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Change just for the sake of change can become entirely foolish, and extremely costly. Well-thought-out change (which avoids speeding recklessly into the near future) can be good for a country as a whole, if we take things at a reasonable pace. I do not advocate sitting in an overstuffed chair and endlessly pontificating as the months roll by, but rather moving ahead with cautious, proactive planning.

Here is my concern about the Obama presidency. In the now-famous 1960s candy commercial, a kid with a lollipop has a genuine and sincere question about his sucker: how many licks does it take to get to the center?

Having no one else to ask, he begins to selectively query the barnyard animals around him. In the extended version, the first person he asks is Mr. Cow (never mind that there can be no such thing as Mister Cow; it's either Mrs. Cow or Mr. Bull or Mr. Steer, but I digress). Mr. Cow says that he always ends up biting and that the kid should ask Mr. Fox "for he is much cleverer." Mr. Fox says to ask Mr. Turtle "for he has been around much longer."

This is where we pick up the action in the commercial that is most familiar. Mr Turtle tells the kid that he never made it without biting, and to ask Mr. Owl. Now there has been a steady progression here. Mr. Fox is much cleverer, Mr. Turtle has been around much longer, but he admits he doesn't know, so he defers to Mr. Owl. It's easy to assume that Mr. Owl is the wisest of the animals, and that given his wisdom he should be able to easily answer the kid's question.

What happens next is horrifying. Mr. Owl takes the kids sucker, suggesting that they try an experiment to come to the kid's solution. Whether reluctant or not (the kid doesn't fight), the kid gives up the sucker in an obvious attempt to get the questions answered. Mr Owl begins "One, too-hoo, three (crunch!), three."

The kid was totally scammed. Mr. Owl hands back the empty stick, and the kid is left with not only an unanswered question, but an empty stick, and a unfulfilled promise from someone supposedly wiser, and in charge. The Owl got a free sucker, and had seemly no remorse that he took the kid's lollipop, and gave absolutely nothing back, but an empty promise. The kid gave up something very important to him, asking someone whom he thought could answer a question, that question being even more important to him than the sucker. He got nothing in return for handing Mr. Owl his sucker, except an empty stick.

You draw the conclusion.

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