Envelope: The coffin of a document; the scabbard of a bill; the husk of a remittance; the bed-gown of a love-letter. — Ambrose Bierce


Question: What starts with an e and ends with an e and has a single letter in it?
Answer: An envelope.

President Obama receives thousands of envelopes filled with letters. They pour into the White House Correspondence Office each day from Americans who have taken the time to sit down and write to their president. Does the president return that courtesy by sitting down to read any of these letters? Yes he does. President Obama takes the time to not only read, every day, a selection of the letters that are sent to him — but to answer some of them as well. It's been said that he does this because he doesn't want to get isolated in the White House, away from the experiences of the American people.


ABC News reports:

Every day President Barack Obama is handed a special purple folder. The folder contains ten letters, and every day President Obama takes time to read them.

Are they from world leaders? From members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff? Members of the intelligence community?

No, these letters have been culled from the thousands the White House Correspondence Office receives each day from Americans who have taken the time to sit down and write to their president.

"They help him focus on the real problems people are facing," says Axelrod. "He really a absorbs these letters, and often shares then with us." 

In his first week in office, President Obama requested that he see 10 letters a day "representative of people's concerns, from people writing into the president," recalls Gibbs, "to help get him outside of the bubble, to get more than just the information you get as an elected official."

Says Axelrod, "he did it because his greatest concern is getting isolated in the White House, away from the experiences of the American people...The letters impact him greatly."

Read the full article here.

Related links:

How to write a letter to the President of the United States of America
Dear Mr. President: Kids Share Hopes for President Obama in new book (Thousands of kids detailed their hopes and expectations for President Obama in letters and drawings as part of a worldwide project.)
Correspondence of the Presidents of the United States of America