I Stand Corrected

Ok after arguing most of the day with a friend about my Obama "attacks" I began to think about my feelings. I stand by my position that there is little difference between the two candidates and another debate is not going to change my mind. I will also continue to ask the question, "What Change?" If by change, he means not another Bush or Clinton--ok fine. The main point we were "discussing" today was about my privilege comment. I think of politicians as coming from privilege--maybe because many of them come from a dynasty and maybe because it seems like so many of them graduated from Harvard or Yale (I am a cynic and assume that equates to privilege). So I decided to investigate further the upbringing of the candidates. Its hard to find unbiased biographies --but I decided to look to one of my favorite sources--Wikipedia (there are times when Wiki failed me and I had to google to fill in some gaps).

Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton. Born in Illinois to Hugh Ellsworth Rodham and Dorothy Emma Howell. Hugh Rodham operated a small but successful business in the textile industry. His father was an immigrant factory worker. Hillary was in the National Honor's Society and was a merit scholarship finalist. She went to Wellesley College where she did all kinds of stuff including switching from Republican to Democrat and fighting for equal rights for African Americans and became the first student in the College history to deliver the commencement address (at the request of her fellow students). She then went to Yale Law School--met Bill, blah blah blah. Ok this isn't exactly the model of privilege--I would give them upper middle class--to upper class status and she definitely worked hard.

Barack Hussein Obama Jr. Born in Honolulu Hawaii to Barack Hussein Obama Sr. and Ann Dunham who were both attending college at the University of Hawaii. Sr. was a Kenyan son of a goat herder who had been fortunate enough to be selected by Kennedy to "achieve their goals" in the U.S. They separated when Jr was 2 and later divorced. Barack Sr. went on to Harvard to get his Ph.D, moved back to Kenya, and later died in a car accident. Ann remarried Lolo Soetero (another student) and they moved to Indonesia (Lolo's home country). At 10, Barack Jr moved back to Hawaii to live with his maternal grandparents and attended a private prep school Punahou. The following is a quote from the UK Independent Newspaper

"Yet not everything about Obama's formative years here – particularly as one of only a few black students at Punahou, a cradle of academic privilege that led him to a financial scholarship – were glorious. ..."We've been told not to talk to reporters," volunteers John Cheever, himself an old boy of Punahou and now a sociology teacher there. "He wasn't that much of a distinguished student but everyone will tell you he was a good guy, very popular, someone who was always comfortable with the other kids. ... the murk is more likely to be about drugs, including marijuana and cocaine, and slipping grades"

So I took that to meaning he got the scholarship to attend school there based on race --(which is fine with me)--but I may have assumed too much--maybe it was merit--and then his grades slipped.

Anyway, he did 2 years at Occidental College and then transferred to Columbia. He then became a community organizer for a few years and then went to Harvard Law. He became the first Black editor of the Harvard Law Review and graduated magna cum laude.

Ok, not privileged. But I wouldn't exactly call it Blue Collar either. He definitely improved with time and made the most out of his later education.

John Sidney McCain III was born in the Panama Canal to John S. "Jack" McCain II and Roberta Wright. John the II was a naval officer--a four-star admiral. His life was that of a navy brat--moving place to place. He finally settled for a while in Virginia and attended a prestigious Episcopal High School where he lettered in wrestling--most interestingly earning the nicknames "punk" and "McNasty". He then entered the Naval Academy and had a less than stellar career there and graduated 6th from the bottom of his class. He then was a navy airman for a while--and as we all know--a POW in Vietnam. He then attended the National War College--and by that time he was older than the other two when I stopped talking about them--so I'll stop here. I must say--he was a cutie in his younger years! Once again, not privilege in the conventional sense--although having a father as a four-star admiral I'm sure didn't hurt his naval career. Probably the least hard working of all the youth so far.

Ralph Nader was born in Winsted Connecticut to Nathra and Rose Nader (her maiden name not given) who were both Lebanese immigrants. Nathra was employed by a textile mill and owned a restaurant. Not much was said about Nader's young childhood. He went to Princeton University(graduate magna cum laude) and Harvard Law School--graduating with distinction. He served in the U.S. Army for 6 months in 1959 and then became a lawyer. Did he get scholarships? Who knows. Again, doesn't seem like a life of extreme privilege--although not sleeping in cardboard boxes either.

Ronald Ernest Paul was born in Green Tree Pennsylvania to Margaret Paul and Howard Casper Paul. Howard co-owed Green Tree Dairy with his brothers. Young Ron shared a bedroom with his 3 brothers. He was good at track and field and graduated Dormont High School with honors and was student council president. He went to Gettysburg College (after declining an athletic scholarship to a major university--due to an injury) and paid for the first year with newspaper-route savings--then received an academic scholarship. He went to Medical School at Duke University and was drafted into the U.S. Air Force. His wiki entry definitely stresses lack of privilege more than the others --slept in a 1-bedroom house with his brothers, etc etc.

Michael Dale Huckabee was born in Hope Arkansas to Mae Elder and Dorsey Wiles Huckabee. His father was a fireman and mechanic and his mother was a clerk. He was an early radio announcer (age 14) and was elected Governor of Arkansas of Boys State and president of his high school class. He graduated magna cum laude from Ouachita Baptist University (completing a bachelor's degree in religious studies in 2 1/2 years) before attending Baptist theological seminary (dropping out after 1 year).

So there you have it folks, I was wrong about all the candidates. None of them was exactly born with the George W. Bush silver spoon. None of them came from political backgrounds--although Nader talks about how his parents discussed politics at the dinner table. From where did I get this idea of privilege. Maybe it was all that time John Edwards spent talking about his own blue-collar background. In fact, many of these life stories sound fairly similar to my own--up until ambition needed to kick in to go to Harvard or Yale. Perhaps that's where the cynicism comes in--jealousy--it could have been me. Actually, they all have done some impressive things--although I might hate to admit it.