3 reactions to the State-of-the-Union.

1) My one (half Sudanese) (half British) friend's (half Sudanese) (half British) sister, who is also my friend, was the only friend who came out to the student bar to watch Obama's State-of-the-Union w/me.

After the speech and before the GOP response, she was like, "I never expected to identify so much with someone in power before."

"Really?", I was like.  "How?".

"Oh, you know," she was like, "Mixed race, African dad, all that...  It wasn't until he became big during the 1st campaign that I had that feeling, and I realized that everyone all along must have these feelings all the time with people in power."

Then, she added, "I had a Kenyan law professor, and that made the classroom wonderful for me. And to think that other people have these connections all the time!".

 I followed up more, and she said that she identifies w/Michelle Obama as a woman, but otherwise not so much, and that even though her dad was from Sudan and grew up there, there's something about "being from Africa" that creates a connection w/people from other countries on that continent.

2) My dad thought that the GOP respondent was nuts, and a very odd choice, since no-one had ever heard of her.

"I was getting tired and wasn't paying attention," he was like, "But don't give me that 'I worked at a McDonald's in high school and look at where I am now' bullshit.  Hell, in high school I worked at a Pepe's - that was a place before McDonald's got big - and it'd be like me now saying, 'Look at me, I'm a master teacher.'  What the fuck is that?  I *hope* someone moves on to better jobs from working at a McDonald's in high school!"

He also liked my line about the GOP comparing the poor to an unmotivated retarded child so much that he told my mom about it later (she wasn't home when I initially called my parents).

3) My mom thought the GOP woman was fake and odd-acting.

I then told her that she was also appalling, since she was whoring out her Downs Syndrome baby for billionaires.

"You're right," she was like.

(My mom's always disliked politicians' kids in politics, esp. when people attack someone's kids, but also when someone uses their own kids.)

I then told her that I bet a lot of GOP women punch themselves in the belly to have a disabled baby so they can have a political career.

"It's a gift from G-d," I was like.

"Ok, time to hang up!", my mom was like.