Once upon a time many years ago I lived in the elite prep school world of Barack Obama, John Kerry and George W. Bush. A tornado didn't sweep sweep me, at the age of 13, off of Santa Monica beach landing me in the New England Shangri-La of ponds, woods and red brick buildings, but it might as well have. For 6 years I lived with the sons of the most wealthy and powerful people in the world. Of course, they often reminded me I didn't belong there, but I was as obdurate as New Hampshire granite and they never caught me doing anything bad enough to kick me out.
John Kerry graduated just before I arrived at St Paul's as a first former. John Brown, who I crossed paths with at SPS, paints a picture of what it was like for me...except we had a little more fun because I graduated in '69.
I have practically no hair left on my head, did not marry a billionaire, and am not running for president of the United States. But John Kerry and I -- dare I say -- have quite a lot in common.
At a certain stage of our lives, that is. We both went to St. Paul's School, Concord, New Hampshire, in the early 1960s.
And not only did we both attend an isolated, oh-so-preppy, all-boys, upper-crusty, Republican-leaning, conservative Episcopal boarding educational institution before flower power and the anti-establishment revolution burst on the national scene, but we both entered SPS as outsiders.
(Full disclosure: I never actually met Kerry. While we happened to be at St. Paul's during the same decade, Kerry, class of '62, had just graduated when I, class of '66, arrived at SPS as a "third former," a freshman.)
As I look back, the Kerry I never knew and a few other lesser mortals such as myself were a breed apart at SPS: "acceptable" outsiders carefully chosen to inhabit the narrow world of St. Paul's School for several years. For all its silly exclusiveness, St. Paul's back in the 60s did start accepting students, not the children of alumni, whose families were not totally linked to the upper crust of the eastern US establishment -- especially if those non-traditional students were not too-too different (that is, if they were white and non-Jewish).
No matter how hard I tried I never quite made it into the world of boating in the summer in Bermuda, Nantucket or Maine. However, by making varsity crew I got to compete on the ponds of the elite prep schools of New England and see a world off limits to most people.
Fellow bodysurfer Barack Obama might have felt like a fish out of water like I did when he arrived at Punahou but with charm and wit he gradually made his way into the world of the elites. The multicultural world of elite Hawaii was far more tolerant of diversity than the conservative white Episcopal world of New England. It was a lot more fun than living in central New Hampshire. However, the focus on training the children of the elites to take the positions of money and power in America and the world is the same.
The closest I ever got to Harvard was when I stayed in the dorm room of a recent alumnus for a week on spring break for early rowing practice on the Charles River. I was shocked and not just by the ice that formed on the oars as we rowed or the cold water that splashed on us. I had been living like a monk in the woods. I watched in amazement as my host Mr. Harvard was visited by wave after wave of beautiful young women. They came from BU and other Boston colleges. They came from prep schools. If he had a chimney they would have shown up like Santa Claus.
They all wanted a Harvard man.
When I was 17 I had the physique of Greek statue, but the women didn't even see me or my team mates. All they saw were Harvard men. I don't know how he managed to study.
At Harvard law school, Barack Obama was given the key to that world of power and wealth that I got a peek of which most cannot imagine. He wasn't given that key because he was the smartest guy in the room or because he was a nice guy. He was given that key because he was a true believer. He may have been the smartest guy in the room but that wasn't the ability that got him elected law review president. It was his ability to co-opt more liberal students and effectively assert conservative positions in a moderate way while affirming the class structure than won the hearts of his fellow elites.
And if you've ever been a kid in the midst of poverty and struggle like Barack Obama was when he grew up in Indonesia and you have a chance to be rich you never look back lest you be turned into a pillar of salt.
Barack Obama is not your cheating boyfriend. He was never interested in you.
Barack Obama is not a Trojan candidate. His candidacy was supported by Goldman Sachs. When he was senator he successfully courted campaign funds from corporate executives. His corporate ties have not been hidden. Yes, he has moved right since the election, but so have the polls. He intends to get reelected.
The Senate is perhaps the world's most elite country club. The middle class need not apply for membership. As one of the few senators to become president, President Obama is now the most elite member of the most elite club.
And the view is beautiful in his world. No homeless people begging for change. No signs on the door for charity events to raise money for a kidney transplant. Everyone and everything is beautiful, like the queen of England.
It's a fantasy world that I once peered into. It's a world Barack Obama never wants to leave.