Reader wants countdown to end of Burt administration
Random thoughts -- some mine, some yours.
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It's funny how we often view race in this nation as a black-and-white issue. I know people, including a relative, who won't vote for Barack Obama because he is black, or at least half black. With ironic racism, my relative suggested that an African-American president would make it tough for white people to get jobs and live good lives in the United States.
Imagine, if this nation had a different history -- one in which our Founding Fathers and all the presidents were black. In that scenario, we'd be hailing the candidacy of the biracial Obama right now as the chance for us to elect "the first white president."
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With Ted and Caroline Kennedy backing Obama and Kennedy in-law Arnold Schwarzenegger throwing his support to John McCain, the Kennedy clan is all over the news.
Suburban reader and retired newspaper editor Brad Bradford passed along an article from the Guardian in the United Kingdom. It explains how, in the late 1950s, then-Sen. John Kennedy used a $100,000 grant from his family's foundation to fund a program that gave scholarships so that promising young scholars from Kenya could attend colleges in the United States.
One of the first Kenyan students airlifted to the U.S. was Barack Obama Sr. While here, he married Ann Dunham of Kansas, and they had a little boy named Barack, who now is the President Kennedy's family's choice to be president.
I like that story better than the tale of how a bold, 16-year-old Bill Clinton, visiting the White House as part of American Legion Boys Nation, managed to get a news photographer to take a photo of him shaking hands with President Kennedy.
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While my criticism of Bush's lame duck State of the Union drew plenty of like-minded comments from people counting down the days (352) left in his reign, let's hear from the critics:
"Burt: Unfortunately, you have not been kind enough to provide loyal Daily Herald readers with a timetable for your own departure," e-mails Mike Hind of Aurora. "Now that would be information that many of us would find inspiring."
During our cordial e-mail exchange that followed, I explained that I am here at the whims of my bosses and of my creator. Given the bad economy and my heavy breathing after shoveling snow, these are scary times for longevity predictions.
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"Why is a young guy like you worrying about a little snow shoveling?" is what you might ask if you are a member of online social networking services.
I signed up for facebook.com and myspace.com years ago so that I could access the online profiles of people who, unwilling, show up in the newspaper as victims or criminals. Not wanting to divulge personal information, I randomly selected dates of birth for my profiles. Neither of the dates I chose makes me appear to be a 14-year-old girl, but both make me younger than my 50 years. Thought I'd fess up.
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"Burt: Your late good friend, Jack Mabley, knew how to be critical of government officials and/or their policies and practices without being so negative. But that seems to be your tendency when you are doing social commentary," e-mails Frank R. Ardito Sr. of Huntley.
Thanks for the criticism. I knew Jack Mabley. Jack Mabley was a friend of mine. And I, Mr. Ardito, am no Jack Mabley. But, as Jack (who was no fan of President Bush) often said: I'll try to make the next column better.