Uncle Angelo, you were right.

Some of my fondest childhood memories were of get-togethers with my Mother’s side of the family.  We lived only a 2-hour drive from where my Mom grew up, so we saw our uncles, aunts, and cousins regularly.  My Uncle Angelo was a strong, burly guy who loved to roughhouse with us boys.  Me, my brother, and my two cousins would spend hours trying to dunk him in the pool, and it wasn’t until we were in our mid-teens that we succeeded.  Just once.

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He played the accordion and sang funny songs.  He hated to lose at cards and board games, which made it all the more fun to beat him. He was my favorite Uncle growing up, hands-down.  

In 1999, my Grandmother (his Mother) turned 90 years old.  We threw a big party for her, and I flew in from Alaska to be there.  My Mom had sent an invitation to then-President Clinton, just to get a Presidential birthday greeting.  She framed it, and when my Uncle Angelo saw it, he turned beet-red.  Turns out, he hated President Clinton with a passion.  At the time, I didn’t really follow politics.  I had a job, health care, and was putting money into a retirement plan.  Things were okay in my day-to-day situation, so politics was something I paid attention to every 4 years and not much more.

I don’t know what my Uncle hated about Bill Clinton.  Maybe it was the blowjob.  That seemed to bug a lot of people.  Me, I could have cared less.  The way I saw it, the guy balances the Federal budget and runs a surplus for the first time in decades, he deserves a hummer.

And then came the election of 2000.  I thought Al Gore was the better choice, and I voted for him.  What happened in Florida deeply offended me, though.  George Bush stole the Presidency, it was as simple as that.  I consider that moment my political awakening, and I started paying attention to politics.  The first few months of the Bush presidency went buy relatively uneventfully.  The guy was a doofus, but he hadn’t screwed up too much (yet).  

Around that time I found an online article that outlined Dubya’s lackluster performance during that period, and forwarded it to my Uncle Angelo.  I don’t know why I did that, maybe to make up for all the times he dunked me in the pool over the years.  His response was surprisingly blunt.  During a brief e-mail exchange, I found out that he got most of his news from Rush Limbaugh, which really shocked me.  The correspondence pretty much ended when he called me an asshole.  Other than the obligatory Christmas cards, we haven’t written or spoken since.  My grandmother passed away in 2006, and although we hugged at the gravesite, we didn't say much.  My parents have told me that over the past few years, he had come to regret his support of Bush, which gives me hope for the future.  

Regardless, I doubt my relationship with my Uncle will ever be the same. But here in May 2008, I now have nothing but contempt for President and Mrs. Clinton.  So at least we have that in common.