Thought for the Day

My 16-year-old son Isaac believes that if Bill Clinton was the first black president, then Barack Obama is the first Jewish president. Is there anything more to this than Obama's being the first president to host a seder in the White House? Clinton seemed to merit his distinction by a certain elective affinity with blacks. Certainly he was wildly popular among them. Obama did just fine among Jews last November, but hardly on the same scale. At the same time, his somewhat deracinated upbringing, meritocratic progress through plumiest groves of academe, and close association with Axelrod, Emanuel & Co. does suggest something...