The news this week has been full of stories about Obama’s love for pie. Friends have been sending me links to the various articles after Obama’s senior advisor David Axelrod went on Jay Leno’s show and talked about Obama’s pie obsession. But this isn’t new news. Obama was preaching pie power during his presidential campaign. I posted a link to a video on CNN in the fall of 2008. But I stopped being so smug about my “already knowing” when Obama’s travels today took him to my birthplace — Ottumwa, Iowa. More incredibly, the news barely talked about his political reasons for stopping there, they talked almost exclusively about how he ate pie! His speech writers should be taking advantage of this media “feeding” frenzy though. They need to refine his message and emphasize how everyone should eat pie because if they did they would feel happier, which would make them want to do nice things for others, and then the world would be a better place. I know this because I just gave a speech last weekend on this very topic at the Great American Pie Festival. In fact, Obama should go to the pie festival next year, and sample pie at the All-You-Can-Eat Pie Buffet. He would love it.
Today’s news wrapped up by explaining how a little girl from Ottumwa used her town hall meeting question to ask our US president, “What kind of pie did you eat?” He answered, “Rhubarb, and it was some tasty pie.” That, my friends, is one politician’s statement you can believe.