WASHINGTON // Being elected president of the United States has its perks: you get to live in a big white house with 132 rooms and travel the world. But it comes with at least one major drawback: infinite amounts of unsolicited advice in a city where everyone, it seems, knows better than you. In the seven short days Mr Obama has been president-elect, everyone from political pundits to think tank theorists and former presidents has offered up advice on what he should do in office and how he should do it. Be bold, suggested E J Dionne, a columnist for The Washington Post. End the politics of fear, urged Madeleine Albright, a former secretary of state. Recognise your past mistakes, said an economics professor at Harvard University. There is plenty more where that came from. Bring the troops in Iraq home now. Keep the troops there longer. Create a unique presidential "self-image". Do not overreach. Close Guantanamo on Day One. Step up the fight against cancer. Get a "medium energy level" dog. Yes, there has even been advice - from a noted dog psychologist with his own cable TV show - on what sort of dog the Obamas should get. There are two types of advice in US politics: the kind for which you pay top dollar to consultants, no matter if it helps you win elections or govern well, and the kind offered at no charge from just about everybody else. And as is the custom after a new president is voted into office - especially one who soon will inherit an arguably unprecedented number of problems at home and abroad - it is flowing uncontrollably in Mr Obama's direction. The incoming commander-in-chief said last week in his first press conference since election day that he had spoken to all the former living presidents (though he did not say what advice, if any, they gave him). Mr Obama may also have received a few suggestions from George W Bush on Monday when the two met at the White House. It would not have been the first time. When Mr Obama first met the president, in Jan 2005, he was one day away from being sworn in as the freshman US senator from Illinois and already considered a rising star in the Democratic Party. According to Mr Obama's account, as told in his book The Audacity of Hope, Mr Bush pulled him aside and said he hoped Mr Obama did not mind if he offered some advice. "You've got a bright future," the president said. "Very bright. But I've been in this town a while and, let me tell you, it can be tough. When you get a lot of attention like you've been getting, people start gunnin' for ya. And it won't necessarily just be coming from my side, you understand. From yours, too. Everybody'll be waiting for you to slip. Know what I mean? So watch yourself." Advice, of course, comes in all stripes: there is shrewd advice, helpful advice, patronising advice, self-serving advice, advice from friends and advice from foes. Mitt Romney, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination this year who is mentioned as a possible contender in 2012, was recently asked by Fortune magazine to give some to the president-elect. Mr Romney said he should "forget entirely about re-election and focus solely on helping the nation at a critical time" (while that sounds noble, one wonders whether Mr Romney would take his own advice were he in Mr Obama's shoes). The Washington Times, which has a conservative editorial page, urged Mr Obama to take a cue or two from an unlikely place - the Bush administration - despite his having railed against it during the campaign in what turned out to be a highly successful tactic. "Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater," the paper editorialised last week. "Despite Democratic rantings of 'failed leadership', there is plenty worth salvaging." The very day after the election, an "open letter" to Mr Obama written by Mrs Albright, the former secretary of state under Bill Clinton, was published in some newspapers. "Congratulations on your success," it begins, going on to lay out a mind-boggling array of responsibilities on Mr Obama's plate, and how he should tackle them. "To justify our confidence in you, you must show confidence in us," Mrs Albright wrote. "End the politics of fear. Treat us like adults. Help us to understand people from distant lands and cultures. Challenge us to work together. Remind us that America's finest hours have come not from dominating others but from inspiring people everywhere to seek the best in themselves." John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations - who during the campaign blasted Mr Obama for his "gaps in knowledge" in foreign affairs and a "naive" and "dangerous" approach to diplomacy - wrote a similar letter offering his thoughts on what the incoming president's priorities should be. Even foreign leaders are willing to weigh in. Silvio Berlusconi, the prime minister of Italy, was quoted as saying he had yet to offer specific advice to Mr Obama, since the two had not met, but he would be happy to "given my age and experience". As for the advice on the family dog Mr Obama promised his daughters, Malia and Sasha, 10 and 7, Cesar Millan, a canine psychologist from the National Geographic Channel's Dog Whisperer programme, said the president-in-waiting should not expect a dog that gives him any special credit for his historic election. "The dog won't know he's Barack Obama and won the presidency," Mr Millan told People magazine. "Dogs don't know if they live in Beverly Hills or the White House. They don't know what you do for a living." eniedowski@thenational.ae
