Oliver chose to support Obama during the primaries in the Fall of 2007. It was confusing and frustrating to him to have to wait until November of 2008 to cast a vote. Occasionally he would get agitated by news reports on the radio in which Clinton or McCain said that Obama wouldn't win. These he took to be election results. Thankfully, they weren't.
This fall Oliver watched the main convention speeches and the debates and asked us quite a few questions about them. He was intrigued by the idea that people who love each other--family and friends--would have different political views. He wondered aloud one day whether I would still love him if he supported McCain.
It was clear that my ballot was at least half his, and I was glad for a ceremonial marker to my return home from a 5 day trip. Oliver asked about every single proposition--what it meant and why I voted the way I did. When we turned in our ballot he asked for two "I voted" stickers and wore his proudly all day. His TA reported that at lunch time he shouted out, "I voted for Barack Obama this morning." When some children asked for a story, he began to tell about the different political views of the characters from the Hundred Acre Wood. Since I wasn't there to hear it, I'll offer his summary: Roo, Kanga, Pooh, and Piglet went for Obama, whilst Rabbit, the gopher, and Tigger voted for McCain. (Just in case you're wondering, humans didn't vote, nobody asked Eeyore, and Owl was not allowed to vote.)
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