Dear Mr. President

 Dear Mr. President,

I noticed you've been pretty busy again this past week, and now that you've gotten at least something through the Senate for pandemic relief you can start looking forward to future, likely non-bipartisan, fights that are already underway.  Like, for instance, the fight over voting rights, which from everything I've heard has to do with Republicans wanting to curtail the ability for minorities and normal people to vote.  I especially enjoyed the message you sent to Congress by way of your Executive Order.  I don't expect the Order will stand for long, but hopefully by the time it wends its way through the courts, our lawmakers will have decided whether voting rights are important enough to get rid of the filibuster.  That said, I think it's probably about time, since the way current filibusters work is a load of crap anyway.  Maybe they can figure out how to actually make the filibuster be what it was intended to be rather than a simple impediment to actually getting any legislating done.

That said, I do hope you'll turn your attention toward infrastructure in our country and consider a Green New Deal Works Program.  It's something I really think we need.

This coming week I'll be making use of my blog to highlight some voices that I've found that have helped me to make sense of the climate debate over the years.  I'm excited to talk about them in no small part because as our climate has begun to change, it's important that we consider those changes as we put forward new laws and new ideas for building and transportation, and a host of other issues.  I expect it's something the Department of Defense has been doing for a while now, and if they haven't, then I think we're are pretty likely screwed until they do.

There was something that caught my attention this past week, though--something that the Republicans decided to harp on, but is something that interested me more for what I learned from it than anything else.  It has to do with the fact that your administration, like many administrations before it, has decided not to release the White House call logs.

Now, at first, I had no idea if this was something new or just business as usual, and when I found out that this really isn't anything new, I was almost content to let it slide.  But hear me out here: I don't know if there was a debate around this very issue when phones were installed in the White House, though I have to imagine there were.  All that aside, things have changed since the first days of those early telephone calls.  In a lot of ways, during the pandemic, phones and video chats and the like were some of the only ways we had to communicate with one another safely.  So this prompted me to consider that perhaps we should reconsider these ages-old precedents regarding phone logs.  I don't think every call should be noted, but when someone from outside of the White House calls to discuss business that is related to the running of the country, I do think it's important that we, the people, get to know about that business--maybe not all of the specifics, of course.  But it doesn't seem fair to hide business behind a smoke-screen any longer, Mr. President.  I don't know what sharing those phone logs would entail, or how much work it would be, but I do hope that you and your staff will revisit this stance and consider setting a new precedent for future generations.  If you do manage it, I will happily await the next thing that makes Republicans irate.

I wasn't able to find your wife's appearances in full on the internet, and while I have cable, rummaging through the cable mess in order to watch the programs she's been on has been...more time consuming than it was worth in all honesty.  I hope you'll consider letting her do her own little bit on the White House Facebook page--as I've really been enjoying those little snippets from various members of your WH staff.

The call you made to an essential worker on Friday was pretty touching, though I have to wonder what her son's expression meant.  I feel as though, having watched that, that her son, like many other black Americans, probably doesn't have a very good opinion of you right now.  I can't say I know what to do about that, but it's something to consider.  I know you can't be everything to everyone, but Black America seems unwilling to trust the government in a lot of ways these days, and if we want this country to succeed, I think that's something that needs to be addressed.

I don't think we'll talk about the Cuomo stuff tonight, Sir, but I think your party really needs to sit down and have a talk with itself.  The days of the "good old boys" club is over; things are changing, and either the Democrats change with the times, or they're going to get left behind.  People make mistakes; they're not always great at their jobs.  But that doesn't mean they get to abuse their power; that's part of what causes distrust in the government--no matter what party you're in.  Maybe remind your fellow democrats that they are meant to serve as examples of what is best in our country.  Maybe if they start doing that, they'll get more respect.

I have lots of other idea floating around in my head right now, but I think I'll leave it here for this week, Mr. President.  I know you're doing the best you can, and I hope these letters are finding their way to you in some small fashion.  But even if they're not, I feel a lot better for having written them.  It helps me to focus on the things that I believe are important to me and for the country, and that, in my mind, can't be anything but good.

I'll catch you next Sunday, Sir.  Until then, I'll be looking forward to seeing your roadmap going forward--COVID-19 plans and all.

~~ Jenni

P. S.  I watched a press conference by your COVID team this last Thursday (was it?)  Anyway, it had been a while since I'd watched one of those.  And while I thought your team did a good job, I found it troubling that your team lead, Acting Administrator Slavitt felt like he wasn't willing to be honest with the reporters asking questions of him.  In some cases, it felt like he was skirting issues, and it just didn't feel good watching that.  I was impressed with Dr. Walensky, even though she sadly didn't have much of a speaking role at the conference.

All in all, I feel like many of your staffers aren't doing a good enough job of actually listening to the questions being asked of them, and often they don't actually give answers to questions that were asked.  This can lead to a lot of frustration and spark conspiracies where there likely aren't any.  So, remind them to listen, take notes of the question if they need to in order to be sure they answer it, and not to be in such a hurry to give "an" answer instead of a good, thoughtful one.