The e-President

Obama has been known as the President of a new generation of Americans. He blogs, owns a Blackberry, sends text messages to the phones of his adoring supporters...

He even wants to grease up the Internet for all Americans.

And he invites ideas and dialogue with Americans in his "transparent and open" form of government.

What a breath of fresh air.

Well maybe not. If you want to send him an e-mail you go to "Contact us" on the website.

His e-mail contact categories (in order) are:
*Congratulations
*I have a policy question
*I have a non-policy question
*I have a comment, no response necessary
*Other

So if you dutifully fill in the required blanks and begin typing about your problem, you are limited to 500 CHARACTERS of comment.

His 500 CHARACTER inaugural address would have been:
My fellow citizens:
I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.
Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amid...

His entire address was 2,401 words, 13,313 characters including spaces, 36 paragraphs, and 206 lines.

It all reminds me a bit of the Land of Oz doorkeeper (and Wizard) who came to the door and said, "Orders are, nobody can see the great Oz. Not nobody, not no how." They knocked again and he came back to say, "The Wizard says, Go away!"

In fact, The Wizard of Oz can be quite entertaining when you look at OZ as government.

As an unknown girl, she deserves no service. Only when recognized as Dorothy who killed the witch does her prospect of an audience brighten.

Later Dorothy gets his attention by crying. (The first bleeding heart liberal?)

She bows to him as the "small and meek" and he bellows back that "The great and powerful OZ knows why you have come."

They do as he orders and come back with the broom only to be told "I'll have to give the matter a little thought. Go away and come back tomorrow."

And lastly, when he is exposed as a fraud, he defends himself: "Oh no, my dear. I'm a very good man. I'm just a very bad wizard"

So, how did you approach the "rich, privileged, and elite" George Bush? Well, you sent an e-mail of whatever length you wanted to comments@whitehouse.gov

Things have changed.

Update: Here it is 2/26/09 and I had occasion to send an e-mail to the president. The 500 character limit has been changed. It is now 5,000 characters. Good for him!