When I answered my phone recently, all I heard was a young child’s voice saying “Bama!” excitedly.  It took me a moment to realize that it was my nephew, not quite two-years-old, trying to say, “Go Obama!”

His parents were not happy about this turn of events.  They are enthusiastic supporters of Hillary Clinton and had told both their sons – the older one is a little under four-years-old — that the family would be supporting Clinton.  All was well and good until the four-year-old saw the two candidates in action on TV, shook his head, and said, “No, I like him.”

It wasn’t long before his younger brother, following his lead, joined the Obama camp as well — and began making phone calls to my house to raise support for his chosen candidate. 

The generational divide had manifested in their household and it was not pretty.  On the day of their primary (Virginia), they were on the way to the polling station when the four-year-old had a screaming tantrum.  He was wildly angry about two things.  First, he had discovered that children were not allowed to vote (“Not fair!”), and second, his parents were still planning to vote for Clinton. 

Both kids were upset about this turn of events.   It seemed that Obama had the crucial under-five male demographic totally wrapped up. (It is unclear, though, how he does with seven-year-old girls.) My nephews were, of course, later pleased to hear that their candidate had won their state’s primary, despite their parents’ obtuseness.

More recently, though, the older one saw Clinton on the television, and said, “She’s done.  Throw her in the trash.”

Political free speech was one thing, his mother thought, but this was going too far.  He was given a “time out.”

Image by Flickr user Kelly Sue used under a Creative Commons License.