Tip O'Neill, the former Speaker of the House and namesake of our library here at Boston College, once remarked, "All politics is local." All politicians are not, however, and the three remaining presidential candidates show this through their wide-ranging personal experiences and politically convenient life choices.
John McCain, the consummate American citizen and military poster boy, did not have a stereotypical American childhood. Though elected to be a senator in Arizona, where he has lived since 1981, McCain was not born in that state - or any other, for that matter. McCain was born in 1936 at Coco Solo Naval Air Station, in the U.S.-controlled Panama Canal Zone. After bouncing around the Pacific and living on several naval air bases, the McCain family settled in Alexandria, Va., in 1951. From there, it was on to Annapolis, Md., for the Naval Academy and his famous five years in Vietnam's "Hanoi Hilton" as a prisoner of war.
When he returned to the United States, McCain served as the Navy's liaison to the U.S. Senate. That got him thinking about a political career of his own, but his constant moving as a child and lack of definitive roots left open a pivotal question: where from? McCain's answer came along with his new wife, Cindy Hensley, the daughter of a wealthy family in Phoenix. Taking special care to move just barely into the 1st Congressional District and make ties with local high-profile political donors, McCain ran for Congress in 1982 and won.
There were those who questioned his motives and charged him with "carpetbagging," political slang for seeking office in a place where one has no previous connection. A voter confronted McCain about this, and he dismissed the charge with a devastating response: "I wish I could have had the luxury, like you, of growing up and living and spending my entire life in a nice place like the 1st District of Arizona, but I was doing other things. As a matter of fact, when I think about it now, the place I lived longest in my life was Hanoi." McCain's personal story is a powerful weapon against political criticism, and he wields it with precision.
Hillary Clinton grew up in a typical American fashion, but had a difficult time finding a political home. Her childhood was spent in Park Ridge, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. She moved northeast for her education, attending Wellesley College and Yale Law School, where she famously met Bill Clinton. They moved to Arkansas and married in 1975, and by 1978, Bill was governor of the state. Though she was tremendously accomplished on her own, Bill's role as governor built a strong base of support for her in the Arkansas political scene.
Their role in Arkansas ended in 1992, when Bill was elected president and Hillary became first lady. Just as 12 years in the spotlight helped her gain a political base in Arkansas, Clinton made many connections in the Washington political scene over her eight years there. It became clear that once Bill left office, it was to be Hillary's turn to run. The only question was, again, where from?
The Clintons answered that question by purchasing a house in Chappaqua, N.Y., in September 1999. Since longtime Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan was retiring, Hillary jumped into the 2000 Senate race despite allegations of carpetbagging. Her high national profile meant that New York voters needed a reintroduction to Hillary, which she offered through a county-by-county "listening tour." The state elected her in 2000 despite her lack of roots there, and she won 68 of New York's 72 counties. Though she had never lived there before seeking office, New York has embraced Hillary Clinton as one of their own.
Ironically, the candidate with the most unusual family background and childhood experiences has the most local political trajectory. Barack Obama was born in Hawaii, but spent most of his childhood in Indonesia because his mother remarried. He returned to Hawaii for high school, and attended college at Occidental College in Los Angeles before transferring to Columbia University in New York City.
Obama's multi-racial and multi-national background is the subject of the first part of his autobiography, Dreams From My Father. The second part concerns his decision to move to Chicago after graduation to organize steel workers and churches on the South Side of Chicago. Obama learned the ins and outs of the community, got a feel for the political scene, and realized that he wanted to do more. He came to Harvard Law School, where he became president of the Harvard Law Review, thereby completing his west-to-east trek across America, from Hawaii to Cambridge.
With these bona fides, he could have gotten a job anywhere he pleased, but chose to return to Chicago. Obama married Michelle Robinson soon after he returned, settled down in the city, and was elected to the Illinois State Senate in 1996. After an unsuccessful congressional bid in 2000, Obama ran for U.S. Senate in 2004 and won.
Though Chicago is his adopted hometown, Obama's ties to the city are strong. Chicago's famously bitter political scene helped toughen Obama up for the 2004 race and provided him with a valuable base of support. Obama used the connections he made to further his political career, but he also felt more at home in the South Side community than anywhere else in his travels.
Obama's political rise, though often singled out as unusual and meteoric, is far more conventional than either Clinton's or McCain's. Though both candidates may have a more typical family history than Obama, there is nothing conventional about their political careers. McCain and Clinton both picked the most convenient places from which to run, and jumped immediately into national office. Even Obama consciously chose to return to Chicago, where he had political connections already, to begin his career. Ours is an increasingly mobile and globalizing world, where cross-country and international moves are commonplace. The life stories of our three remaining candidates reflect that new reality. All three have unique backgrounds, and chose their homes strategically to help shape their political destiny. This should give some heart to those of us graduating college soon. It may be up to you to decide where to call home and what to do with your life, but regardless of your background, it's possible to remake yourself and thrive anywhere in America.
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