For reasons which I cannot even begin to understand, my four year old is obsessed with Barack Obama.

It started with this conversation.

In response to her question, I tried to explain the political process in a way that seasoned citizen of four years could understand. Then I showed her pictures of John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, who were the three main folks in the race at the time and the names she kept hearing on the radio. While I have definite feelings about the political process, the two party system, and most other issues facing the country these days, I simply tried to explain the concept of "running for president" and how we vote to her without bias or brainwashing. I didn't tell her who should win and I didn't tell her who I wanted to win. I'm not saying this to justify my response or her pure intent or anything like that... just to reiterate that this new fascination baffles me.

Since then, she has watched election news with a keen eye. When Hillary Clinton dropped out she cheered... because that was one less person who was running against Barack Obama.

When John McCain shows up on television, she tsks and reminds me that he is not The Guy. The Guy is Barack Obama.

When she sees a photo of Obama somewhere and I haven't noticed it, she points it out to me. "There He is! Barack Obama!!"

I honestly don't get what makes him so special in her eyes. It's kind of like the Chick-Fil-A obsession, I don't really have a problem with it, I just don't understand why it appeals so to a four-year-old.

Last night, we attended a party thrown by a family in our church. Their son recently came home from serving a full time mission in Ecuador and it was a welcome back party for him. There were photos of him in Ecuador along with other missionaries he knew. In one of the photos there were about fifteen missionaries, all dressed in suits with their church-approved haircuts. One of the missionaries in the photo was Latin - probably from Ecuador - had very short hair and slightly large ears. We walked past this photo and The Dormouse suddenly began jumping up and down excitedly, grabbing at my shirt, and shouting, "Barack Obama! Barack Obama! Look it's Barack Obama! There's Barack Obama on his mission with Jacob, YAY!!" Much to the dismay of a rather large group of staunch Republicans in the room.

I'm pretty sure that I'm not welcome at the church playgroup anymore. But then, was I ever?