Memo to the President

I know you read my blog, Mr. Obama, so please listen up.

A piece of advice: whenever a calamity happens - like, oh, I don't know, the BP oil spill disaster, you're first priority is to let people know that you care and are involved and doing all you can. We (the voters) don't care nearly as much about whether it works or not, but care more that you try and we don't know you are working on our behalf unless you are publicly seen to be doing something. How different the national reaction to your response would have been if

1) you had immediately flown down to Louisiana and held a press briefing personally letting the public know that you were just about to head into a meeting with BP officials to find out what the fuck was going on and what they were going to be doing about it and if it didn't get fixed in, I dunno, a week? heads were going to roll.

2) When it didn't get fixed in a week you wield that executive power you have under some sort of emergency mandate and take control of the situation. I don't know - nationalize the US operations of BP or something (lol - that sure would piss off the Tea Party people, but if it got the job done, it would win you much respect from the sane constituency who would then see BP as the culprits instead of blaming you for not doing anything except working with the people that caused this mess).

Your biggest mistakes -

1) Holding a meeting on Day 1 of the emergency in your office in the White House where nobody could see you.

2) Claiming in retrospect that you've been doing something and getting pissy with people who question your commitment. You're the President, and as such you need to be in the public eye doing stuff, not just being a celebrity.

Also, it doesn't seem to be your rhetorical style, I guess, but really, your "let's-be-reasonable" rhetoric isn't working for the American people anyway. Historically, it's the politicians who make declarative, forthright, uncompromising statements of action and belief, and then use the "let's-be-reasonable" take w/ the other politicians that win the respect and confidence of the American people as a whole - FDR, JFK, LBJ, Reagan, hell - as much as I disliked him as President, Clinton: who managed to make different declarative statements to different publics . . .

With all due respect Mr. President - get on the ball.

(Oh - and kudos (w/ all appropriate reservations) on healthcare, the nuclear reduction treaty, and saving the economy from utter collapse)

Thanks for reading,

djo