THE GREAT SCHLEP

In the few posts I have written so far, I have already mentioned my reverence for Tim Russert (God rest his soul!).  Only one person was more instrumental in making me a 'fan' of politics, and that is my dad.  He came here some 50 years ago, much like Barack's father, for educational opportunities, which he could not get back home, and he told me many times about how he shook JFK's hand during a campaign visit to Madison, WI in 1960 when he was a grad student there.  After 2 graduate degrees, he returned home and married my mom.  They settled in Canada because it was easier to immigrate to there than to the U.S.  

Growing up, I was always amazed by how dad knew all the senators and which states they represented (He has been a Biden fan for about 25 years Dave) even while we were living in Canada.  When we immigrated to the U.S. in 1984, my love for politics was born.  I remember watching the 1984 convention with him on TV;  it was like the Super Bowl in our house.   I was the only kid in my suburban Oklahoma City 6th grade class to vote for Mondale over Reagan in our mock election, and this was dad's influence defeating peer pressure.  

My dad and I became estranged after a bitter divorce with my mom in 2005.  I was upset over how things transpired, and we had not spoken for three years.  However, in June after Tim Russert died and I watched the hours of tribute programming highlighting his love of politics and his father, I called my dad.  It was a brief and tense call, but it was the start of us re-connecting. (You cannot make this stuff up people- see also below).

I was inspired to find out today that dad recently become a US citizen and voted in his first presidential election this month (He had not become a US citizen earlier because he thought it was ridiculous that he would have to renounce his Canadian and Indian citizenships).  He had been a big Clinton supporter in the primaries, but when he saw videos and pictures (passed on to him by my sister) of Nicholas talking about 'B'rock Obama,' he said he realized what Obama represented for the next generations, mine and Nicholas' and how this was my 1960.  Sarah Silverman talked about 'the Great Schlep.'  I guess this is my version ... Kerala-style.