Candidate or saint?

Librarians have been discussing the new childrens' biographies of Barack Obama and John McCain for several weeks, but the controversy has now reached the wider world of the N.Y. Times and its readers. In a review this weekend, Bruce Handy raises the question of whether anyone can live up to the "symbolic, even messianic, baggage" he's been given. It's important for children to know that the election of an African American president would be a milestone for the United States, but raising the stakes so high without mentioning the problems and struggles he'll be facing if elected puts an unfair burden on any human being. The job of President is a difficult and important one and all of our leaders have struggled to meet the challenges. We would serve the candidates better by giving children a simple, straightforward account of how the two leading candidates have demonstrated the promise that let's people believe they can do a good job rather than talking about either one of them in terms of mystical hopes and dreams. Children deserve the truth as we know it, they do not need to be fed the longings of adults whose expectations are beyond what any human being could meet.