Boston is a small town--so small that I recognize certain strangers I see on a regular basis. Not exactly a stranger, but about weekly I walk by a young guy who was a guest speaker for my Transportation Policy class. I think he’s an aide in the Patrick Administration or something.Every time I see him, I’m sort of overcome by a feeling of bitterness, because he’s just one of those guys. Those guys. He’s maybe 6’4” with broad shoulders and dark hair. He has a deep voice and is always impeccably dressed. And my bitter, bitter heart assumes that life has served him everything on a silver platter, because he just looks so damn presidential.
And as crazy as this sounds, I think this perspective affects my view of the current election (though I recognize that heart almost always trumps reason in people’s voting patterns). I believe that far more radical than electing a woman or a black man is electing someone who looks like Robert Reich (and, yes, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention his height). And the fact that Hillary Clinton dated Reich in college totally endears her to me. Of course, she did end up marrying the far more presidential looking man.
1 comment:
I forgot just how great that Times article was that interviewed Reich about said encounters:
Mr. Reich recalled that because both he and Ms. Rodham were student class presidents, he proposed a "presidential summit" date. They went to see Michelangelo Antonioni’s film "Blowup."
"She wanted a lot of butter on her popcorn," Mr. Reich said on his blog. "A lot of butter. Significant? You be the judge."
Ah, NYTimes. Your detached and reverent stance to the news, with that veiled snobbery I miss from the TV listings, makes me smile.
And you are SO right about voting for an ordinary guy who looks a bit too much like that Mathlete w/ perma-wedgie from middle school.
Post a Comment