Yes We Can

I have long been wary of politics. Blame it on the fact that as a foreigner, I can never be president. Or on my parents' cynicism at the political machine. Or on my own disappointment at years of public figures who don't quite live up to their own hype. Or my belief that to pursue public life at that level, even the best-intentioned must sell their soul somewhere along the way. To paraphrase that Marx brother (actor, not Communist), it's a club I'd never want to be a member of.

Yet this morning made me take pause. As Otter and I sat on the couch to watch President Obama make his way to the White House, I knew that I was watching history in the making. The cynicism was put on the back burner for the moment as this man, this African American man and his wife walked to their new home and in that seemingly simple act changed American life as we've known it.

Otter seemed nonplussed. She doesn't know what the big deal is. In her untainted view, people are people and are all pretty much strange and weird. And she'll grow up in a world where this barrier, at least, has been broken. And with any luck, she'll never know the difference.

I hope for the best in the next years, wonder how much will fall short of our expectations. But as a parent, what you want to pass on to your child is hope and the promise of a future of limitless possibilities, not your own distrust. And today made it just a little easier.