A Non-Partisan Presidential Wish List

Forget for the moment the ridiculous political ads that have begun to plague the airwaves in greater and greater numbers, the high flights of hyperbole and somber music behind a lurid announcer's voice claiming that their political opponent voted to club baby seals to death. Forget for a moment the two major political parties and their platforms, one who says we should spend loads of money and the other saying we should spend much larger loads of money. Forget the bitterness, division, and dissent for a moment. I have a question.

Put aside party, race, sex, and anything so superficially identifying. Look at the presidency of the United States and ask: what kind of man or woman do I want filling that seat?

I have my own list, and here it is. Agree or disagree as you please.

• I want my president to be a good speaker. Not just when he is in front of a teleprompter, but all the time. I want him to be able to string good words together into intelligent and articulate sentences, to be able to explain himself without flinching or saying "um." Included in this is a president who does not say stupid and embarassing things on an open mic.
• I want a president who has been a soldier. I mean that in a very specific way. A president who has been a professional fighting man (or woman) will understand not only the strength and honor of the military, but also the horror and stress and fear of combat. The one reminds him of what the military can do, the other what we as a country should avoid doing if at all possible.
• I want a president who can do math. This might sound stupid, but then again there are many remarkably stupid people in Washington. Our current president's administration cannot balance a budget. The previous one only did a little bit better. I would like someone who has balanced a budget before or at least has a mathematically sound concept of how to do so.
• I want a president who respects the lifeblood of this country. When I say lifeblood, I literally mean just that: the blood of America's children. I want a president who understands we have nothing to gain and everything to lose by allowing the killing of children in utero to continue. When the president of the most powerful country on earth does not respect the lives of his most helpless citizens, how can he respect the lives of anyone else, be they American or otherwise?
• I want a president who is there. Not on vacation all the time, not prowling around for photo ops and present only to shake hands and sign bills. I want a president who is where the action is happening. When June 6th rolls around, for example, I want him either standing on the beaches of Normandy or at some World War II memorial, not having dinner with high rollers in Vegas. If the U.S. is struck by natural disaster, I want him on the ground as soon as humanly and safely possible, giving victims his condolences. I want him to be present, not just to vote present.
• I want a president who is fit. I want someone who looks active, who radiates healthy habits and who is not afraid of the outdoors. Someone who doesn't just talk about national parks, but actually visits them and climbs their mountains and fishes in their streams.
• I want a family president. I want someone who bespeaks marital and familial love, who has children and knows how to interact with them.
• And finally, I want a president who is honest. I almost don't care if I disagree with him or not, as long as he is forthright in the explanation of his actions. I want a president who does not beat around the bush waiting for someone else to clean up his mess or explain him. I want one who does it himself.

Maybe this is all too much to ask. Everyone has flaws. But I think it might just be a good start.

An Ode (of sorts) to History

Harlem Race Riot
- Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

I have the privilege of being able to teach a 20th century history class on my spare days, an experience which has invariably taught me more about the 20th century than it has my students. I have heard that a person will always learn more about his subject matter by teaching it than he will ever learn by being taught about it.

During my last class we were learning about the 1960's and early 70's, and inevitably the issue of racial struggles came up in discussion. The race riots and discrimination of the 60's in America are not subjects to be taken lightly in any conversation about the 20th century. However, one of my students raised her hand and made a point which not only took me off guard, but resonated as true the more we discussed it.

To paraphrase, this particular 16-17-ish student made the point that her particular generation (from her own experiential point of vew as a teenager) is relatively immune to the racial issues of the 1960's. Not only has she never had a problem with mingling with black people, but none of her friends have either. There is no discrimination in the circles she moves in and never has been. Whatever racial discomfort there has been in her experience has come from her elders.

It was a powerful point that I had never considered from that particular angle. And I realized that the same is true with my peers as well (I am only about ten years my students' senior.) We simply don't really care about racial issues the way our parents and grandparents did. This may not be the experience of my generaation as a whole, but it is of all the people my own age that I have encountered. I am constantly witnessing seamless integration of blacks and whites where I live, kids hanging out, going to high school and college together. Color just doesn't seem so important to us.

I wish I could say the same of my parents' and grandparents' generations. I was fortunate to have loving and racially colorblind parents who taught me that what people say and do matters infinitely more than what they look like, but the same cannot be said of the generation from which they came. The baby boomers have much to answer for in this respect, as do their elders who were responsible for racial segregation in the South and general discrimination against blacks nationwide. But the real sin of that generation is not so much that they discriminated and shunned in the past. No, their real sin is that they desperately attempt to foist this stupidity on every fuure generation they can get their hands on.

Think about it for a second. What is the average age of those news anchors who irresponsibly take hold of any story with a possible racial angle and run with it? I cannot be absolutely sure, but my best guess is mid-to-late forties. The average age of those political and social commentators who are stuck on the idea of perpetual racial conflict is no different, maybe even higher, as is that of racially-driven politicians. Barack Obama, who will turn 51 years old this year, is just as much to blame, especially when his own Department of Justice refuses to prosecute blacks who attack whites as vigorously as whites who attack blacks. As much as I dislike talk show host Neal Boortz, his description of Rev. Jesse Jackson as a "race pimp" perfectly sums up my point here. These commentators, politicians, and anchors all have one thing in common: a racial agenda that became old fashioned years ago but that they cannot seem to let die.

Perhaps the passage of time is a mercy here. It may sound harsh to phrase it this way, but it is true nonetheless: racism will only die when its perpetrators and hangers-on pass away. It does a tremendous disservice to the youth of America when one or another class or race is constantly portrayed by the 'older and wiser' as the victim group. People with a victim complex make poor citizens and even poorer human beings, and the ones responsible for perpetrating this idea must carry a good portion of the blame.

So, the next time you hear someone proclaim that we live in a 'post-racial' society as evidenced by the election of our first black president, it would be good to remind them that the same Obama who was elected because of unity of race should stop trying to divide them again. It would be well for all of Obama's generation to remember that as well, but for the moment it would seem that old dogs cannot be taught new tricks.