For a guy who talks so much about "the middle class" and ordinary folks, the president seems to have no idea about ordinary folks - about us. He reminds me of a guy I was in the Air Force with, a man who was a a high-ranking officer's son and raised mostly overseas. This guy had no understanding of how "ordinary" people live, he didn't even know the rules of baseball. And I'll bet President Obama can't explain the infield fly rule.
Obama's father was not an American; lots of us have recent immigrant ancestors - but ours mostly fell in love with this heaven-blessed land. Obama Sr. headed back to Kenya as soon as possible. Obama's mother was a Ph.D - that alone makes him more fortunate than most people you and I know. How many moms in your neighborhood were Ph.Ds? His father's ancestors were not freed from bondage by the Union Army; that alone is very unlike most black Americans - including his own wife. He was raised in Hawaii, the state least like the other 49 in many ways - geography, economics, demographics, and culture. He attended Honolulu's top private prep school; not a public school, or even a parochial school, like most of us. He went to Ivy League colleges - like the wealthy elite he claims to be going after.
None of these are showstoppers for a political candidate, and none of them is necessarily a bad thing in any case. Good fortune and an unusual life are hallmarks of the successful in every generation. I can cite another politician whose life is at least as different from most Americans: Mitt Romney's background is almost a planet apart from yours and mine. His father was a top level corporate CEO; Mitt's lived in wealth beyond my imagining all his life. His father was governor of Michigan - was your dad governor? For that matter, did your mom run for the US Senate? Romney's dad was also foreign-born - in Mexico. Mitt practices a religion that my church fervently disagrees with. It bugs me that he is not a veteran: our country was at war in Vietnam when he came of age; I want to know why he didn't serve. (I don't ask that our leaders be heroes, but I think they need to have stood a post.)
We all bring a certain history and personal narrative to those around us. This is magnified when one runs for office. This magnification is exponential in the contest for the Presidency. The difference in these two men is in the way they voice their vision of America. One speaks of blame and envy, while the other seems truly grateful for the many blessings in his life. One's worldview is shaped by our nation's failings, the other's seems rooted in America's opportunities and greatness. One sees America as a cause of many of the world's problems and just another flag at the UN; the other subscribes to a more traditional view rooted in American exceptionalism. One man thinks we help people by forcing the successful to share their wealth, while the other believes we help people by creating opportunity for those with the wherewithal to capitalize on it.
I look at the Democrats and wonder how, in 2008, did they not nominate Hillary Clinton, Bob Kerrey, or Joe Lieberman. And could the Republicans this year find no more conservative contender? Bobby Jindal? Rob Portman? Condi Rice? We can keep stumbling toward the abyss of crushing debt, perpetual underemployment, and a public sector that burdens innovation, or we can step away from these things. Mitt Romney is too progressive for my taste, too much a big-government guy. We are fond of pointing out that Democrats are pointing our country toward a cliff. I think progressive Republicans often will do little more than drive parallel to that cliff. We need to turn around and drive away from the cliff.
We are confronted with two distinct visions of our future, of the future for our kids and for their kids. The choice we make will affect our nation's future, as surely as did those made in 1980, 1964, and 1932.
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