1/13/09: Dear President Obama,

• Your campaign was executed flawlessly: Plouffe is a genius with a solid understanding of the people you’re gonna serve. Give the man a parking space, and think of him as E.F. Hutton.
• There are naysayers as well as supporters with chronologically detailed lists of every promise you made, when you made it, and what you were wearing at the time.  Follow through.  There will be rivers too wide or too deep to cross right away: acknowledge it for exactly what it is, but don’t ignore it and think we’ll forget about it.
• Credibility is key: say what you mean and mean what you say.
• Integrity is also key: do what you say you’re going to do, but don’t say you’re going to do it until you’re convinced it’s the right thing to do.
• I work hard for my money, so please spend wisely the 28% I hand over to you. 
• Rethink this whole ridiculous stimulus program.  The vast majority of people are NOT going to run to Best Buy to spend their check: they’re going to pay down the credit card they used the last time they were there.
• If we’ve got to suck it up somewhere, do it in mortgages.  Lots of people got into loans they couldn’t afford, but the vast majority did it with the blessing of the financial institutions that threw money at them like confetti on New Years Eve.  We’ve already handed over billions of dollars to those snake oil salesman, and that’s been a real success story hasn’t it?  Help the victims of those criminals, cuz that’s what they are, and when those homeowners don’t have to choose between a meal in their belly and keeping a roof over their head, maybe we’ll start to see recovery.
• Go to sleep every night with a clear conscience, and feel good about the reflection you see in the mirror every morning.
• Run this country like the only inhabitants were Sasha and Malia.
• Make me proud:  I worked hard to get you where you are today. 
• Remember that people are resistant to change no matter how much they crave it.  Keep that in mind when results are tediously slow and disheartening, but continue to call on each of us to be active participants in our individual and collective futures.
• Talk to God daily, but listen more than you talk.

And finally, be the change you want to see in the world.

Thanks for listening, and God bless us.  Every one.

Laura