It was a midnight blue Isuzu pickup. I bought it secondhand from a neighbor who had retired from New Jersey Bell. It was one of the most practical vehicles that I’ve ever owned. I used it to clear yard waste from my property and to carry all manner of stuff that would not fit in the trunk of a car. I even removed about four full truckloads of old tree stumps from my neighbor’s yard.
When I first purchased the truck, though, many of my friends and acquaintances asked me why I had bought it, instead of a car – didn’t seem to fit my personality some told me. Others were not quite as direct about it, but seemed to imply the same. I found it amusing, because it was as though I had suddenly developed another personality.
But now I get it. Scott Brown drives a truck, and politicians are not supposed to be seen driving trucks – somehow it kills the image of what a politician should be. Even President Barack Obama, when he made a last-minute flight aboard Air Force One to Massachusetts, trying to break the momentum of Scott Brown’s drive for Ted Kennedy’s vacant seat referred negatively to Brown’s truck.
Big mistake. Even more so when it’s made by the President of the United States. There are millions of people who drive trucks in this country, yet the image still seems to linger of some redneck guy in a pickup with a rifle slung in the back.
As for me, I like truckers, whether they drive pickups or eighteen wheelers. Even if they are politicians.
No comments:
Post a Comment