While our oldest daughter was still breakdancing In Utero, Mrs. Wormer and I took a trip to Washington D.C. for the inauguration of one William Jefferson Clinton.At the age of fourteen this year is the first year she's really gotten interested in politics. As is fitting for the you-tube generation, she was immediately drawn to the campaign of Barack Obama. The "Yes We Can" video was the sale but, to be fair she is concerned about a number of issues including the environment and the war.
Earlier this week my daughter, Mrs. Wormer and I watched the "More Perfect Union" speech together and when it was finished my daughter asked me if we could go see Obama speak live when he was in town. I said told her it would be no problem and that dad would "make it happen." The next day they announced he would be here today. Grrrr. I had to call in a bunch of favors at work but I was able to make that happen.
So today my daughter and I (Mrs. Wormer couldn't get out of work) got up at 5:00 a.m. and went down to the Memorial Coliseum to stand in line for 3 hours and see the man we hope will be the next president of the United States speak. It was a wonderful experience for both of us. I 'm a pretty proud dad.
I took a bunch of pictures and will do a mini-report when I get home from work tonight, but suffice it to say that for me today was a pretty damn good day.
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7 comments:
Awesome! I wanted to do that but it just wasn’t in the cards. I can see how the extra push of having your daughter would make you pull some strings and call in favors. You can be a pretty cool dad when you put your mind to it. :D
Well I will look forward to hearing more and seeing photographic evidence.
And BTW, your daughter is very Marcia Brady-like!
Swine,
Ah, shucks. Thanks. I should've called you. Maybe next time he's in town.
fran-
She is like Marsha with the brains of Jan. But really she's more like Wednesday Adams if Wednesday smiled a lot.
You're a good dad. It's exciting that your oldest is so interested and involved, it bodes well for the future.
My 16 year old decided that he liked Ron Paul. Partially I think he was trying to annoy me. (I mentioned to him one time that I don't care for the Grateful Dead too much. Now everytime we're in the car he plugs in his MP3 and we're listening to "Sugar Magnolia".) Mainly, he appreciated his opposition to the war (more unequivocal than the Democrats) and his rebel stance in taking on the conventional wisdom of his own party. He was also opposed to the idea of taxation. I tried to point out some of the ways taxes benefit him and his community (The school you attend, paid for by taxes; the roads you're learning to drive on, paid for by taxes; the fire station just down the road, paid for by taxes.)
As the field has narrowed he seems excited by Obama. Now if I can just ween him from the Dead...
Aaron--
I never really got the Dean, either. Even when I was in the "right" state of mind. Your comments made me immediaely think of Eugene...
I think I'd be happy if the oldest was going for Paul, as well. Just not as happy. It's cool that they're engaged. Even if the form of that engagement takes the shape of annoying their parents.
:)
A Ron Paul presidency would have really thrown a monkey wrench into things, but not all of the fallout would have been bad.
The question is whether he would have thrown out the much larger corporate welfare system while he was throwing out the social welfare system and whether he could really dismantle the 90+% of the military which is unnecessary to our defense and only serves as a tax theft mechanism for corrupt contractors.
My guess is that he would not and I think that is the real reason why only 1 or 2% voted for him. His voting record is not completely Libertarian either which leaves doubt that he would truly be a champion for personal freedom.
I doubt Obama will ratchet back the police state in the way it really needs to be done (at least without getting assassinated), but he is the best overall candidate by some distance at this point.
Aaron-
Should have read: I never really got the Dead.
Haven't had much sleep lately. :p
don-
The gut feeling I got from Paul is that he was a poser. I think that may be what you're saying.
The military spending just bums me out because I don't see how we'll be able to reign it in without seriously hurting the economy at this point. The beginning point will be ending the Iraq war and then pushing to scale back the spending shrotly thereafter.
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