From Jim Eskin, Public Affairs Stratagist ....................... ................ February 2009

Democracy is alive and rocking! The American people were energized by the inauguration of Barack Obama as President, and his themes of responsibility and accountability. It was a perfect and natural progression from a campaign that broke records for civic participation.

Obama takes charge as the most popular incoming president in a generation.

In an ABC News-Washington Post poll, more than half of all Americans have high hopes for his presidency. Almost three-quarters say Obama's proposals will improve the struggling economy, and about eight in 10 have a favorable view of him - more than twice the number of Americans that held positive views of George W. Bush as he exited office. About seven in 10 say Obama understands their problems, and a similar proportion say his victory gives him a "mandate to work for major new social and economic programs."

QUIETER THAN USUAL
Thanks to Laura Bush, the traditional Inauguration Day workload for the White House staff wasn't nearly as hectic as in the past. The Bush family moved almost all of their belongings out of the White House well ahead of schedule, avoiding the 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. mad rush of prior transitions.

The White House staff encompasses a small but highly effective army of workers, including four florists, five chefs, four calligraphers, and four curators. The payroll also includes 33 handymen who tend to the six-level, 132-room mansion and its 31 bathrooms, 28 fireplaces, three kitchens, three elevators, movie theater, and bowling alley. And they're available 24 hours a day.

AMBASSADORS UPDATE
President Obama says that while he aims to grow a bigger crop of career diplomats, he will not abandon the practice of filling some ambassadorial posts with political appointees.

The President notes that he has not yet thought through the full list of possible appointments he'll be making, and is focusing instead on the most critical embassy posts like Baghdad.

Currently, about one-third of ambassadors are political appointees, which is in line with historic norms. Obama has made no mention yet of whether he intends to stick to that norm or try to lower it.

CAMBRIDGE ON THE POTOMAC
It's no surprise that Barack Obama, former President of the Harvard Law Review, has filled numerous high-level executive branch jobs with members of "the Harvard family" - the community of those who spent time at that illustrious institution as students, professors, administrators or, in some cases, all three.

Larry Summers, the university's former President, has been named Director of the National Economic Council. Elena Kagan, Law School Dean, is the pick for Solicitor General. Arne Duncan, a Harvard alum and member of the university's Board of Overseers, was selected as Education Secretary. John Holdren, professor of environmental policy, and Eric Lander, head of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, are key science advisers. Cass Sunstein, one of the biggest names on the Harvard Law School faculty, will head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, and Julius Genachowski, a Law School alum, will head the FCC.

There is also a growing list of alum and faculty members taking on jobs as deputy secretaries, associate attorneys general, ambassadors, and a multitude of other powerful - if not so visible - posts.

AGING IN OFFICE
President Obama, fit and trim at 47, plays basketball and enjoys regular exercise. He'll need to stick with it, too.

Dr. Michael Roizen, a chief wellness officer at the Cleveland Clinic, points out that the new President will start aging very quickly. Roizen studied the medical records of former presidents as far back as Theodore Roosevelt and determined that the stress and demands put on them take a heavy toll on their bodies. He concludes that the typical U.S. president ages two years for every year spent in office.

OVER AND OUT
A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released at the end of his second term found that roughly two-thirds of Americans view President George W. Bush's tenure in the White House as a failure. Forty-four percent of respondents attributed the failure to Bush's personal shortcomings, while 22% blamed it on circumstances that were beyond his control.

Half of all respondents said the nation would be better off today if Al Gore had been elected president in 2000 rather than Bush, but 27% believe the country would be worse off if Gore had won. Twenty-two percent said things would be about the same.

BLACKBERRY BUZZ
President Obama is a Blackberry (a/k/a "Crackberry") addict, as anyone who saw the ever-present device on his belt or in his hand on the campaign trail would know.

Security and legal hurdles over Obama's continued BlackBerry-ing appear to have been overcome, so it seems he won't have to worry about quitting cold turkey.

If he wasn't restrained as a public servant, our "BlackBerry President" could earn a small fortune doing commercial plugs for his favorite communications device. How much? An estimated $25 million to $50 million, marketing gurus insist, in the biggest endorsement deal of all time.

TRUST DECLINES
President Obama is now enjoying a wave of public support, but the first PSI Public Trust Monitor finds that the challenging economic environment has taken a significant toll on the public's confidence in both corporations and the government. Among the key findings:

• Identical percentages of registered voters (62%) say their confidence in government and in the business community has fallen over the past year.

• More than seven in 10 think American business is on the wrong track, and 67% think federal regulation of businesses should be increased.

• Nearly half of all Americans - 49% - worry that the federal government will "go too far" in providing assistance to corporations.

FIRST PET
The First Family's quest for a dog has been narrowed to two choices: a Labradoodle or a Portuguese Water Dog.

But an AP-Petside.com poll reveals that Americans prefer the new "First Pet" be a mutt rather than a pure-bred, by more than a two-to-one margin (44% to 19%).

Democratic pet owners favor a mutt over a pure-bred by a wide margin of 50% to 19%. Republican pet owners support the choice of a mutt over a purebred by just 39% to 17%.

Also, more Democratic pet owners strongly prefer that the Obama dog be adopted from a shelter (58%). Only 43% of Republican pet owners said it was important for the Obamas to adopt a dog from a shelter.

Speaking for the nation's homeless cat population, why not consider a feline or two?

PIGSKIN PLURALITY
Planning a Super Bowl party to watch the Cardinals vs. the Steelers? It's a pretty American thing to do.

According to Gallup, football is the runaway winner when Americans are asked to name their favorite spectator sport. Forty-one percent choose football, with baseball (10%) and basketball (9%) a distant second, and "no other sport" at 5%.

Gallup first asked this open-ended "favorite sport" question in 1937, and has updated it regularly since 1990. In the very early years, baseball was king, with football second by a considerable margin. But by 1972, football had overtaken baseball, and has been the top sport ever since, remaining the favorite of over 40% of those polled in each of the last three years.

TV LEGEND
Remember "The Prisoner"? It was one of the coolest TV shows ever.

Its star, writer, and director, British actor Patrick McGoohan, recently passed away at age 80.

McGoohan played a character known only as Number Six, a former spy held captive in a small enclave known as The Village, where a mysterious authority named Number One constantly prevented his escape.

The series of 17 episodes ran for just one season in 1967, but its cultural impact remains, with a devoted following in the U.S. and Europe.

His character's unforgettably famous line was: "I am not a number - I am a free man!"

INAUGURAL BALL QUIZ
The tradition began in 1809, when First Lady Dolley Madison (the original "hostess with the mostess"), staged a gala at Long's Hotel with 400 tickets sold at $4 each. Inaugural balls - just one, party-goers soon discovered, was not enough to let everyone in on the festivities - quickly turned into an anticipated highlight of Washington society. Their locations became a prime topic of discussion and angst.

The Obamas and Bidens attended 10 official balls. Can you match the number of inaugural balls with the corresponding president? Answers are presented below. See you next month.

Answers: 1=d, 2=e, 3=b, 4=a, 5=c.

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