their generation was more sympathetic to a separation of the races? I highly doubt that. The silly ad on the website trying to indicate that the Amish might vote for him, looks more like a tongue in cheek joke than anything else. But it still seems odd. Susan
Re: Amish For Obama?
I was raised by a southern mother who many times said names & such about blacks that I don't agree with, but I would never want to be judged by her comments. That is my point.
When I was confronted with my daughter falling in love with a black man, I had many, many things to think about & work through. It didn't help that when I was told about him, he was in Iraq and there was no way I could meet him for quite a while. After all my thinking & such, I realized that all I thought were my beliefs were in fact things that I had been taught either by my mother or by the church I was raised in, but I didn't personally believe them - I was just going with the flow.
It would never do me any good to try to change my mother's beliefs & comments, and I certainly wouldn't want to be judged by them. But I was also raised to respect my elders and with that feeling, I cannot talk back to her. So I have to be responsible only for myself & my actions. I am not even responsible for my dh's actions or words, nor for my adult children.
So, in my opinion, neither can he. This is not to say I agree or disagree with anything he says or does - but he shouldn't be judged by what his wife, his pastor or former pastor - as the case may be - or even by what his employees say - only by what he himself says or does.
Cindy/KS
Re: Amish For Obama?
Most devout Christians will vote Republican based on the abortion issue too. Some of us also like the patriarchal system from the Bible still also, we are called old fashioned and out of date. Guess you can't help but commend the candidate for trying!! But making a blanket statement like "Amish for O..." sort of makes it sound like the Amish have made an on the record statement, instead of just the advertisement that it is. Seriously? me make changes in WA DC that is funny!!
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