Puppy Intrigue

Really, now. People are accusing the president of "planting" this dog in a home, which would subsequently say the dog didn't work out so it could look like they adopted a rescued dog, and that the dog was intended for the Obamas all along. Don't people have anything better to do than speculate on what the Obamas have for lunch and their supposed PR plots? What's next? Will they be accused of "sneaking" pesticides into their "organic" garden?

Barack was quite clear in saying they'd prefer to rescue a shelter dog, but had to take Malia's allergies into consideration. As a result, they've adopted a Portie (Portugese Water Dog) courtesy Ted Kennedy that is a "sort of" rescue dog since he was taken out of a home where he was no longer wanted, and they have donated generously to the Humane Society, to boot. Seems like a quite responsible way to go, to me. Have any of the other First Dogs (or cats) been rescue animals? I'm not really sure. What I am sure of, is that all the coverage of the ins and outs of the White House these days are starting to look like our weird obsession with England's royalty, only tenfold.

All this silliness DOES highlight the need to consider a shelter dog when adopting, which can't be a bad thing. Oh, and, I know I've said it before, but don't add to the problem. Get your pets spayed and neutered.

The Doors of Opportunity

"That is why we will provide the support necessary for you to complete college and meet a new goal: by 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.[...]

These education policies will open the doors of opportunity for our children. But it is up to us to ensure they walk through them. In the end, there is no program or policy that can substitute for a mother or father who will attend those parent/teacher conferences, or help with homework after dinner, or turn off the TV, put away the video games, and read to their child. I speak to you not just as a President, but as a father when I say that responsibility for our children’s education must begin at home."

President Obama in an address to a joint session of Congress tonight.


While there was a lot he said that meant a lot to me, on this one all I can say is, amen.

On a related note, my 16-year-old son Brandon is in the process of filling out paperwork to apply for Tennessee Governor's Academy for Mathematics and Science. It means he'd live in Knoxville (1.5 hours away) for the better part of the year (rough on me!), but it also means he'd have some amazing educational opportunities in the field he's interested in, engineering, and an educational environment that encourages experimentation and exploration... which is more than can be said for pretty much any public school system I've known. It'll be amazingly competitive - 24 students for the entire state. My feelings are mixed but he is extremely excited about this opportunity and I can only hope he makes the cut. But the first thing I thought when I discovered that this amazing school even exists was, kudos Governor Bredesen! I only wish the opportunity was available to more students. Whether Bran makes it or not I consider it a huge honor that he was offered the chance to apply.

Letter from the (almost) President

I mostly try to keep politics out of this blog (sometimes unsuccessfully, I know), but on the day after the election I want to say something. I got the following email with the subject line "How this Happened" at 11:18 last night. Before Obama's acceptance speech, and about 20 minutes after Florida pushed him over the 270 electoral votes he needed to win.

Deanna --

I'm about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but I wanted to write to you first.

We just made history.

And I don't want you to forget how we did it.

You made history every single day during this campaign -- every day you knocked on doors, made a donation, or talked to your family, friends, and neighbors about why you believe it's time for change.

I want to thank all of you who gave your time, talent, and passion to this campaign.

We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I'll be in touch soon about what comes next.

But I want to be very clear about one thing...

All of this happened because of you.

Thank you,

Barack


This touched me. Before he went to celebrate his victory, he took a moment to thank the people who campaigned for him and donated to his campaign, and to claim his victory, not for himself, but for them. He did the same in the acceptance speech. "This is your victory," he said. "We didn't start with a lot of money..." And that's true, he didn't have Mitt Romney money to spend on this himself, he didn't have lobbyist money. What he did have, and does have, is an incredible ability to inspire. Two thirds of people under 30 voted for Obama. And -- this is the statistic that is important to me -- 11% of the electorate yesterday was people who have never voted before. Three quarters of those voted for Obama. Even John McCain, in his concession speech, tipped his hat to Barack for his ability to inspire people to come to the polls. That is remarkable.

I said in a myspace bulletin yesterday, urging people to go and vote, that the next president will be the first since Franklin Delano Roosevelt to inherit a country under both financial and foreign policy crises, and that I believe Barack Obama can step into those shoes. And the letter above reinforced that opinion. Roosevelt's famous fireside chats took advantage of the most current media of the day to step into people's homes and make them feel like the president was their friend and concerned about their problems. Barack is taking advantage of email, youtube, and the Internet to do the same. I had the feeling last night as I read that, that I could send him a letter and he would read it. And it would matter. I don't know if that's the case -- and I'm aware that the email could have been pre-written and sent by one of his "people." Still, the feeling is there, and the fact that he inspired it impresses me.

I saw history made last night, and not because the first black man became President of the United States. I truly hope that within my lifetime we can have an election with a woman, or a person of any non-white race, and it's not a big deal. We can look at their personhood and their qualifications and not this periperhal stuff. No, that's not what I mean by making history. Last night, for the first time in my lifetime, I had the feeling that the man we elected is a great man. There have been few enough of those in American history, and fewer still in the oval office, and heaven knows we need one now.