The brown girl considers the brown president

My five-year-old daughter and I had an exchange this morning that is going on in millions of households where black and brown children are being raised.

I asked her who is president now. She said, "Obama" (which rhymes with "Alabama" for her, by the way).

I asked her if she has anything in common with Obama. She said, "Yes."

I said, "What?" She said, "He is brown, and I am brown."

Then I moved onto details more specific to our household.

I said, "You have more in common than that. Obama's dad is a black man from Africa, and his mom is a white woman from America. Your daddy is a white man from America, and your mommy is a black woman from Africa."

She thought about that a moment. She said, "We would have even more in common if Obama's daddy was a white man from America and his mommy was a black woman from Africa."

What can I say? She inherited her mother's at times exhausting thirst for precision.

By the way, this is the same child who spontaneously endorsed Obama over Hillary in the primary. At the time, I asked her why she liked Obama more than Hillary.

Her answer had nothing to do with being brown. She said, "Because I saw Obama talking, and I saw Hillary talking, and I want to see Obama again, but I don't want to see Hillary again."

I am in a large multitude of parents who are being left slightly in awe at the prodigies of politics we are raising, thanks to Obama and his inspiring campaign.