"Tinker, tailor,
Soldier, sailor,
Rich man, poor man,
Beggar man, thief."

President WASP
The United States of America is the world's most successful multicultural society. One is tempted to say Canada, except for the pesky Anglophone/Francophone divide. American society is far from perfect, Lord kows, and we have not yet succeeded in eradicating racial, ethnic, and religious bigotry, but I say that we have been more successful than any other society in history.

That said, why is it that only white males with British surnames get elected President of the United States? There have been forty-three presidents with thirty-eight different last names. Three presidents had Dutch names (two of them from the same extended family), two had German names, and two were Micks, but all the others have had arguably English or Scottish names. John Kerry (Irish-ish) was not elected, but he came damned close. Would he have done as well had his family name not been changed from Kohn?

{Limeys}
George Washington
John Adams
Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
James Monroe
John Quincy Adams
Andrew Jackson
William Henry Harrison
John Tyler
James Polk
Zachary Taylor
Millard Fillmore
Franklin Pierce
James Buchanan
Abraham Lincoln
Andrew Johnson
Ulysses Grant
Rutherford Hayes
James Garfield
Chester Arthur
Grover Cleveland (twice)
Benjamin Harrison
William McKinley
William Taft
Woodrow Wilson
Warren Harding
Calvin Coolidge
Harry Truman
Lyndon Johnson
Richard Nixon
Gerald Ford
James Carter
George Bush
William Clinton
George W. Bush

{Dutch... insulting enough}
Martin Van Buren
Theodore Roosevelt
Franklin Roosevelt

{Krauts}
Herbert Hoover
Dwight Eisenhower

{Micks}
John Kennedy
Ronald Reagan

And tomorrow? The one day a year when it is okay, encouraged even, to disparage the culture and traditions of an entire people. Saint Patrick's Day, when the entire country comes together to belittle the Irish. May you all choke on your green beer.