Who are these people? Did you just here that? You actually believe that? These are questions that I've been asking lately about a certain type of McCain/Palin supporter. I have heard similar questions and sentiments espoused by many a friend and colleague too. No, I'm not talking about the racist, uneducated, prejudiced, reactionaries like this. It's more upsetting than that. I'm referring to those certain people that share my DNA: my family. Jeff touched on this in his article about George Lakoff, but it's one thing to have your crazy uncle talk about why the government doesn't have the right to take away his sub-machine gun yet somehow has the right to make you keep your unwanted fetus. Or your grand-mother that forwards you racist, evangelical emails full of animated gifs of Jesus and the Easter Bunny. No, I'm talking about parents here. The people who actually raised you and had the most influence into your belief system and personal values. How can they see the world so differently than you? Sure, they've disagreed with you before and have said some zany, old people stuff in the past, but this is different. This is actually important and it is imperative that our parents get it right. Perhaps it's so shocking to me because my parents are generous, loving, and giving people. I guess a lot of people out there hate their parents and to disagree with them on fundamental issues is commonplace, but not so for me.

Thankfully, the Presidential Election is one day away and this uncomfortable topic will vanish just like my boogers do when I flick them away.  I can't say for certainty who my parents will vote for and I kind of get the sense that they're going to begrudgingly vote for Obama, but that doesn't take away the fact that they've said some quasi-conservative and somewhat troubling stuff. After sharing this with friends, I know I'm not alone. I considered giving some quotes at this point of their questionable and frightening remarks, but I'd rather not besmirch their good names. Just know that I'm upset as I'm sure many people like me are about how their parents have been behaving lately. I can remember back in the day when we all used to laugh at Grandma and Grandpa refer to African-Americans as "Colored People." Haha, how quaint and old-fashioned of them. Yet, now that a black man is running for President those uncomfortable feelings that layed dormant in my parents' generation have started to bubble to the surface.  Didn't you guys live through the Civil Rights movement? Didn't you already live through a disastrous, unjustified war? Yes, they did, and they still act like this. And again, my mistrust for the Baby Boomers solidifies even more like a piece of petrified wood that according to Sarah Palin can't be older than 4,000 years.

C'mon, Rents! These are the people that taught me to care for my fellow man. I was raised to respect people off all colors and beliefs.  More importantly mindest of universal respect is what makes us Americans and is what has made America the best country on the planet. They also instructed me to always say "please" and "thank you". They taught me to respect women and a woman's right to choose. Above all, what makes this country great is that it is a meritocracy. And after 8 years of having someone in office who's daddy got them everything they wanted, even to be the most powerful person in the world, that it might happen again. John McCain's father and grandfather were both 4 Star Admirals in the Navy and everything he's ever wanted in life has been handed to him no matter how many times he has fucked-up. Even his survival in Hanoi was assured by the fact that his father was the Commander of the Pacific fleet during the Vietnam war. (Shhh, Tim, don't talk about that.) Why not vote for a man who came from nothing? Who embodies everything that is great about this country? Even if he does sound like "one of those black preachers."

I get a couple emails from the Obama campaign each day asking me to call voters in Swing States. I have a real problem with this. They say it's effective, but if I ever had some stranger call me up and started telling me that "I've got it all wrong," I might just vote for the Other Guy out of spite. So I don't go that route, but what I can try, and do and what I suggest you do, is just make sure your parents vote for Obama. So if you're like me and are afraid to talk to strangers, call you parents who live in a Red State or Swing State and drop some knowledge on their gray-haired heads. If all the facts fail, start parenting your parents and implore them with a phrase like this, "behave yourselves, Mom and Dad, and get with the program, or you won't be allowed to go to bed at 9:30pm. You'll have to stay up at least until the end of the Colbert Report."

And with that I proclaim Steve's Word official endorsement of Barack Obama for President. You can put it right up there next to my college diploma in my old bedroom.