11/27/2023

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            What’s your favorite Christmas cookie? I like them all & enjoy baking & distributing them, even more than eating them. I made my 1st batch of the season yesterday, peanut butter w/ a chocolate kiss on top.

            Isn’t it wonderful that Abigail Edan is back with her family? In your remarks about her release, I felt your genuine empathy for all she & her family have been through. I also appreciated your stopping yourself from saying that the end of “this” would come when Hamas is eliminated & instead said, “no longer in control.”

Exterminating all enemies is an impossibility. According to Gideon Rose, author of How Wars End, usually when military conflicts stop, a political relationship continues with actual force no longer being used. The Palestinians aren’t going away, even if those who call themselves “Hamas” adopt a new identity.

            I was surprised to see you giving another speech about supply chains & lowering costs to families. I’m afraid people aren’t paying attention & won’t be impressed that you are employing the “the Defense Production Act to improve the domestic manufacturing of medicines.”

According to the WP your people are split about whether to claim success about an improved economy versus whether to draw contrasts. They are somewhat baffled about why voters are blaming you for their imaginary financial woes. My hypothesis is math illiteracy – inflation has to do with a rate while prices are fixed quantities. When people notice that their favorite lunch now costs $15 when it used to cost $12, they don’t care that next year’s price hike will be smaller than this year’s price hike. All they notice is the hike. We aren’t used to price hikes so even if our wages have gone up, seeing that milk costs more than it used to still takes us by surprise.

I wish you were going to COP28.

I ask that you include Burma on your list of priorities.

I hope you have a productive & affirming day.

BYBS,