I spotted this story while checking out Fox 4's new, post-Fox-era Web site (wow, streaming video! how very second-term Bush-era ...). The new President -- in what we can only assume was a calculated sound bite -- expressed his incredulity about what it takes to close a school in D.C. Substitute "Kansas City" for "Washington" and these words would ring just as true:
"Can I make a comment that is unrelated to the economy very quickly?" the new president told reporters at a gathering with business leaders. "And it has to do with Washington. My children's school was canceled today. Because of, what? Some ice? ... As my children pointed out, in Chicago, school is never canceled," Obama said to laughter. "In fact, my 7-year-old pointed out that you'd go outside for recess. You wouldn't even stay indoors. So, I don't know. We're going to have to try to apply some flinty Chicago toughness."
We have been in KC now for 13 winters since moving from Chi-town. And we still don't get the school closings. It's not just Chicago toughness, though -- Mrs. TVB grew up a Minnesota farmgirl and I delivered papers through four brutal Montana winters. I'd say it's more like north of the 41st parallel toughness.
Right now the new Fox 4 site has a banner across the top that reads, "TOTAL CLOSINGS" -- you know, just in case you thought Fox 4 only gave you some of the closings. In Chicago at the first sight of snow, plow trucks pull onto Lake Shore Drive. In Kansas City at the first sight of snow, TV news directors load a chyron.
I hope this is just the beginning of an important national conversation about the response of Americans to winter weather. Something tells me, though, it's more likely to be a big cultural snowball fight.
UPDATE: According to NBC, Conan O'Brien told this joke at his "Late Night" taping this evening: "President Obama said that people in Washington can’t handle harsh winter weather like people in Chicago. To be fair, Chicago is shielded from snow & ice by the protective dome of Governor Blagojevich's hair."
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