Osama bin ... Budget.

I've got it -- a way for the president's team to get their priorities straight and properly concentrate on our shared future...

Get them to tackle the all important: (Osama bin) Budget. Make it National Priority #1. No household runs properly without a budget, nor will a nation. It's not sexxy, but I suspect in the end, in coming years, our lack of foresight in our fiscal future will cause far more casualties than those few thousands inflicted by Osama bin Laden that day in September, a decade ago.

Not to minimize losses, but to look ahead. Think of the misery index... The innocents who will eventually pay for your "popularity", lack of performance...

Perhaps, if the Man Team makes it a priority and put their true attention to it (= no more partying until you produce a plausible budget, mister. It's no picnic out here for plenty, dontchaknow...) the so-far failed economic team could come up with something plausible. Which could garner at least a few Democratic votes in Congress in support...

Make it a War.
Treat it like it matters.
Nevermind the Boomer gen, who all their lives had it easy living off the spoils of war that previous generations earned. They simply couldn't lose, or so they thought. They'll never get it -- the ones who got high in college, can't remember Woodstock, yet eased into generous compensation plans, nevermind that their performances/where they've led the country today in their respective industries (newspapers, education, higher ed), doesn't match their work output...

Make it a War. If you've got no original ideas, do what the Dems have been doing for decades (welfare to workfare, Detroit's managed bankruptcy, heck even the current pre-emptive military blueprint...), crib from the Republican's work.

You don't like the Republican/Ryan budget? Have "writers block" when it comes to producing original work of your own? Why not: take a sad song, and make it better...

Start with what they've got there, and tweak (surely there's some tweaky wannabe wonks on staff?) until you're satisfied. Keep going/cutting until the numbers balance... and you've something you can pass off as half-credible, to your own D "side" anyway.

Remember, you really can pivot off a failing strategy, even if it means dumping the emphasis on the Tom Hanks documentary, and realizing that so long as we're still at war in Afghanistan/Pakistan and nothing really ended with the man's death, nobody much wants to keep reliving your glory days. (Sitting back... trying to recapture, a lil of that Glory era. Well the time slips away and leaves you with nothing mister, but ... boring stories of... Glory Days...)

If only the president could see -- if only those surrounding him included an honest voice or two; other voices, other regions --, that times out here really aren't as good as those in the good-time Capitol. The recession is over? Really?

The future is coming... ready or not. We want more than fingers crossed, "may the odds be ever in your favor." We want a fair shot, a chance at least, that our performances will dictate our futures. Not that the results have been decided years in advance.

If only, the president didn't have that naturally relaxed Hawaiian attitude (never fooled me he was a serious South Sider, struggling as steel industries were decimated and the physical toll added up, circa the late 70s...), coupled with the "easy achievement" path that greeted the genial man and his lacksidasical attitude.

Take it seriously, man. Don't think that dividing the country needlessly with these miniscule cultural issues is going to win you the big prize. You wanted this job; you got to at least pretend you want to produce. Not just party, travel and schmooze.

So burn that midnight oil, Mr. President. Don't come out for air until you've got a credible budget. Three years is a terrible thing to waste...

Osama bin Budget. Go get 'im.
Why? Because it matters way more than your petcare policies in the long run, no matter what the aging, wannabe cool kids will tell ya.