Midwest Memo
Duly noted
by Alan Shultz

I was out showing real estate the week before last to a delightful family of four. We met for the first time just that very day. Due to the frigid weather we got to know each other only very briefly as we scurried from building to building.

As a salesman, I know to keep away from politics and religion in casual conversation. That was easy this particular day as I kept to the topic of the weather. The wind chill was -10 and that thermometer reading made us literally run down the sidewalk and across busy streets only to shiver together as we waited for doormen to buzz us through locked lobby doors.

It's funny what you learn about folks while house hunting. Usually the decision maker in the group shows himself or herself early in the search. Also, you find out quickly if folks are comfortable with the occasional quiet moment or need constant small talk. I talk a little too much and I speak to the traffic around me when I drive. The people I work with learn that about me real early on.

On our second property stop we huddled in front of our destination when I heard the electronic click of the front door even before the buzzer went off. We five dashed inside the warm confines of the lobby lickety-split. As we thawed, one of the family members broke the prevailing silence.

"Well, first off, that will have to go."

I looked in the direction the speaker was motioning and was surprised to see the red, white and blue of the United States flag standing alone in the corner.

I said nothing, but duly noted that politics had unexpectedly entered the scene and suddenly I was now more informed on the beliefs of the folks with whom I was working.

No comment was called for from me, no debate was appropriate and we proceeded on with our appointments, the statement about the flag, duly noted.

Flash forward a few days.

On the campaign trail stumping for husband Senator Barak Obama, who is seeking to be the Democratic party presidential nominee, Michele Obama shared the following observation in two different speeches given in Wisconsin:

"For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country. Not just because Barak is doing well, but I think people are hungry for change."

Let me be the first to point out that the statement is taken out of context. Mrs. Obama was giving a political speech to supporters at a campaign rally. Whatever her words meant, they were spoken in that context for that audience.

But second, let me point out that Mrs. Obama was not responding to a question here. She had volunteered this observation about pride and country, whatever it meant...

twice.

I've said plenty of things

over time that I wished I could restate. I've yearned for a "do over" so to speak. I've even written things in this column that, given the opportunity, I would make clearer. Sometimes you get that chance and sometimes you don't.

Well, Mrs. Obama got more than a passing opportunity for her "do over." The Chicago Sun Times devoted the entire front page of its 2/21/08 edition and an entire page inside to reporting what Mrs. Obama really meant. The headline "WHAT I REALLY SAID" was in one inch bold caps. But the Times got the headline wrong since the rehash and restatement equalled the reporting of a "WHAT I REALLY MEANT."

For days Mrs. Obama's critics were all over her statement with their own rhetoric while her supporters twisted nouns and verbs to make sense of it all. Cindy McCain, wife of Republican nominee frontrunner Senator John McCain, jumped in with what seemed like an awkward profession of pride in country. The entire affair proved to be an interesting tempest in a teapot.

In this case regarding Mrs. Obama's observation of pride and country, "duly noted," also works quite well for me.