With a Monday-Friday, 8-4 job comes a morning routine. With a morning routine comes a morning commute. With a morning commute comes a number of interesting characters that walk the same stretch, ride the same train or take the same bus. I have many; guy I see everywhere, boxy ginger girl, friendly bus driver. But my favorite people that I see on my way to work each morning are two elementary school-aged brothers that take my bus.
I call them "the Obama boys."
They earned this title because every day these two kids are wearing winter hats with 'Obama' written across the band in what look like tiny red and blue rhinestones. I think one of their beanies may even have his face bedazzled on it as well. No lies. Check it out:
So every morning these two boys get on the bus, and every morning I notice their hats and smile to myself. What other president in our nation's recent history has impacted the youth of America like Barack Obama? I wrote an essay last year about how I heard two preschoolers talking about how great Obama was in a St. Louis laundromat. It's incredible. When I was four years old I don't think I knew who the president was. When I was in elementary school I knew Bill Clinton was a better choice than Bob Dole, but I wasn't rocking a glittery 'Go Clinton' tank top. I honestly did not care.
Children care about Barack Obama; that's important.
Everyone is all bitter that Obama has been in office almost a year and hasn't really done much. All right, that's fair, but I do think he's done a lot in terms of unifying this country, hence the peace prize. Not only has he brought minorities closer, but young people closer to old. He has gotten children interested in how our country is run. Unheard of.
The president of the United States should be someone who kids look up to, who they admire and aspire to be like some day. You never heard a child say, "George Bush is a great man. I want to be just like him when I get big." I heard a child say that about Obama! I heard it. Those words came out of a tiny little boy's mouth. I almost cried.
I hope Obama is the first of many presidents that children in this country truly adore with all their hearts. Being president should be right up there with astronaut and fireman on this list of things kids want to be when they "get big." Eventually the decision of who to vote for might actually be a difficult one because we will have so many worthy, motivated candidates who have dreamed about the opportunity since they were four years old sitting in a laundromat, or riding the 206 bus with a bedazzled Obama hat.
The future is bright. I blame Barack.
I wonder if we'll ever bridge the huge ideological gap(s) in our country,as opposed to swinging back and forth between being progressive and (in my view) regressive, as under Bush. But make no mistake, there may have been lots of kids saying they wanted to grow up to be as powerful and influential as W. Or as "noble" - if that's what their parents perceived him to be.
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