It's always fascinating how US citizens universalise their cultural practices. Is there any other nation in which middle and upper class families routinely send children away during holidays? (FYI, for the rest of the world it ranks right up alongside fraternities/sororities and the NRA for sheer cultural weirdness). And what does this practice say about the US character - or at least the character of the power classes?

It would be equally fascinating to know if Obama, McCain and Still-President Bush went to camp - and if so,did they hate it, like it, or really really like it...

I' m betting Bush went and he loved it, was an obnoxious bully, strutting to be center of attention, presenting self as decent athlete but never actually achieving much. Fits right in with being a cheerleader at Yale, right?

Obama, I bet he didn't do camp. His childhood not white mainstream. Most away camp is white mainstream, I am guessing but having said that, I recall a short story from African American writer Z. Z. Packer's collected 'Drinking Coffee Elsehwere' about a summer camp for African American girls. A great short story. One group of campers is developmentally disabled and stigmatized by some little girls. As you read it, you can hear screen doors slamming with kids running in and out of cabins, hear flies buzzing, splashes over by the lake. So, with this scant evidence, I acknowledge black Americans also go to summer camp, although none of my few black friends did.

McCain? If he went, I bet he hated it. Now I am thinking of his prison camp experience.

I would love to know if these men went to summer camp and how they liked it.

Your post says more about you than the candidates...

It's always fascinating how non-US citizens take obligatory jabs at the American character whenever they read an article of this sort. Slate being an American publication, I don't see any need to add an obvious disclaimer to any article about American culture (warning: this may not apply to any Australians, Brazilians, Somalis, etc...reading this article).

As for camp in other countries, it is very common for relativley affluent Canadians to send their kids off to summer camp.

My goodness, you've got a big ugly chip on your shoulder, don't you? Who cares if summer camp is a common practice unique to the US? Big deal. I'm sure there are similar practices that are common/unique to other countries. Great, more power to them.

And..what the hell is the 'US character?' Considering that this country is truly a melting pot of peoples and cultures from around the world, there is no one stereotype of a US citizen. You sound like a first-year college student at some ultra-liberal school who's flexing her muscles after having taken one class in world cultures.

You know what's really hilarious about this article? It's not a universalization of a U.S. cultural practice. It's the universalization of an upper-middle-class East Coast cultural practice that (as far as I can tell) has been in the process of dying out since the late 70s.

Sending your kids away for a full summer isn't even universal to the whole U.S. In the Midwest, at least, this is considered just as weird and foreign as you view it, tui girl. Even the kids I know who grew up wealthy never did this.

I can't tell you all the conversations I've had over the years trying to figure out who, exactly, did have these experiences and why the hell they were constantly being presented as this completely normal thing that we'll totally identify with because everybody does.

I always thought full-summer sleep-away camp was just a convenient plot device for teen sex comedies.

I'm with you on that. But the whole reason that I sent my kids to summer camp is that I NEED a break and I strongly convinced myself that they need to get wild into the wood, not parks in the city.

Secondly, as far as Campers concern, the country is not in trouble - hey! Why can't we all go camp out? Heck with the housing crisses!

Now that's just poking fun.

TreeFitz, that entire bit mocking McCain's incarceration is inappropriate, and reminds us that there are bad people of every political persuasian. As for President Bush, I'm not a fan of his policies or of the political company he keeps, but being a male cheerleader or dancer does require a certain degree of athleticism that surpasses "more manly sports" except at the top levels of competition.