5/2/2022

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            “Share the light…reflect the light…” Thanks for sharing that sentiment at Walter Mondal’s funeral yesterday. The WP noted that your remarks were “especially personal.” From the short segment I saw, your love came through!

            It looks like you are having a “normal” day at the WH. I put “normal” in quotes because life in the WH is highly variable, so defining the average day is challenging, but based on my close scrutiny of the WH schedule every day I can say that a ceremony to honor some folks, a press briefing & a party would be among the most typical activities that happen on a weekday.

            Today’s Presidential Rank Awards will be a nice opportunity for you to recognize the civil servants who toil away & persist in trying to improve an unwieldy system. It’s great that you could identify 230 deserving people. In my google search to find some recipients, I was impressed by Dianna Saxman who is credited with rebuilding the talent acquisition system to include a “cognitive assessment” as part of the electronic job application process. Her motto is, “our resources are fixed, but our creativity and innovation is not.” What a great attitude for a federal employee to have!!!

            I look forward to hearing who attends your Eid al-Fitr ceremony. I appreciated your statement about Eid, especially that the USA serves as a “beacon of hope for oppressed people around the world.”

            Let’s shine that beacon in the direction of Burma & tell the folks there that we are thinking of them, especially the Rohingya who are celebrating Eid today. The Muslims of Burma have faced challenges since colonial times. Let’s open our doors to them so they can practice their faith in peace. Walter Mondale would approve of that, don’t you think?

            BYBS,