An Unlikely Local Obama Enthusiast, Across the Merrimac River
February 7th, 2008My friend, literally across the Merrimac River from Newburyport, MA, Frank Schaeffer, turns out to be a wild Barack Obama fan.
Small, tiny bit of history here. Frank Schaeffer taught me how to be a political activist. No kidding. I never would have known how to go about fighting MassHighway to save High Street without him. Plus he and his wife Genie go back almost 35 years with moi. Good grief.
Frank started out, as a friend of mine would say, “Right of Attila the Hun.” Something he readily admits to in many of his books, including the last one.
The Frank of, let’s say 30 years ago, would probably have been a Mike Huckabee fan.
With a son in Iraq, Frank morphed into a John McCain kind of Republican. And all of this can be read in Frank’s books as well.
Well good grief, it turns out that Frank Schaeffer, once “Right of Attila the Hun,” has now become an fervent Barack Obama enthusiast. And this is an understatement.
When Frank talks to me passionately about Obama, instead of saying, “Yo there honey, remember you, the right wing conservative.” I’m saying, “Alright toots, bring it on. Keep it coming.”
Frank has taken, among other things, to blogging on The Huffington Post on why he’s an Obama aficionado. (He’s also figured out that if he emails Letters to the Editor at 3 in the morning to the New York Times, sometimes they will actually print them.) Am I loving this or what.
My long time friend, fellow artist and neighbor across the Merrimac River, is not only voting for, but actually working hard for a Democrat. All I can say, if Frank Schaeffer has done a 180, this Obama guy has to be quite something.
Mary Eaton
Newburyport