President Obama has confessed to interviewer Charlie Rose that a key error in first two years in office was to concentrate on perfecting policy, instead of telling Americans a story about what he wanted to achieve and how he planned to get there. We have taken the liberty of suggesting a story for him:
ONCE upon a time there was a handsome, swarthy prince. The Prince was gifted, not only with intelligence, but with a magical tongue which he used to cast spells upon his subjects and persuade them to set aside common sense and opt instead for "Hope and Change." Neither the prince nor his subjects knew what "Hope and Change" were, but -- being magical -- they meant whatever anyone wanted them to mean and after 8 years of Prince George the Honorable, the people were ready for a Fresh Prince.
The principality was by then already financially enfeebled, Prince George had depleted the royal Treasury with expensive foreign wars and had borrowed heavily to keep the Principality running. The Fresh Prince who also thought borrowing was a great idea, borrowed vastly more money from the Orient, launched his own war in North Africa and granted free money for the poor, the workless, the idle and wanted to pay all his subjects' medical bills as well. The Fresh Prince distributed more and more largess, which he called "stimulus," Alas, the workless continued to multiply. Seeing this, his subjects cried out: " Woe unto us, we can't repay all these debts, nor can our children, nor even our children's children, unto the fourth or fifth generation!"
It was then that a New Prince appeared, handsome, square-jawed, thick of hair, gray of temple, strong of faith and and wise in the ways of finance. People began to turn their back on the Fresh Prince and look to the New Prince for salvation. They called him "Mitt" and both the rich and those earning under $250,000 a year, lavished him with gifts of money to help him unseat the Fresh Prince. A final, fateful duel between the two Princes is set for November 6, when this tale will be concluded ]
ONCE upon a time there was a handsome, swarthy prince. The Prince was gifted, not only with intelligence, but with a magical tongue which he used to cast spells upon his subjects and persuade them to set aside common sense and opt instead for "Hope and Change." Neither the prince nor his subjects knew what "Hope and Change" were, but -- being magical -- they meant whatever anyone wanted them to mean and after 8 years of Prince George the Honorable, the people were ready for a Fresh Prince.
The principality was by then already financially enfeebled, Prince George had depleted the royal Treasury with expensive foreign wars and had borrowed heavily to keep the Principality running. The Fresh Prince who also thought borrowing was a great idea, borrowed vastly more money from the Orient, launched his own war in North Africa and granted free money for the poor, the workless, the idle and wanted to pay all his subjects' medical bills as well. The Fresh Prince distributed more and more largess, which he called "stimulus," Alas, the workless continued to multiply. Seeing this, his subjects cried out: " Woe unto us, we can't repay all these debts, nor can our children, nor even our children's children, unto the fourth or fifth generation!"
It was then that a New Prince appeared, handsome, square-jawed, thick of hair, gray of temple, strong of faith and and wise in the ways of finance. People began to turn their back on the Fresh Prince and look to the New Prince for salvation. They called him "Mitt" and both the rich and those earning under $250,000 a year, lavished him with gifts of money to help him unseat the Fresh Prince. A final, fateful duel between the two Princes is set for November 6, when this tale will be concluded ]