The president calls
Rob Price

When I got home from work Tuesday afternoon, the light on our telephone answering machine was blinking. I pushed the play button, and the message turned out to be from President Bush!

"This is Prez-dent George W. Bush," the president said, and I knew it was really he, because George W. Bush is the only man I know of who can compress the word "president" into two syllables.

President Bush told me it's every American's "responsibility" to vote and he and "Laura" hoped I would vote Republican. He also said Republicans would help win the war against terror, which he pronounced as "tear" - further evidence the real George Bush had been on my line!

It was an honor getting a phone call from the president of the United States, even though the president's reference to his wife "Laura" was a little on the familiar side. A more polite expression - one that showed the proper respect for the president's spouse - might have been something like "Mrs. Bush and I hope you vote Republican." I mean, if I ever meet Mrs. Bush, I'm not going to say, "Hello, Laura." I'll say "Why Mrs. Bush, your husband called just the other day."

I also wonder about President Bush's claim that voting is my "responsibility." I'm a regular voter, but I don't really regard going to the polls as a "responsibility." Mostly, I think of it as a "privilege," and sometimes I think of it as an opportunity to poke a stick in someone's eye.

So I felt a little funny getting a phone call from President Bush giving me directions about my "responsibilities." I don't know about you, but when I call a friend, the first words out of my mouth don't include the word "responsibility." Only once in my life have I ever told a friend about his responsibilities, and that was when I got married and thought a brief conversation with my best man about responsibilities was in order. "You're responsible for holding this ring," I said. "Got it?"

I was thinking about President Bush's remark about my responsibilities, plus his friendly reference to his wife, when my own wife came home and asked whom the telephone message was from.

"It's from President Bush," I said.

"Let's erase it," said my wife.

"Leave it on," I said. "He's never called us before."

My wife looked at me in a way that has become pretty familiar in our marriage. It's her I-see-you've-grown-twoheads expression. "You want to leave this message on the phone?" she said.

"We can play it someday for our grandchildren," I said.

We left the issue of grandchildren unsettled and went to cast our Election Day votes. I voted for a couple of Republicans, but I also voted for a couple of Democrats. I mean, I'm concerned as the next guy about "terror," or "tear"; I just thought some Democratic candidates were more qualified than the Republicans.

I thought that was a fairly responsible way of voting.

Then I went to the Hornell Knights of Columbus and watched the election returns with half the Democrats in Steuben County. Democrats in my experience throw a good election night party even when they lose, and Democrats were winning big Tuesday evening.

"This is a good night for Democrats," I told a Democratic friend. "But it's going to upset President Bush. He and Mrs. Bush wanted everyone to vote Republican."

My friend suggested a couple of other activities that might upset President Bush, and we watched the television set as the Democrats took control of the House of Representatives. The only dark cloud on the swiftly brightening Democratic horizon was the apparent loss of Eric Massa to Congressman Randy Kuhl. I wonder if Mr. Kuhl calls Mrs. Bush "Laura."

Now that the 2006 elections are over, it's time to turn our attention to the 2008 presidential elections and the many challenges facing our country. Who will be our presidential candidates in two years? Democrat Hillary Clinton or Barak Obama? Republican John McCain?

It will surely be an interesting two years, and I hope President Bush calls me a few more times to share his thoughts. I would advise him to stop lecturing me and his other friends on the "responsibility" of voting. Voting, I would tell him, is an "honor," and sometimes it's even a downright pleasure.

I also will ask him to pass my regards to "Mrs. Bush."