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February 6, 2008 |
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Previous Posts |
My Take
I feel like I am bursting at the seams wanting to tell you all of these things about yesterday's caucus. Let's see how coherent I can be.
Joel is on a ski trip in Biwabik, MN. He left after school yesterday and returns today. Before he left, I asked if he thought it would be okay to take the kids to the caucus. He said, "no" and offered no explanation. I thought that was ridiculous and I felt like I needed to go and cast my vote. So I made the decision to take all the kids by myself. (Hey, I survived a trip to Chicago...)
To get the kids excited about all of it, I took them to Subway for dinner and I brought the newspaper to show them the pictures of all the people "trying to be our next president." Since they are so young, they don't really understand what this means, but I say it is never too young to get them thinking and being a part of the democratic process. Anyway, I showed them all of the pictures and asked them "who do you want to be our new president?" Aselya pointed first. She chose Hillary. Adiana followed suit.
You guys, I cannot even tell you what it was like to sit there with three- and four-year-old girls and for them to look at those faces. It meant a whole lot. It wasn't just some old, white men. They actually saw somebody who looked a bit like them. I tried to explain how exciting it was that this is the first time a girl (as they called her) was trying to be the president. I am hoping this is more than a one time thing. I am hoping that in every future presidential election, we have a strong female candidate. I hope we have different races represented. I hope that this truly is a turning point so that my children will not know any different.
I will not lie. As I sat there, I thought about casting my vote for Hillary. In my heart of hearts, I knew that MN democrats would vote for Barack Obama. I thought "this may be my only chance to vote for a woman" and "how can I let these girls down?" Alas, I couldn't do it. I've struggled with Hillary's political process and decisions. I have a lot of respect, admiration, and pride for Hillary but she is not my choice of candidate (this time). The girls were energized and ready to go the "high scoo to vote."
Who knew it would be such a zoo? I naively thought that only residents of our suburb would be caucusing at our high school. Oh no! That would be silly. The surrounding suburbs were also invited to our particular high school (which I can't quite figure out because there is another high school not all that far away). Believe me when I say that the high school was a zoo. It was full of excited (yet lost) people. I was beyond grateful that I have taken up walking in the school on cold evenings because I could easily maneuver my way around the hallways. When I say easily, I only mean in terms of knowing exactly where I was at any given moment.
By no means was that task actually "easy." There were people everywhere. People didn't know where to go. People didn't know what to do. Please don't get me wrong, I am beyond thrilled that people care so much. I was just a bit shocked that the whole thing was so overwhelming. Had I not been in the company of three young children, I probably would have stopped in the middle and breathed in a great deal of the political air. Instead, I made sure the children clung to me as we clamored up the stairs and with a whole lot of excitement exuding from my fingertips wrote "Barack Obama" on that makeshift piece of paper we'll call a ballot (I left a bit troubled that I "voted" on a ripped piece of xerox paper).
The girls were convinced they wanted to stay for the "talking" (aka discussion), but I knew much, much better than that and we trooped back through the mecca of legs and bodies and headed back out to our vehicle. I was so heartened to see that people were still arriving and that it was impossible to park. It was fun to see the MN masses show up to have their voices heard. We are so lucky to get to be involved in the process!
When I arrived home and saw the photos of the lines at Bryant-Lake Bowl and Coffman Union (at the U of M), I was sure glad that I didn't have that much trouble trying to get inside the "high scoo" because if I had to wait in such a line with my kids, I wouldn't have been able to follow through. (Who knew that moving to the suburbs would actually prove to be an advantage for me?) Kudos to any of you who made it!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I'm not quite finished. I want to mention something I find very interesting and link to something I am in total agreement about.
I find it interesting (and a tad convenient, really) that many people who "used" to label themselves as "Republican" have changed their label to "conservative." I actually understand their want to do so at this point-- I just find it interesting.
Also, I loved this opinion piece in the New York Times. I feel like this is the message I have been sharing for some time now and it was nice to see it in print. It is just unfortunate that I didn't get the byline (tee-hee). |
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