Work From Home Couple

The election of Barack Obama cheered my heart for many reasons. First, he wasn’t George Bush. That’s a miracle in itself. Secondly, it was someone new, some fresh blood. And thirdly, Obama actually had some progressive thoughts on how to fix the economy, fund education and improve health care.

But to me, the biggest positive of an Obama presidency is that the United States finally, finally elected someone to its highest office who wasn’t an old, white man.

Now, I have nothing against old white men. I am one, after all. But it was incredibly discouraging to a country that is supposed to pride itself on its diversity that African-Americans, women, Hispanic-Americans, Asian-Americans or anyone else who wasn’t white could never realistically hope to see someone who looks like them in the Oval Office.

That’s changed. Amazing!

It’s my fervent hope that the election of a bi-racial president is a sign that the United States is becoming an even bigger melting pot. I wonder if the future face of America is my 9-year-old niece, who is half white and half Jamaican. I wonder if my one family, which includes a Caucasian 9-year-old and a 15-month-old Ethiopian represents the future of U.S. families.

The movie Bulworth with Warren Beatty wasn’t the best film around. But the title character did have a point when he suggested that the United States would only get over its race problem when enough members of different races began having sex with each other and producing mixed-race offspring. Only when everyone was bi-racial would the country get over its obsession and struggle with race.

Well, we’re certainly not at that point yet. But sometimes I wonder: When I look at my own family, which now includes members who are part Jamaican, who come from Ethiopia, who are part Filipino and are part Hispanic, or my friends — one of whom has adopted from Guatemala and another who is waiting to adopt from China — I see what I think will be the future of the country. And, I have to say, I’m thrilled.

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