From Salena Zito, a fantastic piece, "
The Road to the White House lies on the Lincoln Highway between Ohio and Pennsylvania":
Near Chambersburg, on the 437-mile trip over the Lincoln Highway, a man named Eric, 54, sat in a diner and told how politics has impacted his life in a way he never imagined.
“I voted for Barack Obama in 2008 because I truly believed his inspirational vision for this country,” he said. “I really thought he was going to take us all together to the same place.
“Losing my job wasn't Obama's fault — happened long before him.”
By 2012, however, he realized Obama was not the change-agent he once thought. He also realized the economy was never going to return to the way it was; he adjusted, took two full-time jobs, cut back on his family's lifestyle and sat out that year's election.
“Don't get me wrong, his words are still inspirational — they are beautiful, in fact — but his actions are not, and his attitude toward me and my values, my traditions and my work ethic are personal,” Eric said.
He gulped and tears welled in his eyes: “Politics and divisions have ripped my heart out. My kids come home and argue that racism is why I don't like Obama. That's not true, that could not be more untrue, but you can't even argue it, because then your argument becomes that you are racist.”
How could his country do this to him, to his family, he asked. “I have done everything by the book all of my life, and when I was handed a raw deal … I didn't complain, I put my head down and I just found a way to make it work.”
He's not alone...
RTWT.
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