Shout Outs

One of the keys to ingratiating yourself to an audience is to give them a complimentary "shout-out". Rock concerts frequently begin with the lead singer bellowing, "Hell-o-o-o, Cleveland!!!". Of course, this is most effective when the concert is actually in Cleveland. Bruce Springsteen began a recent Detroit concert with a hearty "Hell-o-o-o, Ohio". Not a good idea the week before before the Ohio State - Michigan game.

Our girl Sarah Palin greeted a book signing audience yesterday with, "Michigan and Alaska are a lot alike. There's the fishin' and the huntin' and the Hockey Moms." Well done, Sarah! That audience is now in your hip pocket. You may want to change that line if you ever appear in San Francisco. "Alaska and San Francisco are a lot alike. There's the Pacific Ocean and the Russians just over the horizon and the gay activism. Well, we don't actually have gays in Alaska just like they don't in Iran, but we have a lot in common anyway."

President Obama's Asian tour might have been a smashing success if he took a page from Bruce's and Sarah's book. "Hell-o-o-o, Beijing! China and America have a lot in common. There's the huntin' and the fishin' and the big stacks of dollars that we owe you. There would be more , but I guess you don't have Hockey Moms over here."

"Hell-o-o-o, Tokyo. Japan and America have a lot in common. There's the huntin' and the fishin' for whales (Actually we don't do that anymore, but we used to!) and the respect for Hockey Moms and aged Emperors. I'd probably catch less flak if I bowed before Gordie Howe's Mom than your Emperor. Or maybe not. Mrs Howe is Canadian."

Shout it out, Sarah and Barack!