Posted on 02/10/2007 4:27:18 PM PST by SJackson
She not only is a lifelong Republican, but an anti-big government conservative Republican who campaigned for Robert Dole in 1996. Oh, and one other thing. The mere thought of Hillary Clinton becoming president makes her stomach churn.
As her husband, Robert Stross - also a conservative Republican - puts it, "We don't believe anything Hillary says, and we think she'll do whatever it takes to get elected."
All of which makes the Madison couple's recent decision all the more intriguing: They've joined the Wisconsin chapter of DraftObama.org, a grassroots movement to help the progressive Democratic senator from Illinois win the presidency in 2008. Wann says she even hopes to campaign for Obama after he officially becomes a candidate today.
Why Obama?
All sorts of reasons, said Wann, 40, and Stross, 38, in a recent interview at a Monroe Street coffee shop, just a few blocks from their home.
Foremost, they've heard him speak a number of times and think he's "an incredible orator," Stross says. "And if he does half the things he talks about doing, it will be a wonderful thing."
Adds Wann, "We feel Obama's more in touch with what the true American is really about. As opposed to a president who came from a very rich family and went to Yale and was always kind of sheltered and given everything he wanted.
"I also feel Obama is more patient, and that he really listens to what people say. And I think he'd inspire people, much like (John) Kennedy did."
Most important of all, Wann says, Obama seems sincere about wanting to unite the country. As opposed to Hillary, "who would polarize us even more."
Stross and Wann, who met in Chicago in 1999 and have lived in Madison since their marriage in August 2001, emphasize that they don't agree with all of Obama's positions. For instance, they still have misgivings about his universal health care proposal.
"Having grown up in England, I think universal health care gets a little George Orwellian," Stross says. "It's like, 'Oh, I'm sorry Robert. You're a little too old for a kidney, so we're going to put you on the never-get-one waiting list.' In other words, there are pros and cons to it."
That said, Stross and Wann agree that something must be done to fix the U.S. health care system. They find it disgraceful that there are 46 million Americans without insurance and outlandish that many small businesses can no longer afford to provide health care coverage for their employees.
Stross, who until recently was an independent businessman (he's about to start a management job with a company in the energy field), notes that he and Wann currently have just catastrophic coverage, which costs $400 a month. That means that none of the maternity costs from the recent birth of their son, James, was covered.
"So we're looking at a bill of $12,000," he says.
To be sure, those aren't the only reasons the couple's decided to switch their support to a Democrat.
They believe the Republican Party's been hijacked by the Religious Right and say it's become obsessed with hot button issues like abortion and gay marriage. (The couple are pro-choice and support gay marriage.)
"A true Christian doesn't wear their religion on their sleeve or try to force their views on somebody else. They go about their business quietly," Stross says.
They're outraged by all the lies and distortions the Bush administration used to manipulate public opinion and justify its invasion of Iraq.
And even though there are more women in Congress than ever before, the couple believe the country is still run by an "old boys club" that's been around forever and gets its marching orders from big-money corporate interests.
"It kind of scares me when I look at old pictures of Nixon and there's Cheney sitting right next to him," Wann says. "It's like, whoa! Seems almost incestuous."
Her husband nods.
"I don't know who this Karl Rove guy is - he's not elected to anything, is he?" Stross says with a wry smile. "But apparently he's got his fingers in everything. And, frankly, it's very annoying because this is what all our liberal friends have been saying."
It's true, Stross and Wann acknowledge, that the 45-year-old Obama lacks experience, having served just seven years in the Illinois Senate and two years in Congress. But, they point out, Kennedy lacked experience when he ran for president in 1960 and was even younger (43) than Obama.
Besides, lacking experience today is almost a plus, Wann says. "It means he hasn't been in Congress long enough to be corrupted."
But, realistically, can Obama actually win in 2008?
Yes, Stross and Wann say - especially if blacks embrace his candidacy and vote in large numbers.
The bigger question, they suggest, is whether the Democratic power brokers will allow a free thinker like Obama to get the party's endorsement.
"I really feel like Hillary will get the nomination," Wann says. "And if that happens, it will be truly frightening."
And Stross?
"If Obama wins the nomination, I predict he'll become president."
Pause.
"But it's an awfully big if."
The article claims they are conservatives, but everything about this couple reeks of liberalism. What a lot of baloney this is.
According to whitepages.com:
0 Results matching "Stross, Madison, WI"
and
0 Results matching "Wann, Madison, WI"
100% dead is best for poisonous snakes
We always hunted and fished in a large group
A tradition
Greenpeace, PETA, Sierra Club would have been laughed out of the county
And yet it seems 24 hrs after these stories come out in the MSM, some blogger does a google search and finds out the person is an active member of the state's Democrat party...(Like those women from Tennesee who appeared on Good Morning America before the last midterm elections)
Here's the deal...You can change from a Dem to a Republican, but not the other way around (unless you start using drugs). Once you go Republican, you don't go back
Lol, this one was 100% dead after a neighbor got a snake snare and pulled it out!! Hidden down in some old life jackets, had to have come up from the bilge??
Is this Madison, Wisconsin? I didn't think there were any Republicans in Madison. And I don't think these two are Republicans, either.
Sorry....doesn't pass the smell test....Obama wants UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE....no Republican backs that!
I have really grown to dislike this sort of comment. Just what are conservative Christians doing that liberals like this aren't? Voting their values? In this case, they are voting for a pro-choice Democrat who will then "force his views" on everyone through policy? And when did Jesus "go about his business quietly"?
Even Democrats I asked about this guy say he doesn't have enough experience. Remember 'no gravitas'?
Obama is about as big a pro-abort as there is, and his wife's abortion activism makes Hitliary look like Pat Robertson...
Besides, Hitliary will never let him get elected.
Ed
Good thing they didn't say he was articulate. That would have been racist....
susie
That's what I was thinking.
susie
"Conservative republicans" my foot. I love when they write this stuff and expect us to actually BELIEVE it.
Right, right..."conservative republicans" EVERYWHERE are just frothing to vote for ANY demonRAT, especially one raised as a muslim.
Give me a big fat break, willya?
LOL I promise I didn't read your post before I posted!
susie
Dang. The republicans have really fouled their nest, haven't they?
No friend, Reagan democraps weren't real either. We had a bunch of them in Macomb County, Michigan. The national media of the day was always out here highlighting them. They were just pi$$ed off at the 'crap party because they didn't get their own way, got some attention from the MSM, and are back to voting for craps again.
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