The Hon. Karl Rove
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. Rove,

You don’t know me from a hole in the ground (unless on the very unlikely chance that you actually have time in your busy schedule to get on the Internet and the more unlikely chance that you would then find your way to this unlikely publication where, like a missionary in Darkest Africa, I try my best to bring Republican wisdom to these misguided free-thinkers that surround my words on these unlikely pages).

But. As I’ve pointed out in my earlier columns, Dubya and I go way back. The younger sister of my third cousin’s brother twice removed dated Dubya’s best friend back in the good old days at Midland High School. Ever since, I have followed his career with great interest, offering whatever encouragement I could in my journalistic efforts, which started with a column in our local weekly paper, The Midland Advertiser and Coupon Clipper, a copy of which somehow found its way into the hands of the editor of Magellan’s Log, which led in turn to the invitation to serve as the latter’s (as they call me) "token Republican." Much to their chagrin and of course to my delight, I have developed a real following here and am, so they tell me, their most popular, widely read columnist. (I can’t resist mentioning that I’ve recently sent a copy of several of my columns to the editorial board of the Washington Times, which as you well know is the ne plus ultra of all right-thinking columnists, so don’t be surprised if you one day soon see my by-line pop up in your own very favorite newspaper!)

Meanwhile, back in the wonderful Permian Basin area of Texas which I and our president call home, I’ve been thinking a lot about the 2004 election, as I’m sure you have too. What prompts me to write directly to you is what happened on the second anniversary of 9/11. I noticed that originally the president was to fly into New York City and make a speech at or near Ground Zero, but at the last minute because of a "scheduling conflict" that plan was cancelled and he wound up speaking to FBI agents-in-training at Quantico, Virginia.

Those of us in the political know immediately saw your wise hand at work, Mr. Rove. You intuited that your (our!) boss might receive a less than warm welcome these days in Manhattan and instead sent him off to a heartier crowd of FBI guys and gals.

I’m writing to ask, Mr. Rove, is that really the image we want to project for the president in the coming election year when so much—including of course your own future—is at stake? Do we want to see a president who cuts and runs at the least hint of trouble (and I trust you’ve already got expedient arguments to reply to any nefarious Democrats next year who bring up the president’s hop-scotching all over North America on the original 9/11), or do we want to see a president who stands and faces the villains himself (or at least bravely sends off 180,000 young men and women to do the standing and facing in his place as he has done so courageously in Iraq)?

Lest you think Ora Shay is just a nit-picking, second-guessing Monday morning quarterback, I have some very specific suggestions re Campaign 2004 that could shape and reshape the whole election to all our mutual benefits.

Very simply, focus the president’s big appearances on a theme of "Healing America"! He has often spoken about the need to bring us together. Let’s finally put some meat on those words!

Next year, think about where the still-festering wounds in America’s soul are, and let’s send our beloved president to those very places to have him make landmark, HEALING speeches that will truly set a new tone for the campaign and for the future of our beloved country.

What do I mean? Let’s ask ourselves, where is American hurting most? Here is my list of places for the president to go speak and heal and bind up old wounds once and for all:

1. Dallas, TX.
The date "9/11" has slightly erased the wound of the date "11/23" but there’s still no doubt how much damage that notorious left-winger Lee Harvey Oswald did that day in 1963. My suggestion: Have the president do two things in Dallas next fall: 1) make a BIG speech about bringing us all together, and then 2) have a BIG motorcade down Elm Street, following the VERY SAME ROUTE   the ill-fated President Kennedy followed on 11/23/63! Talk about a healing gesture that will lovingly erase ugly old memories of the past!

2. Kent, OH.
In a similar vein, the president goes to Ohio and makes a speech on the very campus—Kent State University—that came to symbolize intolerance about the importance of tolerance and learning to live together peacefully! (Who knows, maybe some of the student-victims' families have in the meantime seen the light and become straight-ticket Republicans—think of the effect if those families appear on the same platform with the president!)

3. Birmingham, AL.
Just visualize the effect of images flashed around the world of the president in front of the re-built Sixteenth Street Baptist Church embracing and endorsing racial unity and equality with a speech for the ages!

4. Seneca Falls, NY.
Here, where the so-called women’s rights movement started in 1848, the president comes and speaks at length and with his usual brilliance on the many contributions that women have selflessly made to the course of American history, from Betsy Ross to Katherine Harris. By the time he winds up with a tribute to his own wonderful maternal relative, Ms. Barbara Bush herself, I promise you, there won’t be a dry eye in the house!

5. Stonewall Bar, NY.
My sources here in Midland (and let me assure you, some of my best friends are gay, as I’m sure many of yours are as well) tell me that the Stonewall bar is long gone. No matter, the building is surely still there, and the president can go and speak on-site many beautiful words about big-tent Republicanism and how some of HIS best friends are gay and how important it is to hate the sin but love the sinner.

And for the BIG WIND-UP to the Healing Campaign of 2004 we go to:

6. Beaumont, TX.
"Beaumont?" you perhaps say, Mr. Rove. "What does Beaumont have to do with geopolitics???" Forgive my presumptuousness, but Beaumont has EVERYTHING to do with the present state of geopolitics. Why? Because Beaumont is where what we out here in Deep West Texas think of as the "Oil Revolution" really started. Beaumont is where, on January 10, 1901, the world's first true big, uncontrolled gusher came in. It was an oil well called "Spindletop," and when Spindletop blew in, in the first ONE HOUR of uncontrolled flow, more oil came out of that one well than had been produced in the ENTIRE WORLD up to that time. So the president goes to Beaumont and celebrates and EMBRACES once and for all THE FINAL TRIUMPH OF MAN OVER NATURE!!!

I know, Mr. Rove, those are at this point sketchy plans. Please feel free to call on me when it comes time to start fleshing them out and turning them into an electoral reality that will lead us into four more glorious years of George W. Bush.

With unabashed admiration,
Ora Shay