Reporter's Note: President Obama will attend the global climate summit in Denmark. I hope he can get my daily letter to the White House while on the road.

Tom Foreman | BIO
AC360° Correspondent

Dear Mr. President,

Let me be candid. I am not particularly convinced that this Climategate issue is all that some folks are cracking it up to be. I’m sure you’ve heard how some scientists swapped e-mails which seemed to suggest they were massaging data to support claims for global warming. “Massaging,” being a nicer word than manipulating. Maybe they were, maybe they weren’t. Maybe we’ll find out for sure once the investigations are done. Maybe we won’t. Maybe my living room will melt tonight and it won’t matter.

Whether these guys played footsie with the facts or not doesn’t worry me much. So many scientists have studied this business of the planet getting hotter, that unless we find a much deeper and broader conspiracy at work, I don’t think the entire field of research should be unduly tainted by this episode.

What does concern me, is the ancillary notion that scientists would be pursuing a political agenda at all; that we even have pro-global warming and anti-global warming camps. I really believe in the power of science. I believe it can help us understand our world, can help us define and deal with our problems, and one day will possibly even explain why hula-hooping remains an insurmountable challenge for me.

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Reporter's Note: President Obama is the first president I’ve ever known who is younger than I am, if only by a bit. So you might consider my letters to the White House the advice of an elder. You might, but I think that would be stretching it.

Tom Foreman | BIO
AC360° Correspondent

Dear Mr. President,

I have just ended a magnificent day. I mentioned in a previous letter that it was my birthday, and now I feel I really must elaborate. This was my 50th birthday. In addition, my wife and I share the same birthday. No kidding. So when we heard that our beloved Saints were coming here to play against the Washington Redskins on our birthday, we decided that as our gift to each other, we would get tickets for our two teenage daughters and ourselves and go. Mind you, this was a couple of months ago, when it was no one imagined that the Saints would still be undefeated by the time they arrived.

The game was cold and as you might have heard, extraordinary. The Saints, quite frankly, did everything wrong. Their offense was off key; their defense like a sieve. The Redskins played as if they were the unbeaten team; marching down the field time and again on offense, and hammering the boys from the bayou when the Skins were on defense. Yet, period after period, the Saints stayed around; persistently trailing in the points, but staying at least vaguely within striking distance.

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Reporter's Note: President Obama’s new plan for Afghanistan is being chewed over on the Sunday political talk circuit. Me? I’m going to the Saints game…but first I’m posting my latest letter to the White House.

Tom Foreman | BIO
AC360° Correspondent

Dear Mr. President,

Near a little diner that we like called the Georgetown Grill, there is an intersection where I found twenty dollars in the street a couple of years ago. It was a rainy day, rush hour traffic was buzzing all around, and I was ambling through a crosswalk when I looked down and saw it lying flitter-flat, soaking wet on the pavement. Good luck, huh?

The problem is, ever since I have been unable to walk past that spot without reflexively looking around for errant Jacksons. It’s become a family joke. “Keep a sharp eye kids, this is where the money grows wild!”

I mention this because I’ve been thinking a good bit about your speech on Afghanistan last week, especially the part where you emphasized that this was a haven for the 9/11 attackers. No question about it. Those Al Qaeda types enjoyed some pretty choice conditions for a while there for plotting and planning their schemes, and probably they’d be pretty happy to take up residence again if the Taliban seized control and would have them.

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Reporter's Note: I have not seen President Obama at the mall, which makes me wonder how his Christmas shopping is going. Mine is progressing pretty well; as is this continuing series of letters to the White House.

Tom Foreman | BIO
AC360° Correspondent

Dear Mr. President,

Getting the ghost out of our attic is not going to be easy. I have seen him (or her, I’ve never been that good at seeing the supernatural) peeking shyly from the ornamental window at the highest corner of the house for almost two months now, and even though she/he makes no noise, just the idea of…it….being there has started to trouble me. Of course, it should not. After all, I put it there.

Every October, I crawl through a narrow attic passage on a board over the joists, trying not to disturb the insulation as I wriggle through, balance on a pair of beams, step to the window and slip the lighted, plastic ghost into place. Then in early December, I make the journey again to take the ghost down and hang a huge (and heavy!) lighted wreath outside the same window. Anyway, we’ve got to make the switch this weekend and I’m not looking forward to it.

There are many chores this time of year that are a bit of a struggle to take on, and I’m sure you must be more than usually overwhelmed with the prospect of Christmas shopping. So I decided to help out with a little gift suggestion list for some of those closest to you. Considering our economic times, I’m going with a blend of practical and pleasant.

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Tom Foreman | BIO
AC360° Correspondent

Back in junior high gym class when wrestling was on the agenda, there was no more frightening foe than the hulking Gooch McFeeney. You knew from the moment that he lumbered to the mat, dropped the beef shank he’d been gnawing on, and squinted his grizzly bear eyes, that you had no chance of winning.

But by running around, shrieking like a cheerleader every time he landed a hairy paw, and frantically squirming at least one shoulder into the air each time he went for the pin, you could delay losing for quite a while. Go on long enough, Gooch would tire, and maybe you would not have to lose at all.

It is a peculiar characteristic of sports, chess, and arguments with your spouse, that winning is much tougher than merely not losing. “Winning” requires aggressive, focused, and tenacious effort. “Not losing” just requires holding on.

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Reporter's Note: President Obama’s team continues to take heat over how those party crashers made it into the White House. And I continue to write letters.

Tom Foreman | BIO
AC360° Correspondent

Dear Mr. President,

It is fully possible that in your headlong rush to the White House that you have never spent much time thinking about Musk Oxen. But not being burdened with that whole “Leader of the Free World” responsibility, this is a subject I have considered at some length, and I want to tell you a bit about them.

Musk Oxen live in the north. Farther north than the Green Bay Packers. On the arctic tundra. They look like very shaggy, sturdy, long-haired cattle, with impressively stout, and pointy horns. They weigh up to eight hundred pounds and if one were standing in front of you right now your head would be just barely above the hump of his shoulders. (Not for long, of course. They can be rather ill-tempered, and I suspect you would be on the run faster than you can yell, “Hey, Biden, is this your dog in the Oval Office?”)

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Reporter's Note: President Obama is hosting a jobs summit as the White House today. Uh, but don’t bother trying to drop off your resume. I don’t think it’s that kind of meeting.

Tom Foreman | BIO
AC360° Correspondent

Dear Mr. President,

With all respect to the seriousness of your concerns about health care, and the climate, and Afghanistan, I must say it is a relief to see you are holding a forum at the White House today about jobs. As my mother said when I moved out of the house, “About time!”

This employment situation (or at least the “un” part) is one of those structural problems that will undermine everything else you want to do until you get it under control. It’s kind of like a bass player in a band. As long as he is doing everything right, nobody notices him; but if he starts screwing up, it ruins the whole gig. And if he doesn’t pitch in to pay for the pizza, he’s definitely out of the group. Remind me to tell you some good bass player jokes when you call…

In any event, no doubt you’ve noticed protests around the country over jobs, and you’ve heard the rumbles among some of your fellow Dems about organizing a march on Washington. It seems to me that organizing a job fair would be more useful and could send the same message; after all, how the heck do you fill out a job application while marching down the street holding a sign? Maybe each protestor can use the person in front of him or her as a desk. You can send Biden out to hand out pens.

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Reporter's Note: President Obama unveiled his plans for Afghanistan last night, to mixed reviews. I, however, have moved on to a different subject in my daily letter to the White House.

Emirati traders follow the market's movements in Dubai as the stock market plunged Monday.

Tom Foreman | BIO
AC360° Correspondent

Dear Mr. President,

Well, the international markets continue to roil in the wake of news from Dubai that Dubai World (which, I was surprised to learn is not a leisure-wear company…go figure!) is struggling with 60 billion dollars in debt. No doubt this is a matter of some concern to you, what with your efforts to right the economy.

“Rahm, fire off a memo to the United Arab Emirates, stat: ‘Thanks a lot, pals.’”

This is of some concern to me too, however, as now my entire Christmas card motif must be redesigned, since I was going with a “Wishing you the wealth of Dubai this holiday season,” theme. That said, once again I find the news rife with another cheery phrase that seems to have become awfully popular this past year, “too big to fail.” That’s what they are saying of Dubai World.

I don’t know all the ins and outs of the situation, but as best I can tell, if Dubai World collapses the global economy will sink even lower, dogs will start living with cats, the oceans will rise forty feet, and there will never be another Brady Family reunion show.

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Reporter's Note: President Obama will finally unveil his new strategy for the war in Afghanistan tonight, and military families in particular, coast to coast, will be watching. The subject of my daily letter to the White House.

Tom Foreman | BIO
AC360° Correspondent

Dear Mr. President,

One of my favorite movie scenes of all time comes from The Pope of Greenwich Village. Mobsters are about to appropriate a character’s thumb, and he asks an older man for advice. The guy says something like, “If I were you, I’d wrap my belt around my wrist, hurry to the nearest hospital, and remember, it’s never as bad as it seems.”

When you make your big announcement about Afghanistan tonight, after all the months of anticipation, I can assure you there will be sharp, bitter complaints, and in all likelihood they will come from both sides of the political spectrum. Some on the left will say you sold them out; some on the right will say you are still not committed to seeing the battle through; and who knows, maybe some in the middle will have something to say too.

All I say is brace yourself. Wrap your convictions and the advice of your generals around yourself, and hold on. You are making one of the most difficult decisions for any president, because almost without question people will die as a result of what you say tonight. It may be our troops, it may be the enemy, it may be allied soldiers from other lands, it may be civilians, and most likely it will be a combination of all those.

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Reporter's Note: President Obama, ages ago, invited advice from the public on how to run the government. As we move into this season of giving, I continue offering my suggestions every day in a letter to the White House. I may also send a fruit cake.

Tom Foreman | BIO
AC360° Correspondent

Dear Mr. President,

My Saints are playing the Patriots on Monday Night Football, and I must say that my nerves are all aflutter. The Pats are a dangerous team on even a bad night, and as beautifully as the Saints are playing now, stumbles are always possible.

To make it even more frightening, the Pats are something of a wounded team at the moment. Their pride has been hurt by some unfortunate and unexpected losses, including a particularly painful one to the Colts, the only other undefeated team aside from the Saints. I shudder to think of the venom running through Tom Brady’s veins at the moment.

Winning streaks are peculiar things. They are magnificent when they are initially taking shape, whether for a sports team, or a singer, or a politician. Watching someone arise in that magical fashion that suggests he or she simply can not be beaten is mesmerizing. You had a lot of that going for you when you swept toward your big election victory a year ago. Seriously, it was like seeing a wizard at work. Somehow you managed to always have just the right smile, just the right comment, just the right strategy to make all the old political hands look instead like hacks. As Peter Gabriel would say, “This is the new stuff.”

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