My soapbox: Would you turn this gift down?

I read an article in the opinion section of the Sunday paper about the new First Dog, Bo. Yep, the new pet has already made it to the opinion page. (Sighing, shaking of head, rubbing of temples...)The writer of the piece was complaining about how the Obamas missed a wonderful opportunity to set an example for adoption. According to the writer, the Obamas had missed the boat. Oh how disappointing it was that they didn't lead by example, the author said. Oh the missed opportunity for the photo op of the First Family could have had picking out a new puppy at a shelter. Blah, blah, blah. And so on and so forth.

So I'm sitting there with my coffee thinking, why do we care? Why did this writer waste time writing about this, and more importantly, why am I wasting time reading it? They finally got a dog for their daughters. Hooray for them!

The Obamas never made any promises about getting a shelter dog. I can vividly remember the president answering a reporters question about getting a dog. He said that they would like to get a shelter dog, but the first priority was to their daughter's allergies. Makes sense to me. There's simply no need get all riled up about it enough to write an opinion piece. It's not like the dog came from a puppy mill. It was a gift from an important family friend.

I get it, I do. We have Freddie, a shelter dog, who is the best dog we've ever owned. I totally think that people should consider adopting a dog before buying one if it works for your family. But let me tell you if Senator Kennedy, the Lion of the Senate, wanted to give me this cute dog, there would be no way in hell that I would turn him down.

Would you?

"Oh, no thank you Senator. I know that you are dying of brain cancer and were a tremendous supporter of my presidential campaign, but we don't want your gift. Thanks, but no thanks."

Yeah, right. If Bo showed up on your doorstep, would you turn him away? I don't think so.


photo courtesy of whitehouse.gov

I'm excited for the Obama girls. The opinion writers of the world need to find something more interesting to write about.

And that's all I've got to say about that...

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