Trouble for Obama...

I was eating at the Shawnee Applebee’s the other night and I couldn’t help but overhear the conversation between two young (late 20s-early 30s) Asian women out having drinks after work. Now, these young women struck me as savvy, sophisticated young suburbanites who had probably just settled into their careers (a glance at their jewelry and designer handbags indicated a socioeconomic status of upper-middle class).

The two women were chatting about the upcoming election. One mentioned to the other how she had supported Clinton in the primary to show her support for a woman candidate for president. But the woman admitted that the more she considered the race, she would have hesitated voting for Clinton in the general election. So, her friend asked, who was the best candidate to enact change?

“Well, with Hillary we would've had the Clinton saga all over again, the old scandals and possibly new. I don’t see how that represents any kind of change—Hillary has some good ideas, but she’s a throwback to the Clinton era, and everything it represented, good and bad.”

“Well, what about Obama—he is running as the “change” candidate after all,” her friend said.

“He is, and I was excited about him early on, but now there’s something about him that scares me. He has yet to be specific on just what kind of ‘change’ he’s for, or how he’d pay for it all. I don’t know—he’s treated like a rock star and everyone is getting swept up in this cult phenomenon without knowing any of the details. We know so little about him. I can’t completely say what it its, but I just don’t feel comfortable with him.”

“Well, surely you can’t think McCain represents change—he’s just like Bush isn’t he?” her friend argued.

“No, I don’t think you can say that. McCain’s more independent and he has upset people on both sides for speaking his mind. He’s been very critical of Bush and doesn’t have any ties to the administration. He’s bucked his own party many times and faced criticism from both sides—I don’t think you can say that about Obama and Clinton.”

“So you’re voting for McCain?”

“I don’t know…I feel too uncomfortable voting for Obama, but I don’t have a problem voting for McCain.”

This is the target demographic Obama needs to capture in order to win the presidency, what some pollsters have termed the "Sex and the City" women voters: young, 21-35 year old single, professional, career-minded women. This woman was also a minority and a Democratic primary voter who had supported Hillary. She’s now leaning towards McCain.

Not a good sign for the Obama campaign…