Many thanks to Scott Herhold, who was one of the judges in Water, No Ice's First Annual Essay Contest. He writes an article that appeared today in the San Jose Mercury News highlighting not just the talent but the optimism of the new generation. Some excerpts:

These weren't ordinary kids. They were the children of Indian immigrants with high expectations. I read the top 10 essays culled by the editors of the Web site "Water No Ice" (www.waternoice.com), a cultural voice for Indians in the Bay Area. (The name comes from the Indian preference for ordering water, but no ice, in restaurants.)

He finds that the contestants share a strong belief in the power of the presidency( possibly the influence of the incumbent's appropriation of executive authority?)

If you had to find a common theme in the kids' writing, it might be the belief in a president who has extraordinary power and sweats the details.

He remarks on the hopeful, positive and encouraging tone of the essays.

These kids were far more optimistic. In their essays, you could see a common yearning to use the presidency as a wise parent might – even if that meant stepping on traditional American civil liberties.

One essayist pledged that he would sit down with Fed chairman Ben Bernanke and start a stock market rally. Another, zealous to halt crime, proposed that the police install security systems in the home of every American. "My vision is to make the country peaceful," the student wrote. "No more worries. No more war."

So what does this mean for American politics? Particularly if you think, like I do, that we'll eventually have an Indo-American president? (emphasis mine)