By Sean Ruppert, Staff Writer
On Tuesday the eyes of the nation turned toward the Capitol to watch Barack Obama be sworn in as the nation’s 44th president.
While most had to settle for watching the event on television, one East Windsor family got to experience history firsthand, thanks to the interest of their 9-year-old son.
Jonathan Mondschein, a third-grader at the Grace Norton Rogers Elementary School, likes politics. He is his class’ representative on student council and regularly plays The Political Machine, a computer game that allows participants to manage a presidential campaign from its inception through Election Day.
Though it may seem a surprisingly mature interest for a child his age, it’s even more unusual considering the fact that the family were not Obama supporters during the election.
Jonathan’s mother, Ellen Mondschein, said the family began the election as Sen. Hillary Clinton supporters, then switched to Republican Sen. John McCain after Mr. Obama secured the Democratic nomination. Jonathan even voted for Sen. McCain in a mock election at his school.
”When it became clear that Obama was going to win though, we recognized that he is our president and that we should support him,” Ms. Mondschein said.
She said she believes her son’s interest in politics comes from her and her husband sharing their interest with their son.
”I always brought him into the voting both with me,” Ms. Mondschein said. “And ever since the start of this particular campaign we had been following it closely and discussing it.”
When inauguration day was starting to near, Jonathan’s parents had an idea.
”My dad told me that if I wrote the congressman and asked, I might get tickets for the inauguration,” Jonathan said. “I wanted to try it, so I wrote Congressman Chris Smith and told him that I was interested in politics and that I was my class representative.”
In a letter sent to the Republican congressman’s Washington, D.C. office on Nov. 10, Jonathan laid out his case in scratchy handwriting.
”My name is Jonathan Mondschein and I am nine years old,” he began. “I want to congratulate you on winning a 15th term as our congressman.”
He went on to describe his interest in the government and requested three tickets for his family to the event.
”I would like to be there with my mom and dad to witness this important day in the history of our country,” he wrote.
The congressman would fulfill the request, sending them tickets to view the swearing in of the nation’s first African-American president.
Ms. Mondschein said the family arrived at the Capitol at 6 a.m. Tuesday, but the crowd was so big that they were not able to reach their seats through all the pedestrian traffic till about 8:20 a.m. The air was certainly cold, but the feel in the air was anything but.
”Everyone was in such a happy mood, even while being packed in like sardines,” Ms. Mondschein said. “There were two million people there, and yet everyone was so polite. I can’t even describe what it is like being in the middle of two million people saying ‘Obama,’ or ‘yes we can.’ I have never been in a crowd like that before in my life.”
Ms. Mondschein estimated that the family sat less than 2,000 feet from where President Obama took the oath of office, which she said was her favorite part of the ceremony.
Jonathan said his favorite part was when the country’s former presidents came onto the stage. Asked if he would one day like to be involved in politics, Jonathan offered a not-so-surprising response.
”Yeah,” he said. “I might want to be involved.”

