"For a look outside presidential bubble, Obama reads 10 personal letters each day."

[Clio the Leo]

This is one of those where you're going to have to read the entire article, cant really capture the highlights in four paragraphs. ;)

For a look outside presidential bubble, Obama reads 10 personal letters each day
By Eli Saslow
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 31, 2010

The black binder arrived at the White House residence just before 8 p.m., and President Obama took it upstairs to begin his nightly reading. The briefing book was dated Jan. 8, 2010, but it looked like the same package delivered every night, with printouts of speeches, policy recommendations and scheduling notes. Near the back was a purple folder, which Obama often flips to first.

"MEMORANDUM TO THE PRESIDENT," read a sheet clipped to the folder. "Per your request, we have attached 10 pieces of unvetted correspondence addressed to you."

Inside, Obama found crinkled notebook pages, smudged ink, cursive handwriting and misspelled words -- a collection of 10 original letters that he considers among his most important daily reading material, aides said. Ever since he requested a sampling of mail on his second day in office, the letters have become a staple of his presidency. Some he immediately reads out loud to his wife; others he distributes to senior staff members aboard Air Force One. Some are from students requesting help with homework; others are from constituents demanding jobs or health care. About half of the letters, Obama said during a recent speech, "call me an idiot."

They are the most intimate connection the president has to the people he governs, aides said, but even this link is hardly direct. Each day, 20,000 letters and e-mails addressed to Obama are screened for threats and then sent to a nondescript office building in downtown Washington. Hundreds of volunteers and staff members sort the mail into categories before a senior aide picks the 10 destined to provide Obama with his daily glimpse beyond what he calls "the presidential bubble."

Obama opened the purple folder on Jan. 8 and pulled out a three-page letter written on lined notebook paper. He prefers handwritten letters to e-mails, believing them to be more thoughtful, with better stories. The return address showed Monroe, Mich. The writing consisted of bubbly block letters, sometimes traced twice for emphasis. Obama started to read.

"Dear Mr. President," the letter began.

read the entire article here...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/30/AR2010033004260.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2010033004292

Video (from last summer): Inside the White House: Letters to the President
http://www.whitehouse.gov/video/Inside-the-White-House-Letters-to-the-President

[Jennicut]

1. I don't know if I could handle being called an idiot everyday.

I am very sensitive to that sort of thing...:)

[Clio the Leo]

4. Yeah, but he's pretty tough.

Has talked a lot about how his mother raised him with a pretty high self esteem. And the end-result of that is that he'll do what he thinks is right, or what's best for the country and not necessarily what best suits his ego.

[NJmaverick]

2. These are the signs that our President cares

that he honestly wants to help the American people

[Clio the Leo]

5. exactly

I bet he's not the FIRST President to read the "mean" letters, but I'd like to see a study on which ones did and which ones didn't. I'd be very surprised to learn that * did.

[zipplewrath]

3. He's still in the bubble

I hate to break it to him, but his selection method leaves him in the bubble. As the following points out, the same people that ARE the bubble, are collecting, sorting, and choosing these letters. If he wants out of the bubble, he'll have to either have them selected at random, or hire an outfit to do a truly "unbiased" selection. The staff IS the bubble.

As Stickel read through her stack, she looked for compelling pieces that were representative of the rest of the mail and pertinent to the news. She picked the best three to five and wrote "sample" at the top, designating letters that could be sent to the president. "Those are the ones that stick in your head," she said.

* * *

Early in the afternoon, a few hundred "sample" letters arrived in Kelleher's corner office, and he spread them across a table to choose Obama's 10. Kelleher, an Illinois native who once worked as the outreach director for Obama's Senate office, had been instructed to remain unbiased in picking the contents of the purple folder. The president wanted not necessarily the best pieces of mail, or the longest, or the most encouraging, he told aides. He wanted a representative sample: letters complimentary and critical, elegant and hurried. So Kelleher made it his habit to look at the daily metrics of incoming mail -- for example, 60 percent about health-care reform, 30 percent about jobs, 10 percent about Iraq -- and reflect that same mix in picking the day's 10 letters.


Kelleher reached across his table on a Friday in early January and grabbed a letter from Monroe, Mich. It was longer than average, but it dealt with of-the-moment topics such as unemployment and health care. It reflected both the country's problems and its promise -- just the kind of story that Kelleher guessed his boss would appreciate. He placed it in the purple folder, along with nine others, and Jennifer Cline's letter was hand-delivered to the White House.

[Clio the Leo]

6. update: added a video the WH produced last summer NT