Big Deal

Call me Pollyanna, naive, square even, if you must.

Though I still haven't decided who will get my vote in the primaries, I am thrilled that a woman and an African-American man are running for President.

Last year I worked with a group of gifted fifth-graders, all American, all of Chinese descent. They were quite certain that none of them could run for public office when they grew up. Why not? 'You have to be a special kind of person,' one girl told me. When I prodded some, it turned out 'special' meant 'a rich man who went to an expensive school.' I told them that while it really helped to have a lot of money and connections, the fact remained that according to the law, you only need to be born here to run for president. I think they believed me, though they gave each other curious looks.

Whoever wins this year, I like the idea that children in school are getting to see an election that includes more than white men. Has this been said enough? I haven't heard it enough. Most children, even many teenagers, will not pay attention to policy issues and campaign politics, but they will see the faces on the news and in newspapers. Some school teachers will even talk about the election -- imagine that. Obama's and Clinton's presidential candidacy will be a given to these children -- perfectly normal, rather boring even.

Big deal. So what. Anyone can run for president.