Barack's 10-Month Shopping List

It's day 3. Why count? It's certainly a part of American culture to categorize, rank, rate and count down. Think of a perfect 10... Batting 1.ooo... 10/10 or 100/100 on a quiz or test. Grade A. Code Blue. Top 100 colleges. And the first 100 days of a presidency.

Why do we count? Why do we rate? Probably to show who are the winners and who are the losers. And I thought we were all above average.

How ought we calculate accomplishment in the political realm? If you think in terms of what you should accomplish regarding writing policy and applying justice, why use the number 100?

One hundred is old, out-of-date, a flawed paradigm, so yesterday. I think President Obama might even call it "childish."

I think we should go with the number 10. Ten months that is. Hey, it's more than 100 days and we don't necessarily need to let a whole year go by before we judge -- there's no need to follow twelve lunar cycles.

In ten months, we can get a good sense of the direction we're heading in. What should he get done in these 10 months? With tremendous faith, I've made a short shopping for Barack. I'm impressed that he's already been a good shopper and checked off some of the things on the list as he is heading to the supermarket right now............................................


Barack,

Please go to the hypersuperdupermarket today. This is your list for what we need in the next 10 months.

Be sure to get plenty.

Drive carefully.

I know you have a new shiny car, but don't scratch it on your way to the store.

Here's what we need to stock up on--

___ Close Gitmo
___Outlaw Torture
___Fix Economy
6 areas (give a call if you want more):
___TARP
___Stimulus
___foreclosure relief
___Greening: go for it, apply it to energy
___Regulate system
___Health Insurance for 46 million, incl. e-data
___Iraq: get out (I know you want 16 months, maybe pick up next trip to the market) ___Rethink Afghanistan plans
___Middle East :: George Mitchell can help you and Hillary here
___Education --> can no child left behind, more teachers for recipe tomorrow
___Open Spaces --> keep 'em open & natural
___ Finally, save the car makers, but make 'em get 100 mpg
___Security, keep it tight, but respectful
___Entitlements - don't drop them too hard
___VA - bring $ & respect & clean up the hospitals
___Middle class tax cut

___travel in US and abroad:
___speech in Indonesia (or another Muslim country of your choosing)
___Europe
___Middle East: Iraq, Israel, Palestine
___ Latin America: do a whole tour

___work out/shoot some hoops (it'll keep you off the smokes)
___cheer on the White Sox (I'd prefer the Phillies, but hey...)
___see the kids a lot - they'll cheer you up when you drop something
___care for your wife - man, she deserves all the love you can give her!
___toss a ball with the new puppy
___ be sure to buy yourself a new pair of shades

Oh yeah, on the way home pick up the following at the spice shop. (Somehow these lost their potency in recent years.):

___Ethics
___Transparency
___Copy of the Constitution

Remember, be careful around Republicans. They'll flex their muscles and try to trip you in the aisles or back into you in the parking lot. Watch that car!

Give me a call once a month, just to keep in touch -- 10 calls in all, OK?

Yes, yes, you can use your BlackBerry - we've got plenty of minutes left on the plan.