Pre-Ramble:  Election returns are so festive … and, even amidst all of the drama around who will be elected in this precinct or that, so predictable … (particularly in Minnesota where the decision between Tweedledum and Tweedledee isn’t complete without a massively expensive and time-consuming recount).

Such a patriotic scene … the huge furling American flag backdrop; … tidy color-by-number map to designate states that voted red and states that voted blue; …  goofy mascots; … the big scoreboard with a running tally of percentage of votes in; … and, the requisite quasi-diverse panel of  “experts” wearing red and blue striped ties and offering up continuous color-commentary.

Pass the Cheetos - What a fun game this is!  … ”Shellacked” Democrats, heads hanging, make barely-audible conciliatory sounds about faulty listening skills and aggressive agendas … Emboldened Republicans point told-you-so fingers and exchange high-fives, using words like ”The American people have sent a message!” … Referendum … and, Two more years, succa!!! … The only thing missing here are dread-locks hanging over a couple of collars, scantily-clad dance teams, and fans in face-paint.  Go Red!!! Go White!!! Go Blue!!! My team wins, your team loses!!! We are so going to bury you!!! Nah-nah-na-boo-boo!!!

Except, this isn’t a game.

We don’t get to just dust ourselves off, pack up the pom-poms and fire the coach when it’s over. This entrenched political exercise has some very real consequences in the lives of ”ordinary Americans” — those people that candidates keep pandering to, but really don’t know how to define or reach. While the victor du jour is busy printing up new calling cards and changing the name plates on the revolving door, who is doing any meaningful work for the American people?  The fall-out from of this volley of fist-pumping and hand-wringing is that neither team actually has the time or traction, nor, I fear, intention, to move the ball forward in any meaningful way.

The Take-Away: BOTH PARTIES are “misunderstanding the message” of this election. The dynamics of this repetitive, binary, zero-sum-game have become exhausting and dysfunctional. The last thing we need in our precarious economic recovery period is another round of trash talk and celebration in the end-zone. We need some important stuff done around here. 

We need to get this house in order so we can have jobs to do and actual houses to come home to. (Never mind clean air and water, decent healthcare, and a competitive edge in the global marketplace.)  We need the politicians who have been granted the honor of public service to buckle down, roll up their sleeves, and GET THEIR WORK DONE. As far as I can see, the only way they are going to do that is to stop playing partisan games (are you listening, Representative Boehner?) and work t-o-g-e-t-h-e-r. 

Seriously. The American people aren’t some arm-chair quarterback — WE ARE THE COACH. And, unless I am mistaken, the coach gets to call the plays. It’s TEAM AMERICA we’re working for, so damn it, … get out there … one … two … three … break!

Pre-Ramble:  So, I am totally tardy in weighing in on President Obama’s message to the nation’s schoolchildren yesterday.  The thing is, I am actually so stunned by the reaction of those who object to the president’s speech to students, even more so of those who object to the president addressing students at all, that I can barely pull my thoughts together. 

In his speech, President Obama draws upon personal experiences and makes the case for the role of education in a successful life.

He highlights education as the great equalizer and speaks to the challenges faced by young people in a media culture that often presents an unrealistic view of the world and can serve as a distraction from the knowledge, skills, habits and attitudes which would advance the likelihood of a successful future in it. 

The truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And, you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.”

What parent doesn’t want their child to hear that message?  What parent doesn’t want their child to work hard and stay in school?  What parent would rather take their child OUT OF SCHOOL, than have them listen to the president of the United States give an18 minute pep talk around the importance of education and personal responsibility?  (Are they as vigilant about what their kids are listening to the other 1,422 minutes in a day?) What parent doesn’t want their child to hear new ideas; ideas that might be counter to the ones that they hear at home?  What parent/American citizen doesn’t want their child to be more engaged in what is going on in their community, country and world?

Parents who don’t want their children to listen to the president talk about the value of education are, at the very least, missing a teachable moment — an opportunity to talk to their kids about the things that matter to them, to share their own perspectives on issues and invite their children to think for themselves about the things that are happening around them.

The Take-Away:  The more I think about it, the more I want my child to listen to that speech twice.

Pre-Ramble:  Hi all – it’s me, Daisy … I’ll be your guest writer for today, since Mom is still crawling around in the yard frantically pulling out dead annuals. … I continue to be amused by her pathetic attempt to keep some semblance of a garden growing out there.  Sure, living in a shady wooded area has its challenges, but I have to think that there is more than just a “zone issue” going on here. I’m thinking user error.

(You wouldn’t know it, but the former owner of our house was a Master Gardener and had left behind an entire phased plan for expansion of his grand vision. The first spring we were here, the grounds sprang alive with colorful groupings of exotic perennials. We aren’t allowed to mention that Mom accidentally pulled most of them out in year two, thinking they were weeds.)

So, whatever – that isn’t what I want to tell you about … I want to tell you about the VIP letter I received in the mail yesterday. You may recall my earlier post (Puppy Primer, April 15, 2009) wherein I offered a few pointers (I am part Pointer, afterall … ) to Bo, the Obama’s new dog. 

Well, lo and behold, Bo wrote back!!  Actually, the letter was probably drafted by some of Bo’s “people” and was signed by First Lady, Michelle Obama (the whole opposable thumbs thing). The letter was printed on a piece of crisp white paper that said “The White House” in blue letters at the top. Along with it was a card with Bo’s official portrait on the front (see above right) and some pertinent doggie info on the back. (Little known facts: Bo’s favorite food is tomatoes! (yuck) … And, even though he is a Portuguese water dog, Bo doesn’t know how to swim … !?)

The Take-Away: Like the Commander-in-Chief, Bo is a personable, responsive, well-mannered guy. I’m thrilled that he would take time out of his busy schedule (“making friends with foreign dognitaries”) to send me a note —

Pre-Ramble:  I’m sure there has been way more written about this incident than is necessary or desirable, but when has that ever stopped me?  By now, we’ve all seen the photo-op of what has been flippantly referred to as “The White House Beer Garden” (WSJ); “Foaming Diplomacy” (St. Paul Pioneer Press); ”Red, Lite and Blue Summit” (MSNBC); and my personal favorite, “The Keggar” (David Letterman).

I’m talking about the carefully choreographed shot of President Obama, professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and police Sgt. James Crowley ”hoisting a conciliatory beer around a picnic table next to the White House ‘s new swing set,” following an unfortunate altercation on Prof. Gates doorstep earlier in the week. Vice President Biden was also included at the last minute, even though he had committed no gaffe related to the incident (give him time).

In case you’ve been sequestered in some kind of isolation tank for the past two weeks, Sgt. Crowley responded to a call on a possible break-in at a Cambridge home and ended up arresting Prof. Gates for disorderly conduct, even after becoming aware that Gates was, in fact, the home’s owner. A week later, President Obama exacerbated matters when commenting off-handedly (at a news conference) that the Cambridge police had “acted stupidly” in arresting Gates — a word choice that he later qualified as regrettable.

So, Harvard scholar Gates, … weary having just returned from a trip to China, becomes agitated when he can’t open his own front door.  And Sgt. Crowley, … police officer doing his job, follows up on a call from a neighbor who had spotted a disgruntled man rattling around on Gate’s porch in the middle of the night.

Vigilant officer meets thwarted homeowner — soon, the situation has escalated into an event. Gates is throwing around emphatic exclamatories, and Crowley, tweaked by the tirade, carries out his duty to the very letter of the law. We weren’t there, we don’t know. And, thankfully, that isn’t even the point.

As a kid growing up in a Detroit suburb during the 60′s, I can remember hearing the distant sounds of riots in the middle of the night. And, remember Rodney King? … Fast forward a couple decades — we all know that this whole thing could have gone so much worse.

If we’re smart, we also recognize that the behavior of either Gates or Crowley could have been any one of us, responding inappropriately to a situation that gets the better of us. While President Obama probably should have declined to respond publically to the incident (doesn’t he have other important stuff going on?), the planets couldn’t have been lined up any better for the swift diffusion of this potentially explosive ”teachable moment.”  Stating the obvious, as a black man with a bi-racial heritage, President Obama is in the unique position to bring a deeper and more immediate understanding to the elusive dynamics of race relations in America. 

The Take-Away:  While hot spots of racial tension and its sad effects still smolder under the surface, the acceptance and respect demonstrated in the disarming tone of the Beer Summit models a new way to address our differences and handle the inevitable bumps that pop up. Whether we’re sitting on the White House lawn or in our own backyards, it shows that we can simmer down, sit around a table, look each other in the eye, and talk about things. We can find a common ground and choose to move forward to higher ground together.

Gates and Crowley had like sentiments following the reconsiliatory gathering:

[The day became an opportunity to] move not just the City of Cambridge or two individuals past this event, but the whole country beyond this and toward some meaningful discussion in the future … we didn’t spend too much time dwelling on the past … we spent a lot of time discussing the future.”  — Sgt. Crowley

It is incumbent upon Mr. Crowley and me to utilize the great opportunity that fate has given us to foster greater sympathy among the American public for the daily perils of policing on the one hand, and for the genuine fears of racial profiling on the other hand.” — Prof. Gates

Post-Note:  As a strong proponent of civic responsibility and long time fan of Gladys Kravitz (the Steven’s nosy neighbor on the 1970′s television series, Bewitched), I applaud Lucia Whalen, the individual who made the 911 call to Cambridge police, and welcome her to watch my back anytime.

Pre-Ramble: In the interest of aiding the ailing economy, President Obama should supersede the First Amendment and ban the media from using the following words unless they are covering submarine maneuvers, roller-coasters, or souffles:

Ailing, fall, crash, drop, plunge, plummet, nose-dive, decline, downturn, sinking, slide, slump, spasm, outflow, dip, dent, recession, depression, hopeless, despair, gloom, doom, misery, woes, intensified, large-scale, cut-backs, lower-than-expected, sharp-drop, blackened, dark, evaporated, cratered, tanking, slashing, frenzy, collapse, stoppage, quagmire, topsy-turvy, crisis, struggle, battered, disgruntled, barrage, mangy, flagging, weakness, suffer, staggering, losses, dismal, unnerving, reckless, trauma, loser, bust, tumble, stumble, wallow, bottomed-out, hemorrhaging, critical, not-so-good, worse, suck, clench, jolt, shudder, yank, twitching, default, implode, undermine, fanning-the-flames, massive, destruction, troubled, vast, unsustainable, alarming, magnitude, fearful, scared, scarred, anxious, jobless, yipes, nervous, thrashing, trouncing, failure, demise, closure, deflated, epic, stupor and grim.

The Take-Away: The constant barrage use of Chicken Little language will only make things worse less good. Please suggest any other words that need to be added to the master list.

Pre-Ramble: Hi, it’s me Daisy… Mom asked me to write the blog today, since she’s busy working on the book. The door to her office closed, so I guess she means business. Frankly, it’s about time… I’ve been dogging her for weeks to get going on that. I’ll give her at least 20 minutes before I start barking and carrying on.

Today I’m going to bring some much-needed synchronicity to President Obama’s economic recovery plan. While he has called upon each one of us to step-up and do our part, I’m guessing that he and his new pack of advisors have inadvertently overlooked a huge untapped resource – the doggy demographic. Dogs basically lie around all day; why not put that boundless bundle of exuberance and potential energy to work?

Cut to a story that I heard on Science Friday (National Public Radio) last week about a little slice of heaven called the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Deep Sea Sample Repository. Founded by Maurice Ewing in 1949, this place collects and archives “sediment cores” - essentially, long tubes of dirt – taken from sites all around the world. A special oceanographic research vessel scopes down through 2 or 3 km of water and 30 to 40 feet into the ocean floor to extract the muddy time-capsules which reveal invaluable historical climate data dating back millions of years. There are currently over 18,000 of them on file in the refrigerated basement repository.

Dirt!!!…  Digging!!! … Barack!! … Hello!?! …We can totally help with that!!!  Personally, I don’t like to get my paws dirty, but my buddies, like Turbo at right, are all over it. Who wants to chew on shoes or rawhide (a seriously disgusting and misguided notion) when they can be digging on the beach and making a meaningful contribution to science?

The Take-Away: Innovation is the name of the game here. If we are going to unearth real solutions to our toughest problems, we need to be willing to think about things in new ways. Whether it’s bringing in the dogs to help with the dirty work, creating new alliances with AmeriCorps, or appointing a Chief Innovation Officer - in this “flat new world” we need a strategy that nurtures the core values of ingenuity and hard work that are the foundation of our heritage as a nation.  

Carpe caninae, Barack! … Seize the dogs!

Pre-Ramble: The Inauguration of Barack Obama will be remembered as a profoundly significant event. The crowd, the security, the cold, the ceremony, the oath, the speech, the message, the flags, the cheers, the tears, the poem, the daughters, the dignitaries, the stars, the song, the invocation, the parade, the ball, the dress, the dance - a crescendo of pageantry ushering our rock-star, superhero, champion-of-all-things-good-and-noble across America and into the White House. A dizzying spectacle of patriotic pride and unity unparalleled in the history of our country.

No pressure there. In a gasp to manage expectations, the newly elected president tempers his much-anticipated Inaugural Address with the recognition that exceedingly hard work awaits us in the days and weeks ahead, stressing that “the challenges we face are real, they are serious and they are many… “  He acknowledges as well that these challenges “will not be met easily or in a short span of time.” Once in the White House, the anointed leader finds his way to the Oval Office, unpacks his pencils, and looks to an exhaustive list of to-dos. He signs a series of executive orders designed to make a clean and intentional break from “business as usual” and establish a “shovel-ready” tone around his transition effort. Sure – smart, strategic, prudent.

But no! Even before the last Inaugural port-o-potty has rolled off the National Mall, journalists are already ambushing the President in the press room, and giddy critics scrutinize the fall-out from Week One. Week One!? Apparently, some of the new president’s most ardent supporters already feel “let down”… It has been only two-and-a-half months since Mr. Obama was elected, but his Yes We Can coalition is already “fraying at the edges...,”… “Mr. Obama’s willingness to adapt carries the risk that he will either alienate his liberal base or fail to convert Republicans whose support he hopes to win…,” … Critics warn that the White House must “follow up their words with real behavior“…

OH, FOR PETE’S SAKE!  We just elected this guy! Less than a week ago he was the symbol of national unity, charged with Camelot magic, and gazing into the eyes of his best girl on the dance floor. What happened to the honeymoon? The First Hundred Days? Where is the “transition” part? In so short a time, how can President Obama be anywhere within lobbying distance of “frayed,” “alienating,” or “failure to act”? Hold on to that last port-o-potty, I’ll show those early detractors “shovel ready.”

The Take-Away: GET REAL - AND GET THE HECK OFF MY CLOUD! I’m not ready to give up the energy and spirit of the hope-driven, love-fest that was/is the Obama promise. I still want the counterveiling force of competency and change that Obama represents in the face of political corruption, dismal economic indicators, and daily bomb blasts in the Middle East. I still want to feel good about where the nation is heading; where the world is heading. I still want to think that we can do better that what we’ve been doing for the past eight years. I want to give this fresh new administration a chance. It is beyond premature to be calling this game.

Post Note: The song “Get Off My Cloud“ was written by Keith Richards and Mick Jagger of the British rock band, The Rolling Stones, in expression of their aversion to people’s unrealistic expectations of them following the hugely popular hit song “Satisfaction.”