Ask Noah- Political Edition

Noah, who do you think will win the Republican Primary?

The what?

Who will be the Republican candidate that will go up against Obama in November?

Who's running?

Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry.

They all sound like crazy people.

Okay, Ron Paul and Rick Perry are from Texas, Rick Santorum is from Pennsylvania, Newt Gingrich is from Pennsylvania, but served as a congressman for Georgia and Mitt Romney is from Massachusetts.

How is this information supposed to help me?

I don't KNOW!! I thought maybe telling you where they are from would help with your decision!

I don't know HOW!

Fine! How about pictures?

**I show him their pictures**

Who looks more presidential?

Obama.

Well, he IS the president. I am asking you who should run against Obama on the Republican side.

*skeptical, one-eyebrow-raised, stare*

OF THE REPUBLICANS, who do you think is or looks more presidential?

FINE! If I have to choose, then Mitt Romney.

Why do you think Mitt Romney?

Because you made me choose. And because he is from the northeast- and we are in the northeast too.

What do you think the President should do differently with our country?

Change the economy.

What is wrong with the economy?

I guess it is running out of money.

And how do you think they can fix that?

They need to make more jobs.

How do you make more jobs?

You just add more!

How will that help?

Because people will have more money.

What about foreign policy?

What is foreign policy?

How do we make other countries like us again?

By giving up wars?

Okay- let's switch gears- are you glad the basketball strike is over?

I didn't know there was one. (Yeah- most of us didn't care)

Alright, that was pointless, back to politics-

If someone ran for president of your school or the school district, what issues would you like them to address?

I would like french fries for lunch.

Oh, and I want Zoe in my school with me, because she is so cute (even though she is also a devil).

AND I want a recess that lasts 1/4 of the day!

I think we just got Noah's platform if he were running for president of his elementary school.....

Politics As Usual

With all the election hype wrapping up, I was remembering my favorite election/Noah story. I went searching through my blog archives and was shocked to see that I never blogged about it. It is one of my all-time favorite Noah stories and definitely something I wanted to record, so if you can stomach a little more politics, I promise it is worth it.

It was spring of 2008 and Noah was wrapping up his year in pre-school 4. His pre-school teacher was awesome in giving them just enough information about the world without overwhelming them. They had talked about how the president runs the country and the current president was George Bush, but that it was a very important year because our country would have to pick a new president and there were lots of people that wanted to be our next president. She also told them that there were two sides- one was blue and one was red and their mascots were a donkey and an elephant.

I was surprised Noah absorbed this much information, but he did and he began to watch the political ads on television and ask questions. Every ad he would ask me, "Mommy? Does he/she want to be president?" And then he would ask me which side they were on, blue or red, and what their name was. Eventually, it was decided that John McCain would run on the Republican ticket, but Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were still battling it out for the Democratic ticket. We were careful not to talk about what our particular affiliation was so as not to confuse or corrupt his little mind. Politics are not for children. Or so we thought.

One afternoon after a particular grueling question and answer session from Noah regarding the candidates, I pulled up the internet and we went to the campaign sites of all three candidates. Noah studied their pictures, learned their names and their party affiliations and finally announced to me, "Well, I want Barack (he pronounced it MA-RACK at the time) Obama to win!" I was shocked that he was even this interested, let alone was choosing a candidate to support.

ME: "Wow, Noah. Can you tell me why you think Barack Obama should win?"

NOAH: "Because he is on the blue side and blue is my favorite color."

ME: "Fair enough, but Hillary Clinton is also blue, why shouldn't she win?"

NOAH: "Because Barack Obama is a boy and I'm a boy! So he should win."

I have to admit I was slightly offended at this sexist statement, but I let it go. After all, I told myself, he is FOUR!

I relayed this story to all my friends and family who, depending on their own affiliations, were either amused or horrified. It was a joke for awhile and Noah began to proudly trumpet his support of Barack Obama for president.

In April, I took both the kids and drove home to visit family, stopping in North Carolina at my best friend's house to stay a few days. She, of course, had heard the story and couldn't wait to get at Noah to question him all about his political opinions. We were getting ready for bed and she said, "So, Noah, why do you think Barack Obama is going to win the presidency?"

And without skipping a beat, Noah answered, "Because he approves the message!" (based on all the ads he had been watching where they say, "I'm Barack Obama and I approve this message.") We laughed hysterically for a bit and then went to bed.

The following November, Noah could not be convinced that he was not voting for president. I've told y'all before what a little old man he is. I think he sometimes thinks he is really an adult. He could not be consoled, so while he was at school on election day, I printed out a sheet of paper with a picture of John McCain and a picture of Barack Obama with their names printed in red and blue respectively next to their pictures and instructions to "circle your choice".

When Noah got home from school that day, he happily took his pen and circled Barack Obama as his choice for president.

To this day, he thinks he voted in that election. I'm not going to be the one to tell him otherwise.