Letters to the President #1237: 'The weekend at last'

Reporter's Note: President Obama probably gets lots of letters. But whatever the number is, he can add one to it each day, because that’s how often I write.

Dear Mr. President,

You must be really happy it is Saturday. Seriously, you were booted around this past week worse than a soccer ball. I mean, here you were just barely getting past that terrible jobs report last week, and suddenly this typhoon of bad news hits you: The Wisconsin Governor’s race. All the handwringing over leaks of classified information. Former President Clinton running around off message worse than an actor who hasn’t learned his lines. And then you went and stumbled into that comment about the private sector doing “fine.”

I imagine when Friday evening rolled around you were pretty much ready to order up a movie on Pay-Per-View and cool out with the family. I can’t blame you.

But of course when you are the president, breaks never come when you want them. Today won’t see much movement, probably, but Sunday morning all the talk shows will be ripping along on a theme of “Obama’s Awful Week,” or something like that. All the pundits will be pundifying on whether this means you have serious cracks in your armor, or discord on your team, or whether you’ve lost your mojo, or…or…or…

You know how they are.

You know what I’d say to you or to any other president so deep in the rough? Everyone hits bad shots. The secret to success lies in your ability to hit the next shot cleanly; to approach the new week with a full appreciation of the difficulties, but also with a steady hand and the confidence that you can hit out of them.

And anyway, who wants nothing but perfect days? It is our ability to meet adversity that measures our strength and builds our skills; and as this race winds on, you know that you will need strength and skills aplenty. So welcome the coming week with the same vigor that you bade goodbye to the past one. After all, what other choice do we really have?

Call if you can. I’m around. Hey, btw, I’ll be running a short race with the Press Club on Saturday morning near the White House. Why don’t you jump in?

Regards,
Tom