Obama's "Sad Sack" of Letters

WASHINGTON, DC -- "Some people use statistics, some people use analogies, some use reasoned analysis. We used letters from unemployed people," says Brad Wilson, Obama's letter-choosing staff member, about how he and his team worked to convince America it needed socialized medical care.  Mr Wilson's official job is to sift through the mountain of correspondence the President receives every day and find letters that make an emotional plea for government help.

"We call it the 'sad sack' - where we put the most gut-wrenching letters from people that just can't seem to take care of themselves. These are the folks that need government assistance and taxpayer dollars.  He'd have us draw 10 letters from that bag every day to use as props, uh - I mean to use as examples."  The rest of the mountain of letters, faxes, and emails was sent to the incinerator.  "Yeah, the other letters - probably 90% - went on and on about personal responsibility, taxes, and junk like that.  A lot of them mentioned some 'constitution' thing, whatever that is."  See sidebar graphic culled from administration data about the subjects of the letters.

Mr. Wilson naturally supports the President's efforts in health care and sees his work as a vital part of that.  "We are a nation of about 300 million souls.  You find a few dozen really pathetic cases, and you make sweeping changes to our economy and health care system based on that.  Take away everyone's freedom to make a personal decision about their life.  I really don't understand why some people are so upset about this."

President Obama's famous use of letters from ordinary citizens may soon come to an end, say staffers, as thousands of angry letters from people came pouring in following the passage of his Health Care Reform bill.  "It's even more than usual..." murmured Mr. Wilson as he looked over bags being sent to the incinerator.