My father-in-law was a retired Army officer. And I mean the old fashioned army, the army of WWII and Korea. He spent time in a German POW camp, was on the staff of the base commander at several large posts. He got up every morning of his retired life and raised a flag on a flag pole he had put in his front yard. He would travel hundreds of miles to attend reunions of his old army units. He lived a regimented life that would do any old school army person proud. So far so good.
I had always just assumed, uh oh, he would consider Bill Clinton an enemy to everything he had fought for and believe in all his life. Clinton, who was a draft dodger, who had said in writing that he loathed the military, etc. Slam dunk Bush voter, no? But he was a Catholic from a suburb of Boston, came from a long line of Democrats and liberals and that outweighed even his army experience. Damned if he didn't vote TWICE for Clinton! Turns out his raising trumped his training.
I know this does nothing to explain much of anything, but it helps me to understand how Obama got elected.
A friend of mine is in her early 80’s. She has always voted democrat. We rib her about voting for Obama. Recently I asked why she voted that way. Her dad told here what a bad guy Hoover was. She is basicaly a conservative in talking to her but still votes dem. Your right that is how he got elected.