Since Tuesday, everyone and everyone's aunt and uncle are dishing out advice as to what Obama 'must now do'. Me, I'm not going to join in. I don't know, call me a curmudgeon, but (a) I figure Obama has already thought a bit about what he wants to do; and (b) he's getting so much advice from other people, he can probably do without mine.
This does not prevent me from directing a little mocking attention towards some of the advice being sent to the president-elect by others. And a good place to start is with Alice Walker. Walker is currently giving Obama, not one, but two lots of advice. She it was, you may remember, who wanted a leader for the US just like Fidel, 'a leader who can love us'. Now she tries to ensure that loving Americans in general shouldn't divert the new president from the duty of more familial affections:
A primary responsibility that you do have... is to cultivate happiness in your own life. To make a schedule that permits sufficient time of rest and play with your gorgeous wife and lovely daughters. And so on. One gathers that your family is large. We are used to seeing men in the White House soon become juiceless and as white-haired as the building; we notice their wives and children looking strained and stressed. They soon have smiles so lacking in joy that they remind us of scissors. This is no way to lead. Nor does your family deserve this fate.
Then, apart from wanting the man to love his family as well as the population at large, Walker doesn't like him talking about the US aiming to 'kill' Osama bin Laden. This isn't a good way to talk. Preferable is to say 'We'll "take out" Osama bin Laden' - using a 'metaphor' that 'the very, very young will not even get'. And yet Walker seems confused about whether this is just a matter of language - better when euphemistic than when direct - or whether it's something more. Targeting an enemy leader in war makes her uncomfortable because of its similarity to... lynching in civilian life. If Barack Obama can take proper note of all such advice, he'll be utterly exhausted by the time of his inauguration.