The XX Factor: What women really think.

Bo, Not To the Rescue

The Obamas said they wanted a rescue dog. The kind you take home from a shelter so it won't be put to sleep. They ended up with a purebred Portuguese Water Dog courtesy of Sen. Ted Kennedy, which, according to the Washington Post, was not a "good fit" for the family it lived with previously, and has been schooled by Kennedy's dog trainers. The Post continues: 

"As for the rescue pledge, the Obamas came up with a solution intended to lend a serious symbolic note: They're going to make a donation to the D.C. Humane Society."

Two lessons: 1) See how great cap and trade is?  2) Moving to Washington means that powerfully persuasive people take you on little jaunts away from your modest and principled intentions—jaunts that seem harmless, but exert a symbolic power of their own.