Not to say that all motorists support Obama (read this), but a chance meeting at a red light this week left me feeling refreshed about political involvement this election go-round.
Stopping at the corner of Washington and Hull in downtown Athens Wednesday morning, a car filled with two young women and a child in the back seat pulled up beside me on my bicycle and asked, “Excuse me, sir, but are you registered to vote.”
Before I could answer, they continued, “Because if your not, we can tell you where you can go get your paperwork. We can take you to register.”
Not only were these women pumped about getting me to vote, but they were willing to take a stranger into their car and let him sit next to their child. That’s political commitment. That’s also questionable parenting. But hey, you’ve got be dedicated to the cause, right?
Actually, I’m Canadian, I said, and I hadn’t yet become a citizen, which confused them a bit. I bet they weren’t expecting to run into a French Canadian on a rebuilt Rockhopper bike during their voter drive that morning.
“My wife’s going to vote,” I said, lumbering into the crosswalk as the light turned green. “She’s probably going to vote Obama.”
One of the women screamed out, shaking her fist out the window in excitement.
“Alright,” she said. “Don’t you get hit now.”
Say what you want about the two candidates, but in the four presidential campaigns that I’ve been old enough to follow, the 2008 election seems to have finally awakened the American voter.
And my little encounter at stop light is testament to that, I feel. There’s a certain hope (as well as dire straits) that’s energized folks, that’s got people talking to each other, getting really mad and not just making GWB jokes.
Of course, I could just as easily be telling a more believable story, as far as bike commuting goes. Some dude could’ve screamed “Commie Fag” from his F-150 as his side mirrors tickled my ears.
“Politics as usual,” this post may have read.
The Green Motorist takes a non-partisan look at the two candidates stances on eco-issues surrounding the automotive world.
Ridelust has a bunch of funny bumper stickers.
Green Paige gives a list of reasons to not ride your bike to work that is 100 percent lacking in sarcasm.
