Obama should just do right thing and forget about the dog

One of the most pressing issues facing the American nation is the selection of a presidential dog. Another is that Barack Obama is going to be the president and Americans don’t even know what his favourite icecream flavour is.

All they know is that his daughter Malia’s favourite food is icecream. “I could eat icecream forever,” she said in a July 2008 interview with Entertainment Tonight, a daily television news show that is syndicated by CBS throughout the US.

They know also that the president-elect was trying to kick the habit of smoking. He confesses it wasn’t easy. “There have been a couple of times during the campaign when I fell off the wagon and bummed one, and I had to kick it again,” he says in the November issue of Men’s Health.

In an interview with Chris Matthews of MSNBC’s Hardball Softball he says: “It is a struggle like everything else. And I think that it is important to just keep in mind, I have a nine-year-old daughter and a six-year-old daughter.

“And I want to give them away in their weddings and I want to see my grand kids, and I want to set a good example for all these young people here, and I want to make sure as president of the United States, everybody knows that I’m going to try to stay healthy.”

However, it is the choice of a dog to take to the White House that has occupied many Americans’ thoughts. In his victory speech on November 4, President-elect Obama promised to the world that his daughters Sasha and Malia would bring a new puppy to the White House in January.

“Sasha and Malia, I love you both so much, and you have earned the new puppy that’s coming with us to the White House,” he intoned.

True, it has been a long presidential tradition — since first president George Washington (1789-1797) — to keep animals in the White House. Of the 43 presidents before Obama, only two do not seem to have followed the tradition.

President George W. Bush moved into the White House with two Scottish terriers and a springer spaniel which was born in the White House when his father, George H.W. Bush, took office in 1989. The Bushes also have a black cat named India.

Some of the presidents assembled what would be the envy of a modern zoo keeper. Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929) had a pygmy hippopotamus stolen from Liberia, six dogs, a bobcat, a goose, a donkey, a cat, two lion cubs, an antelope and a wallaby.

However, the favourite presidential pet has remained a puppy, and Americans are now waiting with bated breath to see what the Obamas will choose for the First Dog. Obama promised his children a dog, but there has been no word on the kind.

Michelle had indicated in a TV interview during the campaign that they would like to adopt a rescue dog. But this did not satisfy many Americans.

A rescue dog is an abandoned one from an animal shelter. There is an estimated 6 million dogs in the US seeking a home.

Animal rights groups are also pressing for the adoption of a homeless dog, while the American Kennel Club is pushing for a pedigree puppy from a breeder. They think this would be an excellent choice for the White House.

But Malia is allergic to dogs, and the Obamas have said they are looking for a hypoallergenic one. Advertisers coined the word “hypoallergenic” to describe items, such as cosmetics and textiles, that cause fewer allergic reactions. Experts, however, say there is no such thing as a truly hypoallergenic dog.

According to advice given to the Obamas by the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, they need to temper their hopes for a hypoallergenic dog. “There is no truly hypoallergenic dog,” the AAAAI said in a statement.

A purebred poodle — the breed that most Americans are recommending for the White House — is said to be hypoallergenic.

But a recent New York Times article says that “all the safe-breed theories are just wishful thinking”. The safest advice to the Obamas, it says, is “not to get a warm-blooded pet in the first place”.

There is also an ethical issue. Americans spend a staggering $41 billion a year on pets — more than the gross domestic product of most African countries. The amount is seven times more than Kenya collects in taxes. It is nearly 100 times more than the Kenya government spends on health.

Barack Obama, elected on a ticket of “change we can believe in”, may be seen to be encouraging old-style American extravagance on pets. This may not go down well with his supporters in Africa, many of whom cannot afford a decent meal.

Barack Obama, I must say, do the right thing, forget the dog.