Int./Ext. Car, On The Way To School - Morning
...where I sit in the driver's seat, my daughter, Jo, in back. The radio is on. President Bush is giving a speech on the current financial crisis.
Jo: Who is that on the radio?
Me: The President.
Jo:: Barack Obama?
Me: No. See, I HOPE Barack Obama will be the President, but we won't know that until November. Right now George Bush is the President.
Jo: Why can't George Bush be the President anymore?
Me: Because he's already served for 8 years and that's as long as you're allowed to be President, but even if that weren't so... people don't like him anymore.
Jo: Nobody likes him?
Me: Lots of people don't. Mommy and I REALLY don't.
Jo: Why?
Me: Because of how he treats people. Poor people. People of color. Gay people. Women.
Jo: Girls.
Me: Yes, girls. And mostly because he started the war.
Jo: We're not in a war.
Me: Yes, we are.
Jo: No, we're not.
I look back, to see Josephine staring at me, confused and upset. And that's when I realize... I don't ever talk about the war in front of her.
Me: The war is not here, Jo, but its happening. Right now. In Iraq.
Jo: What's--
Me: Iraq. Its another country. But people from THIS country are fighting there.
Jo: Are they dying?
Me: Yeah.
Jo: In Alaska?
Me: Iraq.
Jo: Are people from Alaska...
Me: ...IRAQ...
Jo: ...yeah, are they dying, too?
Me: Yeah.
Jo: And George Bush did that?
I nod.
Jo: Why?
Me: (deep breath) It's-- It's very complicated, but--
Jo: When did this war in Alaska start?
Me: (big smile from me) Before you were born.
Jo: And what about Truman? Before he was born?
Me: Uh-uh.
Jo: So the whole time I was alive and Truman was alive we've been fighting a war?
I nod.
Jo: What about Barack Obama?
Me: I think he'll stop the war as fast as he can.
Jo: And that's why you want him to win?
Me: Uhuh.
Jo: Barack Obama's going stop the war and be fair to all those people.
Me: People?
Jo: That you said before. Poor people and gay people and girls too? That's why people should vote for him?
Me: It's a little more complicated then--
Jo: I don't get it. What's complicated?
I stop. Think got a moment. Then...
Me: Nothing. You're right. That's why people should vote for him.