Yes We Can (Answer Letters)

[Please note new "Blub Alert" icon—and consider yourself duly warned.]

Shaker Constant Comment just sent me this story, which, had it happened to me when I was 7, would have been like my birthday, Halloween, and Christmas all rolled into one:

A little more than a month [ago], teacher Joyce Ben-KiKi had [7-year-old Aron Mondschein and his second-grade classmates] each send letters to a famous person as part of a language arts lesson. Ben-KiKi wrapped the exercise around well-known children's book character "Flat Stanley," so along with the letters, the children each tucked a Flat Stanley figure they had made into each envelope.

"I told them not to expect a letter back," Ben-KiKi said. "I told them these people are very busy and most likely will not write back."

The list of recipients was impressive: Yankee third basemen Alex Rodriguez; Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Olympic gold medalist Mark Spitz; Republican presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. John McCain. [Aron wrote his letter to Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama.]

Obama was the only one to write back.

…Obama's three-page letter to Aron described Flat Stanley's visit with him and his staff in Washington, D.C. It chronicled their busy day together, which included coffee with constituents, a Senate committee meeting and a trip to the gym. It also had historical facts about the U.S. Capitol, details of Obama's job and a confession from Obama.

"Sometimes I get a little nervous before talking in front of a crowd, but Flat Stanley helped me practice the speech," Obama wrote. "He made me recite it in front of him and then even gave me some advice so the speech would go smoothly. Flat Stanley is really a great coach."

Two other boys in the class also wrote letters to Obama, and they received replies shortly afterward.

Amy Mondschein, who is Aron's mother, says she and her husband rarely talk politics at home, except to teach Aron "that everybody has a choice in the election, and we have to respect that. It's their right to like whichever candidate they do and that's the way it is in the United States. That's why we live here." He excitedly told her the other day: "Mommy, when I'm 18 I get to vote."

Given this post, you can imagine how I feel about that.

[As an aside, this should go without saying, and yet probably doesn't: I'm not presuming Obama actually took time himself to write the letters, although he probably did sign them. I'm crediting him with running a campaign in which stuff like this gets paid attention to. It's not always the case. Hillary Clinton also has a great reputation for details like these, as another example. I don't know and have never spoken to anyone involved in Obama's campaign, but I do know some people who work for Clinton, and I obviously know some people who worked for John Edwards, and there are serious efforts made within campaigns who prioritize responsiveness to respond to as many people as possible.]