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The Neighborhood Ball.
21-Jan-09Last night I was at the home of an elderly Italian gentleman and found, to my surprise, one of the inaugural balls on television (did they do this in the past?). There was Beyonce, Sting, Mariah Carey and the like with Barack and Michelle and friends dancing in a little special stage for them. It didn’t look very Viennese or ball-like, to be quite honest; it was a bit shocking for me to see the President dancing to the kind of music that might have been played at my sister’s wedding. And of course, I was very curious to hear what this Italian gentleman, in his 80s – who every day wears a pressed button-down shirt and pleated pants, and on cooler days a cashmere sweater, and who even though it’s not that easy on his knees will always rise to greet someone and will always escort you to the door – thought about seeing a black president dancing onstage to music by Mariah Carey.
He turned and said to me, “It’s so good to see a young man in the presidency.”