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January 9th, 2010
07:40 AM ET
January 9th, 2010
07:38 AM ET

Dear President Obama #355: Quick! Call the experts!

Reporter's Note: President Obama has an impressive staff of advisors; folks who know all kinds of things about the economy, foreign affairs, politics, and maybe even answering the mail… although there is precious little evidence of that last one, I must say, as I pen my latest in a relentless string of letters to the White House.

[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/01/07/art.obama01062.gi.jpg]

Tom Foreman | BIO
AC360° Correspondent

Dear Mr. President,

I was watching an interview with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani today and was reminded of a question that has been troubling me lately: Aren’t there other people in this nation we should be hearing from?

No offense to Hizzoner, because this is not really about him. What I’m saying is, time and again, I keep seeing the same handful of people nattering on about what mistakes we have made, how we can fix them, who is to blame, blah, blah, blah. It’s happened so many times, I can usually tell what they’re going to say before they even start talking.

I’ll admit, a lot of this is the fault of me and my media brethren. Way too many times we call on the same “experts” for interviews, whether they are really the right ones or not, primarily because we know they’ll be agreeable and available. Kind of like my dating schemes back in high school: “I don’t really want to go to the movies with Rachel, but Denise would be harder to convince, so…Rachel it is!”

I worry that Presidents face the same problem. Every time I see someone identified as a White House advisor I think, “Wow. How much do you have to know to get that gig?” What I hope is that they are advising you to talk to people who really know the details of all these issues. Otherwise, heck, sign me up.

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