I grew up in small-town America in the 1980s. My parents divorced when I was fairly young. I qualified for the reduced-price lunch for a good chunk of my stint in public school. I worked my tail off in school, got into college, paid for thanks to student loans and part-time jobs. Again, I worked hard for good grades. After graduation, I spent a while teaching in public schools for a pittance, then moved on to a job with the federal government, starting at a little better than entry level thank to my grades, but still pretty low. I managed to work my way through the ranks thanks to a little bit of luck and aptitude. I picked up a graduate degree by taking classes at night and online while working and building a family.

I eventually ended up making a decent, if not ultra-spectacular living (at the expense of my having travel away from home quite a bit); enough anyway, to afford to support my family,including three young children and the original and only wife, who’s smart, confident, and more than willing to tell me when I’m being a moron. We live in a modest home, can’t afford to save quite as much as we’d like, but can enjoy the occasional simple luxury. We’re not starving, but few would categorize us as wealthy.

As a result of my experience, I’ve come to recognize the value of certain things; including the benefits of a good education, and the importance of the social safety net to help the less well-off gain equal access to one in order to have a better shot at improving their situation.

If messages coming from the political right these days is in any way accurate, I’m apparently an out-of-touch <scarequotes>Elitist</scarequotes>, since my story’s marginally similar* to Candidate Obama, except for the whole Senator thing and lucrative book deals (though one of these days, I’ll get on at least part of that…I’ve got a few years to catch up, after all). It’s also not surprising that, given our experiences, that he and I have come to a lot of the same conclusions about what’s important in society and government.

I don’t believe it’s unreasonable to expect Barack Obama to have a better understanding of the issues I deal with with day-to-day than John McCain, who grew up with wealth, status and privilege, and all the opportunities those connections can bring (even in the face of less than stellar personal academic credentials); married a swimsuit model, who he traded in for a beer heiress when the first wife lost her looks, rose to prominence in politics thanks to said connections and some inherent charisma; And except for the POW experience**, has never really wanted for much in his life or worried about getting all the bills paid.

I suspect that a lot of voters, upon reflection, would come a similar conclusion.

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*- I’m also a really crappy bowler.

** – On the Prisoner-of-War experience; yes, I respect the man’s service, and his ability to survive the ordeal he faced; however, I don’t necessarily see how that experience uniquely qualifies him for the job for which he’s currently interviewing.