I know this belongs in the Political Room but thought it would get more traffic here. Mods, feel free to move it.
The Dinner Roll ..
Once upon a time I was invited to the White House
for a private dinner
with the President.
I am a respected businessman, with a factory that
produces memory chips for
computers and portable electronics.
There was some talk that my industry was being
scrutinized by the
administration, but I paid it no mind. I live in a
FREE country.
There's nothing that the government can do to me
if I've broken no
laws. My wealth was EARNED honestly, and an
invitation to dinner with
an American President is an honor.
I checked my coat, was greeted by the Chief of
Staff, and joined the
President in a yellow dining room.
We sat across from each other at a table draped in
white linen. The
Great Seal was embossed on the china. Uniformed
staff served our
dinner.
The meal was served, and I was startled when my
waiter suddenly reached out,
plucked a dinner roll off my plate and began
nibbling it as he walked back to
the kitchen..
"Sorry 'bout that," said the President. "Andrew is very
hungry."
"I don't appreciate..." I began, but as I looked
into the calm
brown eyes across from me, I felt immediately
guilty and petty. It was
just a dinner roll. "Of course," I concluded, and
reached for my
glass.
Before I could, however, another waiter reached
forward, took the glass away
and swallowed the wine in a single gulp. "And his
brother, Eric,
is very thirsty," said the President.
I didn't say anything. The President is testing my
compassion, I
thought. I withheld my comments and decided to
play along. I
don't want to seem unkind..
My plate was whisked away before I had tasted a bite.
"Eric's children are also quite hungry."
With a lurch, I crashed to the floor. My chair had
been pulled out from
under me.
I stood, brushing myself off angrily, and watched
as it was carried from the
room.
And their grandmother can't stand for long."
I excused myself, smiling outwardly, but inside
feeling like a fool.
Obviously I had been invited to the White House to
be sport for some
game. I reached for my coat, to find that it had
been taken.
I turned back to the President.
"Their grandfather doesn't like the cold."
I wanted to shout, "that was my coat!" But again,
I looked at
the placid smiling face of my host and decided I
was being a poor sport.
I spread my hands helplessly and chuckled.
Then I felt my hip pocket and realized my wallet
was gone. I excused
myself and walked to a phone on an elegant side table.
I learned shortly that my credit cards had been
maxed out, my bank accounts
emptied, my retirement and equity portfolios had
vanished, and my wife had
been thrown out of our home.
Apparently, the waiters and their families were
moving in. The
President hadn't moved or spoken as I learned all
this, but finally I lowered
the phone into its cradle and turned to face him.
"Andrew's whole family has made bad financial
decisions. They
haven't planned for retirement and they need a
house. They recently
defaulted on a subprime mortgage. I told them they
could have your
home. They need it more than you do."
My hands were shaking. I felt faint I stumbled
back to the table and
knelt on the floor.
The President cheerfully cut his meat, ate his
steak, and drank his wine..
I lowered my eyes and stared at the small grey
circles on the
tablecloth that were water drops.
"By the way," he added, "I have just signed an
Executive Order
nationalizing your factories.
I'm firing you as head of your business. I'll be
operating the firm now
for the benefit of all mankind.
There's a whole bunch of Erics and Andrews out
there and they can't come to
you for jobs groveling like beggars...we need to
spread YOUR wealth
around..."
I looked up. The President dropped his spoon into
the empty ramekin
which had been his crème Brule.
He drained the last drops of his wine. As the
table was cleared, he lit
a cigarette and leaned back in his chair.
He stared at me. I clung to the edge of the table
as if it were a ledge
and I were a man hanging over an abyss.
I thought of the years behind me, of the life I had
lived. The life I
had earned with a lifetime of work, risk and struggle.
Why was I punished? How had I allowed it to be
taken? What game
had I played and lost? I looked across the table
and noticed with some
surprise that there was no game board between us.
What had I done wrong?
As if answering the unspoken thought, President
Obama suddenly cocked his
head, locked his empty eyes to mine, and bared a
million teeth, chuckling
wryly as he folded his hands.
"You should have stopped me at the dinner roll," he
said.
WAKE UP AMERICA !!!
