Nice piece, Ari.
I live (and am a native of) a neighboring town, and my work takes me to Winamac frequently. While I’m a moderate/liberal, and an Obama supporter, I think you’ve painted a pretty accurate picture of attitudes in this area. Of course you’re mostly not going to find the liberals/progressives in the coffee shop.
I do think there are some rural folks who will find it difficult to vote for a non-white for POTUS. For many, there has never been a non-white candidate on their ballot for any position. Sadly, I think there is an element of racism there too.
But there is also lots of unhappiness with what the Bush administration has been doing, and the ‘support the military’ argument isn’t heard much anymore, because we all now military folks and many in the military are disillusioned with the fruits of neo-conservatism. So it will be interesting.
Off politics for a sec…Ari, are you sure that the river is named after the battle? Wasn’t it more the other way around?
