Dear Diary

Rancho del Cielo. What difference does it make if you feel great when you look sick? Since they took that cancerous bit off my nose, the doctors are telling me to wear PABA 16 sunscreen whenever I go outdoors. I’ve had a tan ever since I was a lifeguard. Now, all of a sudden, I’m pale and every wrinkle shows, so much so that someone mentioned ittomeat the last Cabinet meeting, joking that paleness might become the latest “in” thing. How long will it be before the press starts saying that the President doesn’t look well? Once you create the perception of sickness, people start treating you differently.

I’ll put it down here for the first time, dear diary, and historians can say later whether I was right or wrong. The hardest stretch we’ll ever have in this Administration is coming up in the next four months. Controlling the agenda has been my forte, but the upcoming situation seems hopeless. Look at this sea of troubles: the budget (yet again) with all the talk of veto strategies; the deficit and the vote on the $2-trillion debt ceiling (which Dole will milk for all it’s worth); farm-belt woes; the import flood; South Africa; immigration; tax reform; and, right in the middle of it, the Summit.

JM

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John McLaughlin

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Rancho del Cielo. What difference does it make if you feel great when you look sick? Since they took that cancerous bit off my nose, the doctors are telling me to wear PABA 16 sunscreen whenever I go outdoors. I’ve had a tan ever since I was a lifeguard. Now, all of a sudden, I’m pale and every wrinkle shows, so much so that someone mentioned ittomeat the last Cabinet meeting, joking that paleness might become the latest “in” thing. How long will it be before the press starts saying that the President doesn’t look well? Once you create the perception of sickness, people start treating you differently.

I’ll put it down here for the first time, dear diary, and historians can say later whether I was right or wrong. The hardest stretch we’ll ever have in this Administration is coming up in the next four months. Controlling the agenda has been my forte, but the upcoming situation seems hopeless. Look at this sea of troubles: the budget (yet again) with all the talk of veto strategies; the deficit and the vote on the $2-trillion debt ceiling (which Dole will milk for all it’s worth); farm-belt woes; the import flood; South Africa; immigration; tax reform; and, right in the middle of it, the Summit.