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Tuesday 
26 August 2008
maybe i was wrong…
when we were kids, our parents told us we could be anything we wanted to be.
why, we could even be president of the united states.
years later, with kids of my own, it occurred to me that i couldn’t tell them the same thing.
no, son, you can’t be president. you have to be extremely rich to be president, and you have to have connections to lots of people with lots of money and lots of connections.
no, my daughter, you can’t be president, either. because in addition to all those reasons, you’re a girl, and when you grow up you’ll be a woman, and women don’t get to be president.
i didn’t tell them that, of course. but neither did i pass along a little piece of americana that parents have been passing along to their children for generations. a bit of mythology that exemplifies the belief that we are all created equal and we all have the same opportunities as anyone else.
i learned, over the years, not to believe in it. so instead of passing it along, i just didn’t say anything at all.
and now…i’m beginning to think maybe i was wrong.
hillary clinton was thisclose to the democratic nomination. sure, she’s connected to a former president and lots of money and lots of people with money and connections.
but still, she’s a woman — and she might have been president.
barack obama is thisclose to being president. he doesn’t come from money, he doesn’t come from connections, and oh-by-the-way he’s black.
i don’t mind being wrong about something like this. in fact, i’m damn happy about it.
it’s something i might even share with my children.
* * * * *
update: michelle obama is going to be one hell of a first lady.
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I hope things like ethnicity and gender no longer matter when your kids are older. Or military service. Or religion. I have a sick feeling we’re going to get another old white guy. I hope I’m wrong.