By now, you may have heard about Obama’s joke about being a mutt while discussing what kind of puppy he and his wife will get for his daughters. It seems some folks are offended by that, which took me by surprise. I’ve referred to myself as a mutt for a long time. Although I look white and I check white on forms, there is at least one black member of my family tree. Not close enough that I could ever claim to be biracial–they lived back in the 1800s. But in the US, most of us probably are mutts to some degree.
Even in the rest of my family tree, people come from many different places. I’m probably misremembering since geneology doesn’t fascinate me a lot, but I know there is English, Irish, German, and, I think, French in there. As it turns out, my dad found living relatives in Germany, and discovered that they originally came from Greece. None of these countries predominate in my bloodlines. So what am I? I’m American. I’m a mutt. And it doesn’t bother me in the least to say that.
Darlin’, I right there with you – pure mutt. My background is Polish, Swedish, Danish, and French-Austrian. Not sure which of the French or Austrian predominates. Hubby says that the mix of Polish and Swedish makes me Norwegian. I’m cool with it all.
I thought it endearing that Obama would promise his daughters a dog while making his acceptance speech. There’s absolutely no getting out of that one, is there?
I agree, and I’d say his daughters earned that puppy. They’ve sacrificed a lot of time with their father so he can help the rest of us. Heck, *I* would be willing to get them that puppy!
Here’s to the mutts of the world. Aww, heck, here’s to the purebreds as well. We’re all people, no matter what our lineage.