In search of an agenda

Tom and I were chatting about the presidential campaign in the car last Sunday, and Edith wanted in on the conversation. We told her we were talking about Mr. Obama's versus Mr. McCain's ideas.

"But not Hillary Clinton?" (she can say the name now, too late). We explained that Hillary Clinton didn't get enough votes, so she's not in the race anymore. Everyone has to choose between Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain now.

"But I wanted Harry at first," Edith said. We told her she could still vote for Harry if she wanted to.

"Or maybe I could be president," she suggested. We agreed. "You guys could vote for me, and I could be in charge."

I told her she could run for office someday if she wanted to, and I asked whether she had ideas about how to solve the country's problems.

This appeared to be a new concept.

"What problems?" she asked. Something made me suspect that Edith hadn't heard that gas is $4/gallon either.

"Well," I said. "People fight and have wars, and it's really bad. People get hurt. What would you do to stop the fighting?"

Edith thought. "I would take the fighting people away from there," she said.

Voters note: Lank favors troop withdrawal.

"And lots of people get sick but don't have money to go to the doctor," I continued. "How would you help them?"

This one stumped her. She asked for advice, and I agreed that it was a hard problem and I didn't know the answer either.

"What would you do about people not keeping the earth clean?" I continued, knowing that this is a personal passion of hers, as judged by the number of wrappers and empty beer cans she brings home from dog walks.

But Edith seemed to appreciate that doing her own part and galvanizing society at large to change its ways are problems of different magnitudes. She again asked for my advice.

All of which is to say, keep an eye on her for 2052. I'm not sure her platform is quite ready yet.