Voters in Obetz still undecided
Tony Good couldn’t bring himself to vote for either major party presidential candidate in November, and so far he has mixed feelings about President Donald Trump’s performance.
For Good, it isn’t just about political preferences. It could
be life or death.
As he stands next to his motorcycle outside the barbershop where he cuts hair in downtown Obetz, Good, 36, said he voted for Barack Obama in 2008. But like a number of former Obama voters in this town, he couldn’t bring himself to support Hillary Clinton in November.
He didn’t vote for Trump, either, though he knows plenty of people in Obetz who did.
“People felt like he was going to change everything, get us out of debt, being able to afford insurance,” he said.
Obetz is part of The Dispatch's monthly "Turning to Trump" series because it is an example of a small town that was split almost evenly in 2012 — when Obama prevailed by 13 votes, or less than 1 percentage point — but swung heavily to Trump last year.
So far, Good said, Trump is biting off too much and struggling to understand politics. But Good likes that the president is projecting military strength, such as dropping the giant Mother of All Bombs on ISIS fighters in Afghanistan.
“That puts the fear of God in the other countries that hey, if you do this, we’re going to retaliate,” he said. “We’ve been pushed over way too long.”
But Good has serious concerns about the Obamacare debate that could rise up again later this week. Good gets his insurance through Obamacare, and he uses it to afford the more than $900 a month in Suboxone he takes to keep himself off the pain pills that nearly destroyed his life.
Years ago, Good fell off a roof and got addicted to pain pills during his recovery before taking Suboxone.
“It saved my life. I was homeless. Eight years ago, I was under a bridge,” Good said. “The next step would have been heroin.”
He worries that Trump and congressional Republicans could eliminate Obamacare and not replace it with adequate coverage.
“If 30 million people lose their insurance, that would be devastating,” Good said. “If he starts doing away with some of the drug rehab, that would be the worst thing he could possibly do.”
Trump won over this growing community in southern Franklin County, where working-class roots are still firmly planted, but the landscape is transforming: new parks; the new Fortress Field for Ohio’s professional lacrosse team, the Ohio Machine; and new businesses, including an Amazon distribution center.
Home sales have skyrocketed for the village of about 4,600, up 80 percent at one point last year. Through nine months of 2016, Obetz real estate led central Ohio in sales, inventory and percentage of asking price received.
“It’s a growing community and we finally have it headed in the right direction,” said Mayor Greg Scott, noting that it still has a small-town feel. “We don’t have the crime like most municipalities do.”
It was a town heavily dotted with Trump yard signs for the November election — far more than for Clinton.
“He was saying the majority of the things the people of Obetz believed in,” said Scott, who has lived in the town for 53 years. “People in the United States are tired of people coming in from other countries and making a living while the American public is struggling. If he’s going to slow down immigration, make
things cheaper and create jobs, that’s what it’s about.”
More than one person noted the area is rich in "Blue Dog Democrats" — conservative Democrats, some of whom were attracted to Trump’s message or who were turned off by Clinton.
Obetz Village Councilman Jim Wiley counts himself in the Blue Dog category. The retired Air Force and Army veteran and longtime Democrat voted for Green Party candidate Jill Stein in November. He was discouraged by Clinton and didn’t like Trump.
Trump hasn’t dismayed or impressed him, though Wiley thinks Trump tends to over-promise.
“It must have been quite a shock to learn that Congress doesn't work for him, and that even the Republicans there are comparable type-A personalities who do not respond well to demands or threats,” he said.
As a three-time military commander, Wiley, 72, is happy to see Trump’s focus on building up the armed forces. He said it’s wrong to think that so much manpower can be replaced by technology.
“The modern soldier cannot be created in a sixweek boot camp and shipped to the front with a rifle,” he said. “When you lose them … your capabilities can diminish very quickly. I am happy to see that Trump's generals understand that actual people trained and available are still necessary in the electronic age.”
Angie Kirk, who like Wiley serves on Obetz Village Council, was raised in a Democratic union household, and is a union secretary in Hamilton Local Schools. However, she didn’t vote for Obama, and in November backed Trump, though admitting she is not enamored with him.
She felt the country needed a change. Too many people are getting public assistance, she said, and immigration is a concern.
“I have no problem with people being here, but I feel like you need to tighten up the borders and know who’s coming and who’s going,” she said.
Kirk, 49, said she likes Trump’s pick of Gen. James Mattis as defense secretary. The recent bombings, she said, have helped undo the perception that the United States is weak.
But she doesn’t like Trump’s prolific and provocative use of Twitter.
“I think that is very unnecessary,” Kirk said. “Some days I just cringe and think, ‘Just shut up and stop talking.’ He can’t filter anything.”
As a school employee whose son-in-law is a teacher and whose daughter works for Groveport schools, Kirk called Trump’s pick of Betsy DeVos as education secretary “the worst choice he could have made.”
Like Good, Kirk also is keeping an eye on the Obamacare fight, though from a different perspective. She said her future son-inlaw paid an $800 penalty to the IRS because it was cheaper than getting health insurance.
“I don’t believe health care is a right,” she said.