Barack and Michelle Obama, the nation is consumed with your search for the right dog for your family.
They asked you about it on 60 Minutes! Can a cover story in Time be far behind?
By the way, that was a good move promising the girls a dog rather than a cat.
As everyone knows, cats are aloof and imperious and have no soul, and, therefore, you never know what they're thinking.
If you had a cat at the White House, I could see you taking a foreign dignitary on a tour one day and the cat creeping up and raking the dignitary with his claws - for no reason, just for kicks - and now the two of you are running around apologizing and trying to find Band-Aids and Bacitracin.
Who knows if that could cause an international incident?
Hu Jintao, the Chinese leader, looks like the type who'd think about lobbing a few missiles our way if a cat scratched him.
No, you definitely made the right decision to get a dog for the family.
If I may offer a bit of advice as a lifelong dog person, it would be this: Don't get a yappy dog.
By yappy, I mean one of those jittery little dogs that yips and barks and never shuts up when people are around.
If you get a dog like this, he'll drive everyone on your staff nuts. You'll be having a Cabinet meeting and the dog will be yipping, yapping and throwing himself against the door, and nobody will get anything done.
Yappy dogs are your Chihuahuas, dachshunds, Pomeranians and the like. People can't concentrate with all that noise. I'm amazed anyone still buys them. They must feel like calling in a doggie exorcist every day.
Sure, by writing this, I have just guaranteed hate mail from the Chihuahua, dachshund and Pomeranian worshipers, but that's not important.
What's important is the two of you choosing the right dog for the kids and your new home. I'm just trying to spare you some aggravation.
Another word of advice: Don't be leery of Scottish terriers just because the current first dog, Barney, bit that reporter.
I saw a video of the incident on YouTube. Let me tell you, I'm totally with Barney on this one. That dopey reporter had it coming.
Here's Barney, out for a walk around the White House, enjoying the sunshine, minding his own business. And here comes this reporter trying to be cute for the cameras, cooing, "Hi, Barney!" in that sickly sweet voice people use around dogs and trying to pet him.
