OZARK, Arkansas, and SALLISAW,
Oklahoma - Everybody in the United States seems to be
eagerly waiting for June 22, the official release date
of Bill Clinton's long-awaited, 957-page magnum opus,
My Life. Well, everybody except a lot of people in
America's heartland. In 2000, an army of swing voters
switched to a cowboy straight shooter after eight years
of the non-stop Clinton soap opera. In 2004, the Kerry
campaign - at least so far - has been incapable of
persuading swing voters to commit resolutely to sending
the cowboy back to his ranch.
How many swing
voters really exist across the US? Both the George W
Bush and John Kerry strategy headquarters agree there
may be between a critical 8 and 10 percent. They are
certainly not in Sallisaw, Oklahoma - where the Cherokee
Nation has been submerged on Cherokee Boulevard by the
buffalo hordes of high-carb, fried-chicken buffets and
low-carb thick burgers, gas stations, pickup-truck
dealerships, cheap motel chains and the First Assembly
of God.
There's Bertolt Brecht at the Tulsa
Performing Arts Center - but not too much Brecht
distancing as far as no-nonsense Oklahomans are
concerned. According to the latest statewide poll by
Wilson Research Strategies Inc, Bush easily wins with 53
percent against Kerry's 34 percent, with 13 percent
undecided. Most of those polled were conservative
Republicans to moderate Democrats, older than 50, white
and living in the Oklahoma City and Tulsa areas - which
is where the bulk of the state electorate registered to
vote anyway.
Oklahomans definitely want their
lives enriched by casino-style gambling and a lottery
(72 percent). They seem definitely not to want John
Kerry and gay marriage (71 percent). Chris Wilson, chief
executive officer of the polling firm, says that "my bet
is that opinions in November will be close to what they
are right now".
It's fascinating to compare
Oklahoma against a national trend - where Bush has lost
ground in about every poll because of the Iraq quagmire
while Kerry has not advanced substantially. In Oklahoma,
Bush was 10 percent ahead of Kerry last February. Now
his advantage has almost doubled.
But in terms
of what's really important to their lives, 25 percent of
Oklahomans say school and education, 21 percent say the
economy, 16 percent better jobs and 12 percent health
care. Only 5 percent are worried about moral values,
only 3 percent fear crime and a mere 1 percent fear
damage to the environment. The Iraq war is bundled with
other issues at 5 percent.
The economy and jobs
(39 percent), according to a recent nationwide poll by
independent global research company Ipsos, really are
the most important issues for most Americans, followed
by health care (20 percent). National security comes a
distant third, at 15 percent, and the Iraq war a distant
fifth, at 6 percent. But schizophrenia really sets in in
terms of what candidate would be a stronger leader: Bush
gets an overwhelming 61 percent. But in terms of
creating jobs, it's Kerry who gets his own overwhelming
61 percent. The only point Americans seem to agree on is
that nearly 60 percent believe the country is on the
wrong track (because of the economy, Iraq and Bush's tax
cuts for the rich).
The view from the Ozark
Mountains The Spectator, published "every
Wednesday in the original Ozark" out of a tiny office
for almost a century, is more worried about the
sheriff's report and the police report. The Spectator
would fight Kerry like the plague.
Informal talk
across Arkansas and Oklahoma mirrors perceptions in
Wisconsin, Iowa and Missouri as well - all of them close
races except Oklahoma. Bush has "convictions" and Kerry
lacks any. Bush's good-ol'-boy twang works miracles.
Some conservatives may even admit that Bush is way too
much of a right-winger; but then Kerry's public
relations problem sets in. They don't know much about
Kerry, and they don't like what they've known so far.
Some, like Floyd Quesnel of Sherwood, Arkansas, even
question Kerry's war heroism: "He's voted against all
major weapons systems for the past 18 years."
Margaret Burnett of Fort Smith argues that "this
is not a conventional war. Mistakes have been made;
however, I believe we need to show support for our
president, his administration and our soldiers." Many
agree with Brad Birchfied that "Iraq is a breeding
ground for those Islamic wackos, then we are justified
in seeing to it that they could not train, house and
equip those that want to kill us. Emotional touchy-feely
stuff is not going to win this war." Not many would
agree with Pat Lynch, a radio broadcaster in Central
Arkansas since the early 1980s: "I am a lot more worried
about the ceaseless attack on Americans' individual
freedom than imposing, as if by magic, a new
'democratic' Iraqi government."
At virtually
every gas station across Arkansas and Oklahoma one hears
complaints about gasoline prices - averaging US$2 for a
US gallon (nearly 53 cents a liter) of unleaded (it's
around $2.30 a gallon, or nearly 61 cents a liter, in
California). Virtually everyone ignores the fact that a
similar gallon costs $4.24 ($1.12 a liter) in Japan,
$4.92 in France and $5.22 in England - and people accept
it as a fact of life. The US gallon is still cheaper
than a Frappucino at Starbucks - which is still too
exotic for most of the heartland. But the problem is
that the heartland drives vehicles the size of Paris
apartments, where a full tank is the size of a kitchen.
When buying a new car, Americans rank fuel efficiency as
their 44th priority. The deluge of sport-utility
vehicles (SUVs) and pickup trucks - 54 percent of all
new vehicles bought in 2003 - is not even a drop in the
ocean of 204 million cars and trucks and 194 million
drivers roaming across the United States. Downsizing? No
way: it would be anti-American. Those without a
Paris-apartment-size vehicle have to live with being a
miniature pincher in a freeway of water buffaloes.
Okie wisdom strikes at the Country Kitchen in
Chandler, Oklahoma, smack on the old, legendary Route
66: "You're lucky you can still smoke. You're lucky you
still have the right to vote." If the federal government
is not exactly popular in this land of pioneers, God is
always the ultimate refuge. In Texola, at the desolate
Texas-Oklahoma border, where a road sign reaches
metaphysical Valhalla - "There's no other place like
this place anywhere near this place so this must be the
place" - everyone seems to be hanging out at the First
Baptist Church.
All across the heartland,
post-modern life in the fast lane seems to be too much.
Pop culture is gross. Moral values are in the dustbin.
People dream of simpler, happier times, and during
Memorial Day weekend, they dusted off their fondest
memories of the greatest generation that fought in World
War II. If only things were so clear-cut today. So
what's left? Well, they get their gas-guzzling SUVs
straight from the car wash and get their kicks on
simpler, happier, real-good-time Route 66.
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Now
gimme those
