America held its collective breath yesterday as the clock ticked down towards a possible government shutdown. News organizations described the apocalyptic repercussions of 800,000 employees doing even less than usual, including the closing of museums and national monuments, and the nightmarish prospect of Senators being forced to shine their own shoes. Even worse is the possibility that the National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade might be cancelled, presumably because even cherry trees in Washington DC refuse to blossom without a healthy taxpayer subsidy.
Barack Obama, doing his utmost to head off this catastrophe, demanded that Republican and Democrat representatives come to the Whitehouse for an afternoon summit to work out a deal. Of course, Mr. Obama wouldn't personally be in the Whitehouse to help, because he had more urgent business to attend to - specifically, attending a Black activism rally held by Al Sharpton.
When word of this got out, the president hastily called for a meeting later in the evening, at which nothing of any substance was resolved. Still, the fact that Mr. Obama supplied a meeting place, free coffee, and doughnuts was a very meaningful gesture.
And Hope n' Change thinks you all know exactly what that gesture was.
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