Filed under: election 2008, Uncategorized | Tags: african american, barack obama, daughter, Ellis Cose, generation, Hillary Clinton, Newsweek, president, United States, Woman
My daughter, Zoey, is eight 8 (or 8 and 3/4 if you as her). We often talk about the things in life that are important. I try to tell her everyday that she is the most important person in my life and that I love her above all else. We also have conversations that I hope shape her future and how she views the world. I’m very proud of Zoey on so many levels. She can talk Rosa Parks and Helen Keller so beautifully that I am often amazed at the wealth of her knowledge and the insight she can give at age eight.
One of my favorite things to tell her when she complains is, “If you don’t like it write your Congressman, or send Governor Kaine a letter.” She hates it, but I hope she remembers it.
This last election for me was personal on so many levels. I am a woman. I’ll admit that my draw to Hillary Clinton was in part due to my gender. To me she signified that women can do and be anything they want if they put their mind to it. Zoey and I listened to Hillary Clinton’s concession speach after the primary was shored up by Barack Obama. I had tears in my eyes. I wanted Zoey to know that even though she didn’t make it all the way, she paved a path for so many of us and our daughters. If I ever get the chance to meet Senator Clinton I hope I’m able to convey my respect and admiration for her. Odds are I’d babble ridiculously as I did when I met Senator Kerry, but one can hope!
I just finished an article by Ellis Cose in Newsweek Magazine. One sentence brought me nearly to tears again. (And yes, I’ll admit, I’m a sap. I cried like a baby when Zo and I watched Brother Bear.)
He talks about his five year old daughter and her generation…“And it struck me that hers would be the first generation to grow up believing it was perfectly natural for a white woman and a black man to be president.”
That pretty much sums up how I felt about this election. Zoey was very interested in the fact that Barack Obama would be the first African American to be President of the United States. Her exact quote, “Wouldn’t it be cool if he were a woman too?!”
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Smart Liberal and Female 
apparently I bumped you out of the Alpha cycle, so dropped in to – not apologise, exactly, but commiserate I think it is.
Comment by 94stranger November 8, 2008 @ 7:15 pmCheers
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