Dear Leader: CNN Correspondent Wrote Obama Letter Every Day for Four Years

By Matthew Sheffield | January 19, 2013 | 12:06

Most people would cut a 13-year-old girl some slack if she became obsessed enough with Justin Bieber to write the teen singer emails and letters all the time, but what if an ostensibly professional journalist were to do the same to a politician?

This odd scenario actually is not a hypothetical, however. A CNN correspondent named Tom Foreman has been doing just that, writing a letter every single day to President Obama for the past four years.

Even more disturbing is that Foreman has been publishing his daily missives on the CNN website where he does not really explain why on earth he ever did such a strange, stalkerish thing. He does reveal that his beloved Barack never once wrote back or gave him a call, yet another parallel to a teenage Bieber obsessive:


The first letter, written on that cold Inauguration Day four years ago, was a bit of a lark. Some weeks earlier, Barack Obama had suggested he wanted to hear from citizens about how to run the country. I thought it would be funny to post a series of letters for his first 10 days on the AC360 blog. People liked it, I decided to go for a month, and Bob's-your-uncle here we are.

The first year was easy. We all have ideas about what we would do if we were in charge. Bad ideas usually, but ideas nonetheless. I prattled on about the economy, security, bipartisanship, foreign affairs and his bowling technique.

The second year grew a bit harder. By thinking every day about the presidency, I became more aware of how many intractable, repetitive issues press down upon any person who takes that job.

It's Biden time

In the third year, I surged ahead. Having accepted that my fountain of easy ideas had run dry, I dedicated more serious thought to what I would say. To be sure, the letters became less entertaining, but I liked to imagine that they had more substance, although in retrospect I was probably wrong.

And in this fourth year, I struggled. It seemed many days as if I'd already said everything I had to say and then some. At one point I had considered writing letters to the White House for the rest of my life. The fourth year convinced me that this would be a bad idea. I found myself counting the days to January.

What a great usage of CNN's computer resources and staff time. Why is this man still employed? Then again, perhaps only the way he is manifesting his devotion is what is unusual about Foreman compared to his Obama-worshipping colleagues in the elite media.

Hat tip: Weasel Zippers.

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