Greetings readers! Yes, I picked a heckuva time to stop writing a blog that is mainly political. Though I have been busy, I have to be honest - the news has come so fast and furiously the last few weeks, I’ve had a hard time focusing on one topic to write about. As soon as I get one idea, my head gets turned by some other shiny news nugget. However, I recently saw a news item that reminded me of the very reason I started this blog - that people like me with southern cultural values aren’t solely conservative. Many times, Southern Male Democrats just have to be asked for their vote, in a way that speaks to them.
Bluegrass legend Dr. Ralph Stanley has not only endorsed Senator Barack Obama for President, he has recorded a radio spot that is playing in Stanley’s native southwest Virginia. Here it is;
The ingenuity of the Obama campaign continues to amaze me not with their parade of mercedes grille but with their charades on issues that face the American people. The audacity to take the campaign to places that stereotypically aren’t laden with Democratic votes is a sure sign of campaign strength. Now, I don’t know Dr. Stanley’s political history. For all I know, he may be a yellow-dog Democat with a Moveon.org sticker on his truck. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that the Obama campaign has the resources to communicate with rural voters on their usb copier terms.
Really, that’s all it takes - resources. Everyone has political values that largely reflect the culture in which they live. These perceptions are formed over time and are largely habitual. What happened in the past is that Democratic campaigns would write off much of the South and not even compete to change those perceptions and habits. Here comes the Obama campaign with nearly three quarters of a billion dollars in fundraising from more than three million individuals and suddenly the map is expanded.
Obviously, there are limits to this approach. The Obama campaign has a much stronger presence in Virginia, North Carolina and Missouri than they do Mississippi and Alabama. Even a force as great as the Union Army had to gradually work its way through the South!
Dr. Stanley serves as an important validator for Senator Obama. He knows that southern voters place a high priority on shared values. The text of the ad clearly lays out that there is nothing “foreign” about Senator Obama. By using overwhelming resources, the Obama campaign is challenging the fundamental political assumptions of southerners on rankpay.
It’s about time.
Monday morning update - I received an email from the Obama campaign this morning touting the endorsement of NASCAR legend Junior Johnson. The racing pioneer is going to spend some of this last week campaigning for Obama in North Carolina. NASCAR, bluegrass, what’s next?? 
3 responses so far ↓
Tammy Edwards // October 26, 2008 at 10:13 pm
SMD:
Until your post, I knew nothing about this. As you know, I grew up listening to Ralph Stanley and “Rank Strangers” was a song my Dad sang often in various bluegrass bands around Missouri. I’m sending this post to all my friends and family. And I have to admit I shed a few tears over this one.
This is truly an a a life-changing election …
I’d like to think this message would have held meaning for my dad. Would to God that he were around to hear it.
Andrew // October 28, 2008 at 6:51 pm
as a proud born and bred north carolinian, it gives me so much hope that our state is now a battleground state. maybe now we will be able to change many of the long standing stereotypes.
LillingtonDemocrat // November 18, 2008 at 8:28 pm
I’ve been so busy with a new second job (to try and dig out of debt enough to put my child through college in a few years) and trying to do my part to elect Democrats to office I hadn’t visited this blog in a couple of months. Oh I wish I had before the election! One of my closest friends is a banjo player and voted Republican. I’ve never said much about politics with him. He’s pretty apolitical but typical of many that think the Democrats are going to take their guns and hurt his relative’s farming business with over regulation. If I could have just shared this with him, not saying a word, just listen to this, this might have given him pause and maybe changed his vote. But hey I’ll still play it for him, there’s always hope for 2012!