When my daughter was eight and finding life challenging, I
resigned my University vice presidency, arranged a long sabbatical and followed
my, then, wife to Germany to become Mr. Mom. Financially it turned out to be a
disaster, but it was the best thing I could have done for my daughter. I would
put her on the school bus, teach English in Frankfurt-am-Main, and arrive home
in time to meet the school bus.
We became very close and today she calls me every day from UCONN.
We spend time finishing each others sentences and discussing what we think are
important topics.
A few weeks ago she shook hands with Barack Obama. I asked
her if a line from The Great Gatsby about
you becoming his whole world for an instant, fit, and she said an emphatic
"no". "Gatsby was a phony," she said, "meeting
President Obama was like meeting your best friend's dad." She went on to
say she wished she'd lived next door to him so she could discuss things with
him. She called him "very real" and someone she thought had real
compassion for people.
Since the two of us are so alike and I believe her instincts
about people are better than mine (and I covered presidential candidates for
United Press International), I've got to believe she met a very decent man who
she absolutely found to be warm and nonthreatening. (This was very unlike my
conversations with Richard Nixon, I might add.)
On my blog I make comments about him that are not always
flattering, even thought I voted for him three times (including a primary). If
she felt that way, I'm sure I would have had the same impression. So let's hear
it for a real person who faces a lot of tough choices.
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