What did Bush’s note to Obama say?
On hearing that Bush had left a note for Obama in the desk of the oval office, I couldn’t help wondering what it might say.
It could be something as innocuous as “Good luck – you’ll need it!”, or perhaps, “The red button is under the desk”; but I’d like to think it contains something similar to that note which passed between Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev in the sixties.
The story goes that after Khruschev was deposed, he left a note to his successor:
“To my successor: When you find yourself in a hopeless situation which you cannot escape, open the first letter, and it will save you. Later, when you again find yourself in a hopeless situation from which you cannot escape, open the second letter.”
And sure enough, it wasn’t long before Brezhnev found himself in a tight spot, so he opened the first letter, and it simply said:
“Blame it all on me.”
So he duly did, and it saved him, prolonging his time in office significantly.
Soon, he found himself in other difficult situation, but instead of panicking he dug out the 2nd letter. This one said:
“Sit down, and write two letters.”