McCain and Obama's flip flops; can I flip flop my children?

Great op-ed piece by Joan Vennochi in yesterday's Boston Globe on the Obama and McCain flip flops. http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/06/22/obama_and_mccain___flip_flop_flip_flop/
I concur with Ms. Vennochi that it's probably inevitable for both candidates to keep moving more mainstream and consequently lose their "maverick" elements.

I took my 17 year old son to the world premiere of the "According to Tip" play at the Watertown New Repertory Theater last night (written by Dick Flavin and starring Ken Howard). I enjoyed it, but alas, I suspect it has little chance to make it on Broadway (or even anywhere besides the local Boston area). It's a one man show consisting of anecdotes, songs and poems from the life of the late political legend Tip O'Neill. Most of the material seemed to be derived from Tip's autobiography, "Man of the House," which I've recently re-read. The appeal for such a production would seem to be extremely limited; last night's audience consisted of mostly blue hairs who had some direct or indirect contact with Tip and a few political junkies like myself. It was a great case study of a bygone political style and era.

"According to Tip" was also torture for my 17 year old son. Although eligible to vote in the upcoming general election (he turns 18 at the end of October), he admits he has not been following the election process in any way whatsoever. Before the play, I tried to engage him in conversation about the caricatures drawn on the backdrop (the 7 Presidents from Kennedy to GHW Bush) and the various knickknacks of the set, but he simply grunted back. He also expressed no curiosity whatsoever about anything he heard or say in the play. I guess he does deserve some credit for accompanying me -- it was out of a sense of duty/guilt since my wife and other son were away and it was my birthday. All in all, I think he's an honorable guy, but right now he has this obsession with hanging out every night with friends until 11:30-12:00 (a contentious situation with my wife and me).

I wish my other son had been there. He's almost 15 and was enthralled by the primary process, and by Obama's ultimate victory for the Democrats. He watched several of the debates with me, as well as CNN coverage on most primary days, including several hours worth on Tuesday June 3rd, the night Obama "clinched" because of the declarations of the super delegates. My second son is an avid supporter of Obama, or as he puts it in the parlance of his age group "Barack is my boy!" (note how that might be considered a racist statement from someone from an older generation). He also, however, has respect and admiration for John McCain, with his courageous background and "straight-talking" style.

Son #2 recently saw my copy of "Man of the House" sitting on a side table, picked it up, started reading it, and commented about how he found Tip to be a fascinating guy and was now going to read the whole book. Why couldn't he have come with me last night to the play? And why couldn't he be the one eligible to vote in this November's election?