Presidential politics, kid-style

Lifelong lefty Daddy can’t decide who to vote for today, torn between inspiring symbolism and hard-knocks realpolitik. But 5-year-old daughter Allie has been dead-set since she was 4 and a half. “I vote for Hillary,” she has maintained right throughout, “because I want a GIRL President!”

We were driving past Prospect Park on an unseasonably warm winter afternoon a couple months back, when we saw a little mini-rally for Hillary. A bigger kid, maybe 8 or 9, was there with her mother, holding up a red, white and blue Hillary sign. I pointed it out to Allie, who peered from the confines of her car seat.

“Are there any other girls besides Hillary running for President?” she asked logically. Her mother and I said “No, just Hillary.” Allie’s response was even more logical: “THAT’S DUMB!”

We explained to her that the person running against Hillary was Barack Obama, and that we liked him too. Allie held firm to her pro-Clinton stance. We shot each other a glance that said: Shall we go down the road of race here? We did, basically because Allie had already seen the movie musical of “Hairspray,” which sparked a long chat about how some mean people had treated brown people very badly in our country and how hard it has been for brown people to be free. (Allie talks about color, literally, not race, and she refers to people as being either peach or brown.)

So there in the car we started explaining that her beloved Hillary would indeed be the first girl president, and that would be awesome. But the other person running for president against her, Barack Obama, would be the first brown president and that would be really great too. And, more importantly, we said, we like both of them. They are both nice people.

“Oh,” she said. “That’s good.”

But she never switched her vote.

This weekend, on the eve of the big primary, her six-year-old friend Bryn called. The batteries on the phone’s handsets were dead, so Allie and Bryn had to use speakerphone. We wound up glad they did.

Bryn: “This morning I went with my Mommy around the block knocking on people’s doors to tell them to vote for Barack Obama.”

Allie: “I’m voting for Hillary because she’ll be the first girl president!”

Bryn (confused): “What?”

Allie: “Hillary is the first girl president.”

Bryn: “What’s a squirrel president?” (I am not making this up.)

Allie (laughing): “Not SQUIRREL president, GIRL president!!!”

Bryn (laughing too): “Oh, yeah. Well I told my Mommy and Daddy I want Hillary. But they disagree with me.”

Allie: “They misagree with you?”

Bryn: “Yeah, they like Barack Obama. But I want Hillary Clinton.”

Their teleconference on presidential politics was instructive, and maybe even inspiring. I just may have to do a write-in vote. For the squirrel.