Ted Howard

I felt such pride when I saw that Michelle Obama was adding a vegetable garden to the White House for fresh veggies and fruits in their kitchen. They’re even planning on beehives. It’s so refreshing to see our Presidential family doing things that real people do.

(First Lady Michelle Obama and White House Horticulturist Dale Haney work with kids from Washington’s Bancroft Elementary School to break ground for a White House garden.   The White House / Joyce N. Boghosian)

I didn’t think it would feel this good to be proud of my President.

Our last President would invite reporters to watch him clear shrubs at his Texas ranch or mountain bike with the most famous bicyclist in the world. Does anyone think he did those things when reporters weren’t there? One way or another, he left his military duties as a young man. He went to ivy league schools and served as executive at large companies. If he wanted a vegetable garden, he knew how to order someone to make one but would he know how to build one on his own? Or would he ever care enough about such a mundane thing to learn how? He did not have a normal life or do normal things. To make this difference worse, he essentially never talked to voters so there was no way to relate to him or his family.

The Obamas were not born with silver spoons in their mouths. They didn’t have a network of powerful families to get them the best jobs. They are real people who have led real lives, until now. I suspect that they actually know how to grow a garden. Beyond that, they have let us see into bits of their lives. They post on March Madness. Barack was on The Tonight Show and spoke like a real person. It lets the world better understand and relate to them as people.

I am reading Barack Obama’s book about race relations in America that he wrote after graduating from law school. It definitely lets us understand his life and his thoughts. I’m enjoying his writing so much that I bought The Audacity of Hope to read next.