An Historical And Cultural Perspective To This Election

I want to share something that hit me today in the midst of my July 4th. It's not particularly profound or revelatory but I think it is, however flawed, important - an important lesson about how we are witnessing something truly different in this country this election year.

Have you ever tried to recite the names of the Presidents in order? Somehow I've managed to shoehorn that into my brain. After reading a little Presidential puzzler that came in my morning LA Times, I decided to run through the list again.

George Washington
John Adams
Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
James Monroe
John Quincy Adams
Andrew Jackson
Martin Van Buren
William Henry Harrison
John Tyler
James Polk
Zachary Taylor
Millard Fillmore
Franklin Pierce
James Buchanan
Abraham Lincoln
Andrew Johnson
Ulysses S. Grant
Rutherford B. Hayes
James Garfield
Chester Arthur
Grover Cleveland (first term)
Benjamin Harrison
Grover Cleveland (second term)
William McKinley
Theodore Roosevelt
William Howard Taft
Woodrow Wilson
Warren Harding
Calvin Coolidge
Herbert Hoover
Franklin Roosevelt
Harry Truman
Dwight Eisenhower
John F. Kennedy
Lyndon Johnson
Richard Nixon
Gerald Ford
Jimmy Carter
Ronald Reagan
George H.W. Bush
Bill Clinton
George W. Bush

Not that this is a criterion for much of anything, but I look at that list of names, and consider someone named Barack Obama in there, and there's a certain twinge of pride. To have all those white Protestant men and this other name, and face, brushed up against them, is almost shocking. There's barely a whiff of ethnicity in that last - Van Buren and Roosevelt are Dutch, at least, and a few are Irish. If you want to graphically understand one of the differences that we could see in this election, read that list aloud and say "Barack Obama" afterwards. It's quite jarring.

I think policy matters, and direction for the country matters, and to put 43 Presidents on one side and this man on the other doesn't make a lot of sense. But there's another side, a side of imagery suggested by heritage, the cultural wallpaper, if you will, that says "yes, this really is a sea change, this really is a revolution of sorts." I think that will have an undeniable effect nationally and globally. On the policy side it's up to us and engaged citizens like us to never let up with pressure and move this candidate in the right direction. On the imagery side, if you stop and think, there really is a marvel to this, a small miracle, something so unexpected and brave. There's a significance to it. I don't know if I can put it totally into words. But read that list and you may find it as well.

Happy 4th.

UPDATE: On the flip side.