Dear Friend and Reader,
In a hilarious campaign that gets straight to the point, Sarah Silverman and JewsVote.org are working hard to increase the less-than-usual enthusiasm from Jews for the Democratic party and, specifically, Barack Obama. The slip in favor, from a demographic that usually votes Democrat, is largely due to the snow birds: the elderly Jewish folk who moved from New York to Florida for retirement.
The Great Schlep from The Great Schlep on Vimeo.
My grandparents are part of this demographic Silverman is joking about in her video, living just slightly north of West Palm Beach. My grandfather, who turned 90 this year, is voting for McCain, and my grandma usually votes how he votes. The biggest problem for them is that Obama is “a shvartze” (Yiddish for black). McCain is older, and white, and therefore trustworthy.
After watching the RNC a few weeks ago, my grandma commented how gorgeous Sarah Palin looked in her neutral-toned suit dress. “She won beauty pageants, you know,” grandma added.
I don’t mean to use this as a forum to make fun of my grandparents. Pop was in World War II, they both lost family in the Holocaust and they’re incredibly loving people. But they’re also racist (and homophobic, but that’s a topic for another article); and that’s a difficult thing to overcome, particularly in a family that tries not to “talk politics” at the table and where they start to shut down when my mother or I mention the election.