Many years back, I read an incredible article that stated every U.S. President, with the exception of two, could be definitively traced back to a common ancestor. Here is a site that goes through some of these blood relations. The two that the article claimed were not related to this "Presidential royal blood-line" were John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan.
It is easy to understand how Kennedy was not related being Irish Catholic, and not Protestant as all the other presidents. What was the reason for Reagan not being related to other Presidents? He came from the "annals of the poor." He born into extreme poverty and achieved the highest level of a self-made men, the presidency.
I bring this background up for a reason. It is a prime basis in understanding the Reagan Democrats, the demographic that the Obama campaign should be the most concerned about losing with the name of Sarah Palin to the ticket. This will determine the election.
Over the past years, we have heard the notion of Red and Blue States, ad nauseam. To understand the Reagan Democrats were must consider the separation of different colors, white and blue-collars. The Reagan Democrats are blue-collar workers who work extremely hard and just get by meeting all their bills and all their responsibilities weekly. They view white collar workers as making too much money for never getting their hands dirty and view Republicans as rich guys who do not care about them or society, only caring about the money they make.
These RD's have been handed down their Democrat Party heritage from their fathers and their grandfathers, the same way a family would hand down the love of the Boston Red Sox by taking their 5 year-old son/grandson to his first game at Fenway. The Democratic Party is a cultural definition for them. It is who they are.
They are for the most part Catholic, but are not in love with the extreme position that the Democratic Party has adapted on abortion. It pings their conscience, but they offset this with the incorrect justification that their party is the one that feeds and takes care of the poor, in line with Church doctrine so the two issues cancel each other out.
Ronald Reagan broke through to these Democrats partly because of his Irish heritage. But mostly, they view Reagan as one of their own that they could trust because he came from their ranks, poverty. He was not a banker trying to exploit them. He was not a lawyer, with a manicure and charging them $200 an hour for the necessity of writing a will for them. He was from their social lot and with this acceptance they believed he shared their values.
Governor Sarah Palin has the strong possibility of hi-jacking these Reagan Democrats. She is
from a modest background like them. Her father, a teacher; her mother, a secretary. She was a hockey mom loading her kids into the car and chauffeuring them to their games on the weekends just a few years ago. She and her husband both carried union cards. She speaks plainly with phrases like, "Thanks, but no thanks…" She is from their social lot and with this acceptance they could believe she shares their values.As of yesterday, there are other similarities.
Reagan had family problems. His father was an abusive alcoholic. Some of Reagan's kids were problems in their own right. The working class related to these family stresses.
Palin's daughter is now pregnant, and per her press release she is handling it head on, as best she can. Hopefully these working class people will approve.
This is the greatest danger for Obama as his campaign keeps worrying about keeping the women's vote with her and not the Reagan Democrats.
Barack Obama had better hope that the electorate of Reagan Democrats in the next sixty days or so doesn’t realize that Sarah Palin is truly one of their own.
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