New Jersey voter Araceli Aliaga couldn’t watch last night’s Presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain. It’s not that she wasn’t interested, she just didn’t have time.
But the debate wouldn’t have swayed her opinion one-way or the other. Aliaga, a naturalized citizen who emigrated with her husband, Justo, and their two young sons from their native Peru in 1986, considers herself well-informed and has already chosen a candidate: Barack Obama.
“I’m looking for a change,” Aliaga, who lives in Kearny, NJ, a working class town of about 40,000 in Hudson County, said in Spanish.“The circumstances the country is living in aren’t good,” she said.
Aliaga, currently unemployed, had just come home from night classes she was taking to become certified to work in the Archdiocese of Newark, NJ.
Aliaga’s story is the typical immigrant story. She and her husband uprooted themselves from everything they had ever known to give their children opportunities they did not have.
And they succeeded. Their two older sons both went to college; one is a teacher, the other a financial consultant. A third son, born in the US, will begin college next fall.
Although she doesn’t think of herself as, “truly American,” she felt that, because she was living in the US, she should participate in the country’s elections. So in 2002 she became a citizen.
She’s decided on Obama because she sees the economy as the country’s biggest problem and blames it on the Republicans.
“The bad economy is a consequence of Bush’s policies,” she said.
Aliaga has been looking for work for months, but can’t find any. She had been a daycare worker for years until she had to leave her job for health reasons a year ago. Now she’s healthy again, but the economy’s not.
Her husband, a former professional soccer player in Peru, works for a jewelry manufacturer in Manhattan. But he can no longer work overtime because the company isn’t earning enough money and hasn’t seen a wage increase in four years.
“Ten years ago gas cost less than a dollar, milk was cheap, and there were jobs,” Aliaga lamented. “McCain has the same ideology as Bush, and where has that taken us?”
“I’m looking for a change,” Aliaga, who lives in Kearny, NJ, a working class town of about 40,000 in Hudson County, said in Spanish.“The circumstances the country is living in aren’t good,” she said.
Aliaga, currently unemployed, had just come home from night classes she was taking to become certified to work in the Archdiocese of Newark, NJ.
Aliaga’s story is the typical immigrant story. She and her husband uprooted themselves from everything they had ever known to give their children opportunities they did not have.
And they succeeded. Their two older sons both went to college; one is a teacher, the other a financial consultant. A third son, born in the US, will begin college next fall.
Although she doesn’t think of herself as, “truly American,” she felt that, because she was living in the US, she should participate in the country’s elections. So in 2002 she became a citizen.
She’s decided on Obama because she sees the economy as the country’s biggest problem and blames it on the Republicans.
“The bad economy is a consequence of Bush’s policies,” she said.
Aliaga has been looking for work for months, but can’t find any. She had been a daycare worker for years until she had to leave her job for health reasons a year ago. Now she’s healthy again, but the economy’s not.
Her husband, a former professional soccer player in Peru, works for a jewelry manufacturer in Manhattan. But he can no longer work overtime because the company isn’t earning enough money and hasn’t seen a wage increase in four years.
“Ten years ago gas cost less than a dollar, milk was cheap, and there were jobs,” Aliaga lamented. “McCain has the same ideology as Bush, and where has that taken us?”
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