Sons

How proud must Archie Manning be this morning? Two professional football quarterback sons, back to back Super Bowl wins. Doesn't get any better than that. I only watched the very end and what a fun time to tune in it was. Thirty-five seconds to go in the game and Eli's team scored the winning touchdown. It was too good.

I love it when the good guys win. It's a matter of personal taste.

Today a bit of parent-child history will be made. My son, now an 18 year old Senior in high school, will be registering to vote. It's the last day deadline to register to vote in the Texas primary on March 4, but I'm fighting the urge to lecture him about waiting until the last minute to meet deadlines. It's a Mom thing. And, I am very good at the lecturing, if I do say so myself. My son will vouch for that.

The important thing is that he registers. I have taken this child with me to vote since his birth. I wanted him to know that voting is a sacred obligation of each of us. Our freedom depends on it and many brave men and women have died to preserve that obligation.

He is my child. He loves politics and debating opinions. I will proudly cancel his vote in November.

I cherish that he is his own person. I expect no less of him. He is smart, educated and opinionated. I have no doubt that given the opportunity, he'll be an Obama voter. This is completely normal for an 18 year old. He's a liberal thinker and of the opinion that his mother is a bit out to lunch. To put it politely.

A difference in my husband and me is our thinking as younger people. He is of the age, like Hillary Clinton, that he was a student for Goldwater campaigner. Politically he has always been a bit more conservative than me. Not necessarily in life decisions, but in political thought. My son is more like me in that at a younger age I was more open to the 'other side'. I remember as a high school student, a bit younger than my son now, how taken I was with Robert Kennedy as he ran for President. He was young and full of energy and challenged young people to get active. Young people interested in politics love that talk. So, much to the aggravation of my staunchly Republican parents, I had a campaign poster touting RFK just as others my age did. I was too young to vote and then he was assassinated. My first presidential vote went to Gerald Ford. I have never voted for a Democrat for President and after the events of 9/11 and the party of defeat establishing itself in the Democrat party, I never will.

It is interesting, the parallel that my son and I will share. RFK and Obama, both capable of inspiring audiences with flowery speeches, little content. Very Oprah. Neither had any real legislative success to brag about. RFK was simply there as the brother of a former president, one who made his brother Attorney General and sparked legislation to prohibit nepotism in administrations. RFK, running to entice black voters, was responsible for wiretapping Martin Luther King, Jr. Obama brings forth another part of the electorate. Obama appeals to upscale white voters and references buying arugula at Whole Foods, while blasting WalMart, one of the nation's biggest employers of ordinary, lower skilled workers and Joe Blow shoppers. RFK was arrogant in private and not prone to compromise. Obama does not work with the other side of the aisle. Yet both spoke about uniting the country.

My son is not so interested in Hillary. He did, though, like Giuliani and thinks McCain is a good candidate. Hillary is more conventional about working with Republicans to get legislation passed, as she did with Newt Gingrich during her first administration. They worked together to pass legislation related to health care, adoption and foster care for children. If the White House has a Democrat in the Oval Office and Democrat control of Congress, there will be no change, at least as far as a unified American people is concerned. All the flowery speeches in the world will not bring the country together.

It's good to see young voters excited about voting. I hope it will increase traditional voting numbers among the age groups. Our voting population is pathetically lazy.

That change is good. The stars in the eyes, no substance candidates? Not so much.