READING THE HEADLINES IN DRUDGE TODAY about possible race riots if the president isn't re-elected was all too prescient in my taxi ride across Manhattan yesterday. It was a black taxi driver and the first few minutes of silence and niceties about the cooler weather were perfunctory and non-eventful. Then, as fate would have it, the subject of the election came up, and yes, I asked who he thought was going to win it.
What ensued left me somewhat horrified as this black taxi driver began to curse and degrade Mitt Romney for the rest of the ride.
He proceeded to come unglued to the point I thought he might not be able to drive.
He assured me that no man, not even God, could have fixed the economy in only four years. That Mr. Obama needs more time and that he'd sure better get it. He went quickly from Bush Derangement Syndrome to Romney Derangement Psychosis shouting that he was a liar and a much worse.
I was truly appalled as any sense of rational thinking was absent.
To make matters even worse, I told him I thought Romney would make a fine president and in fact was planning to vote for him. This revelation sent him over the edge. The driver allowed it was my right to vote for whomever I wanted---a small concession---but told me I would be voting for a liar and cheat. I said he could be right and only time would tell. When we got to my stop on Lexington Avenue, I paid him without tipping---taxi rides have gone up wildly---and leaped from the cab with wings on my feet.
That's the last time I'll open a conversation on the election with a black cab driver in NYC. Will there be riots if Obama loses? I don't know but if this experience is any indication, I wouldn't be surprised at all. All I can say is stay out of harms way and lock and load.
So, did you have any bear-strength pepper spray in your bag? as self defense prep for the cab ride?
ReplyDeleteCourse, if you had employed that stuff in an enclosed cab, then you EXTREMELY WOULD have then jumped out of the cab QUICKLY. :)
Actually, Greg, I did have a small pepper spray in my purse although my escape method du jour was to open the door---of a slow moving taxi---and leap to freedom on the pavement.
ReplyDeleteI am much less sanguine as to what will happen if Romney is elected now.