I remember the first indication my youngest son was a political prodigy. It was early 2004, and I looked out the window, seeing Jordan, then nine, taking down one of my political signs. My friends have an idea what that means -- do anything you want, but don't mess with my political signs. I flung open the door and screamed at my son, forgetting my commitment to adult composure, "Hey! What are you doing to my Mike Miles sign?! You put that back right now!"
Jordan, looking surprised, looked up at me and said, "It's okay, Mom. You must not have realized you put the wrong sign up. This guy is running against Ken Salazar, and he is the good guy. Didn't you see the commercials?"
Half angry, half overjoyed that one of my kids actually carried my political compulsion gene, I asked him, "So what do you know about Ken Salazar?"
Jordan: "He wears a cowboy hat, Mom, and he cares about stuff that people in Colorado care about like the water and the air and our land. He is definitely going to win."
"But Jordan", I said, "Mike Miles is a school administrator and he is against the war. He doesn't like George Bush and he says he wants change. Isn't that cool? You know, like 'tikkun olam.' He wants to have a world that is more loving and peaceful, and safe for kids."
Jordan: "That is good, Mom, but the cowboy guy is going to win because he wears a cowboy hat. Nobody in Colorado would vote for someone without a cowboy hat. Ken Salazar knows how to ride a horse! I bet he is really nice, too, 'cause he is a Democrat like us."
I looked down at my son and was amazed that at nine, he knew about electability, demographics and marketing. If it was that obvious to a third grader, could he be right? I helped him take down the Mike Miles sign, and the next day, we drove over to the Arapahoe County Democrat's office and we picked up a sign for Ken Salazar. A week later, while driving Jordan back from school, he asked to use my (new) cell phone. I listened as he dialed.
Jordan: "Can I speak to Ken Salazar, please? Oh, okay, can you tell him Jordan Greenhut called? I sent him an email, I think, but I don't know if he has a computer. My phone number is ...
A few days later, we received an email from Ken Salazar's office returning Jordan's many messages. In the months to come, Jordan founded a group called "Kids for Ken Salazar." Our entire family joined Jordan in canvassing at soccer games, school events, Halloween parties, and everywhere children congregated. We gave them suckers and tootsie rolls attached to a copy of the "Kids for Ken Salazar" policy statement. We traveled to Alamosa and met the Salazar family, where Ken Salazar's brother Peter read a speech Jordan wrote for the rally-goers. Scrawled on the original note about caring for the elderly, funding schools, preventing child abuse, caring for the environment and other issues the kids cared about, Ken Salazar wrote across the top, "I love you, Jordan".
Jordan also read his statement to a crowd of 500 people on the stairs of the Colorado State Capitol. Our whole family celebrated Ken's victory at the Convention Center with hundreds of other volunteers. Later, Ken's State Policy Director spoke to Jordan's third grade class (that is another story I will tell in another blog!).
Jordan had been right. Ken Salazar, like Mike Miles, believed in "tikkun olam" (Hebrew for "repairing the world"), but he also had great marketing.
Lesson learned!
***
Fast forward to winter 2008. Our family was deeply embroiled in a daily argument, much like households across America, about "Hilary Clinton or Barack Obama?" On Team Obama were my then 15 year old son Jonathan and my husband, Saul. Team Hillary was I and 12 year old Jordan. My oldest son, Adam, was the independent in our home, and we campaigned vigorously for his vote, knowing he would be voting for the first time as an adult.
"Hillary is the more electable candidate" (I had learned this lesson once before), we argued. "She fights hard for health care and she cares about women and children."
"Barack is cooler than Hillary, and everyone is going to vote for him. Just wait. You'll see. He is against the war, and he wants all kids to go to college." they argued.
This argument went on for weeks. Jonathan recruited his friends who increasingly wore t-shirts saying things like "Barack and Roll." Jordan and I bought Hillary Clinton paraphernalia. My husband started as an Obama alternate, and I was a Hillary delegate to the county. We each went to our respective rallies, caucuses, conventions, etc. The intensity of the campaign was hotter in our house than it was in Pennsylvania, we thought. The lawn was aerated beautifully in 2008 -- I would put up a Hillary sign and Jonathan would sneak out and replace it with a Barack sign. Jon would go to school and I would replace it again. This went on for weeks.
When Barack Obama received the nomination, we went to Invesco Field together as a family. We celebrated like it was 1999 -- only much more so. The boys became official interns, we started an Arapahoe County Teens for Obama group, and I became their mentor (driver). As a family, we scheduled our lives around the Campaign for Change Office and our two different neighborhood teams (kids don't like volunteering with their parents, we were told).
We took the day off school to be poll-watchers and GOTV door-knockers, and we celebrated the amazing victory together with our friends. Electability proved not to be all it was cracked up to be, we thought. Barack Obama stood for a compassionate change for America -- caring for all people of all ages, all religions, all nationalities, all states, all races, all genders, all affiliations. Tikkun olam was alive and well, and we were surprised in what seemed like a new shift for Colorado.
Lesson learned?
***
October, 2009. Jordan and Jonathan are burned out on politics and say they are not going to get involved in the 2010 race, they tell me. Jordan, now almost 14, and Jonathan, now 16 and a half, have discovered girls. Barack Obama shirts sit collecting spider webs in their closets, and the only race they care about is the World Series.
"That's too bad" I tell my youngest. There is a really fun senate race going on, and both of the candidates are Jewish. They are both young and cool and one of them even has "Tikkun Olam" on his website.
"Show me," Jordan says. I did.
"Cool".
I explain to Jordan that Michael Bennet has already been our Senator since Ken Salazar was moved up to a more important position, and he was picked to replace him. "One of his parents was Jewish," I told him, "but he doesn't practice it. He still cares about tikkun olam, though. He is a Dad who voted to give health care to children and equal pay for women. He wants to give more opportunities to children who grew up here like you, but whose parents are immigrants, so they can go to college, too."
"The other man," I told Jordan, "is single, very cool, and has traveled around the world. He has worked very hard to get people to care about the suffering in Darfur." Jordan was definitely intrigued, since his bar mitzvah project was a benefit for "Doctors without Borders." Jordan asked for the proceeds to benefit people in Darfur.
Jordan immediately became a fan of Andrew Romanoff, and said, "Mom, I think I will work for that guy in the summer." I explained to Jordan that I thought Michael Bennet, who also had a record of caring for people, was probably more electable because Democrats and Republicans seem to like him for different reasons. "Remember Ken Salazar and the cowboy hat, Jordan?" I asked him.
Jordan: "Mom, now that Colorado knows that you don't have to wear a cowboy hat to win, it doesn't really matter. Just pick the one you like the best. Which one does Barack Obama like better?"
"Michael Bennet," I told him.
"Which one does Rabbi Foster like better?"
"I am not sure, but I think, Michael Bennet. I bet he probably likes them both, though, actually. They both believe in 'tikkun olam.'"
Jordan: "Which one wants health care for everybody?"
Me: "Both of them."
Jordan: "Which one cares more about workers?"
Me: "We're still watching to figure that out", I said honestly.
I went on to tell him both of them care about children and old people, both of them want to take care of our land and our water and our air, both of them treat immigrants fairly, and both of them are not prejudiced against gays and lesbians, or anyone else.
Jordan: "If I pick one guy and you pick the other one, is that okay? Then, if your guy wins, we can all work for him, and if my guy wins, then you have to work for mine, okay?"
"Sure," I agree, shaking hands, "...just don't mess with my lawn sign."
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