Anderson Cooper 360: Blog Archive - Dear President Obama #455: Building up Kansas «... Page 1 of 3
HOME
MAIN
WORLD
BLOG
U.S.
POLITICS
CRIME
ENTERTAINMENT
HEALTH
TECH
TRAVEL
LIVING
VIDEO
April 19, 2010
Dear President Obama #455: Building up Kansas
Posted: 08:35 AM ET
Share | Permalink | 3 Comments
Reporter's Note: I’m not sure how many times President Obama has been to Kansas. But I’m there now, so
just in case he’s wondering what I’m up to, I thought I’d make that the subject of today’s letter to the White
House.
About this blog
A behind the scenes look at “Anderson Cooper 360°” and the
stories it covers, written by Anderson Cooper, the AC360° staff
and a network of contributors. Insight you can’t find anywhere
else.
We search the news each day to show you what’s on our radar
and what we’re planning for the show each night.
For more details, read our tips on how to win 360° approval
for comments.
Send your instant feedback to Anderson Cooper 360°.
Recent Posts
Tom Foreman | BIO
AC360° Correspondent
Dear Mr. President,
The flight into Kansas was largely uneventful. I came by way of Baltimore and Chicago on a pair of puddle
jumpers and dove right into the work when I arrived. As I told you, I’m here to do more of our Building Up
America series, and we’re starting off in Wichita. Anyway, my cameraman, Dave, had heard about some Civil
War re-enactors appearing at a local western museum, so we hustled right over to check it out, and it proved
a good time.
They marched around in their blue and gray uniforms, fired volleys, charged, retreated, fell dead, and finally
got up and walked away to appreciative applause. As civil wars go, this one was remarkably civil. I spent
about a half hour talking to the guy who owned the cannon while he explained how he bought it, and how it is
fired, and the range. He and another fellow there told me it has an effective range of 900 yards. Nine football
fields! Amazing.
Kansas, in case you don’t know, has fared relatively well during this recession. Granted, they’ve taken some
sharp hits in the airplane making business (I assume you are aware that this is THE big state for making
private airplanes, like those corporate jets that stirred up all the fuss7) and they’ve lost some jobs; but they’ve
also proven pretty darn resilient in finding ways to make a go of it anyway. Scads of small businesses have
come up with clever ways to move ahead and add jobs wherever they can.
There is a guy, for example, in the town of Wamego who had an idea about reviving a long-forgotten wine
industry here and combining it with the legendary tale of The Wizard of Oz (Dorothy, as you may recall, was a
Kansan) and his Oz Winery has been booming ever since.
Dear President Obama #456: Prairie, and pizza, and farm
implements ... oh my
Volcano Chaos: Join the Live Chat
OKC Bombing 15 Years Later: What shall we do about us?
Experts: Why planes should stay grounded
Beat 360° 4/19/10
Pew study: Distrust, discontent, anger and partisan rancor
New lead in murdered principal case
Goldman 101: What's going on?
Dispatch from an ash storm
How not to raise a bully: The early roots of empathy
Featured Contributors
Candy Crowley
Candy Crowley is CNN's senior political
correspondent and an AC360° contributor
David Gergen
David Gergen is CNN's senior political analyst
and former presidential advisor
Roland S. Martin
Roland S. Martin is a nationally awardwinning journalist and AC360° contributor
Related
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/19/dear-president-obama-455-building-up-kansas/
4/20/2010
Anderson Cooper 360: Blog Archive - Dear President Obama #455: Building up Kansas «... Page 2 of 3
The result is an unemployment rate well below the national average and a housing market in which some
analysts are predicting a pretty good rebound through the rest of the year and even better in 2011. It’s all
rather encouraging even as plenty of folks here readily admit times have been tough and they don’t think the
nation is out of the woods yet.
Anderson Cooper 360°
Anderson Cooper bio
Political Ticker blog
The Cafferty File Blog
The CNN Wire
Paging Dr Gupta blog
The Marquee blog
All CNN.com blogs
It’s late and I’m tired, so despite this not being much of a letter, I’m going to wrap it up. Could be a long week
on the road and I don’t want to get too wiped out right away. Tomorrow, I’m off to meet a woman and her
husband who make farm equipment. That will be fun! You should be here. Want me to send a picture from my
phone? Just let me know.
Categories & Contributors
Btw, had a steak that was magnificent. Note to self: Find time for a run tomorrow.
Cheers,
Tom
Follow Tom on Twitter @tomforemancnn.
Find more of the Foreman Letters here.
3 Comments
More about: Building Up America • Letters to the President • Opinion • President Barack Obama •
Tom Foreman
3 Comments
Norma Labno
April 19th, 2010 11:46 am ET
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
360° Radar
• Ali Velshi
360º Follow
• Anderson Cooper
Anderson Cooper
• Arsalan Iftikhar
Barack Obama
• Candy Crowley
Beat 360°
• Chris Guillebeau
Behind The Scenes
• David Gergen
Crime & Punishment
• David Gewirtz
Economy
• David Mattingly
Global 360°
• Ed Rollins
Health Care
• Gabriel Falcon
Letters to the President
• Gary Tuchman
Live Blog
• Ismael Estrada
Maureen Miller
• Jack Gray
On TV
• Jeffrey Toobin
President Barack Obama
• Lisa Bloom
Raw Politics
• Maureen Miller
T1
• Octavia Nasr
The Buzz
• Penny Manis
What You Will Be Talking About
• Peter Bergen
• Randi Kaye
Today
• Robert Zimmerman
• Roland S. Martin
• Sanjay Gupta
Having lived in Overland Park, KS for 10 yrs, I'm enjoying your
coverage!
Archive
People who have not been to KS are often in for a surprise. Much
natural beauty & plenty to do!
state!:)
(So many gorgeous areas in the
norma (now) fr nv
CTilson
April 19th, 2010 1:17 pm ET
Oz Winery is so much fun! Great decor and whimsical themes. The Oz Museum
next door is just as fun. A great place to add to your KS trip plan!
David, Indiana
April 19th, 2010 1:48 pm ET
Yeah looks great there in KS. Oh well. I never go anywhere on the weekends so I
get to read your letters and see all the great reports.
Comments have been closed for this article
« Back to main
Previous article:
Financial Dispatch: Banks –
Laughing all the way to the....
Next article:
Sound Off: Your comments
4/16/10
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2005
CNN Comment Policy: CNN encourages you to add a comment to this discussion. You may not post any unlawful, threatening, defamatory, obscene, pornographic or other material that would
violate the law. All comments should be relevant to the topic and remain respectful of other authors and commenters. You are solely responsible for your own comments, the consequences of
posting those comments, and the consequences of any reliance by you on the comments of others. By submitting your comment, you hereby give CNN the right, but not the obligation, to post, air,
edit, exhibit, telecast, cablecast, webcast, re-use, publish, reproduce, use, license, print, distribute or otherwise use your comment(s) and accompanying personal identifying and other information
you provide via all forms of media now known or hereafter devised, worldwide, in perpetuity. CNN Privacy Statement.
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/19/dear-president-obama-455-building-up-kansas/
4/20/2010
Anderson Cooper 360: Blog Archive - Dear President Obama #455: Building up Kansas «... Page 3 of 3
Home | World | U.S. | Politics | Justice | Entertainment | Health | Tech | Travel | Opinion | Living | Business | Sports | Time.com
Podcasts | Blogs | CNN Mobile | Preferences | Email Alerts | CNN Radio | CNN Shop | Site Map
© 2009 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved.
Terms of service | Privacy guidelines | Advertise with us | About us | Contact us | Help
CNN en Espaňol | Arabic | Japanese | Korean | Turkish
International Edition | CNN TV | CNN International | HLN | Transcripts
Powered by WordPress.com VIP
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/19/dear-president-obama-455-building-up-kansas/
4/20/2010