Dear Mr. President
Okay, so I'm not doing too well on my promise to reduce online time, at least not this week, and the letter I'm about to share was written some time ago. But I took it out of my lockbox today and will copy it below. At least you'll see it's probably a little different from most letters he gets. And there will be a question following. Here 'tis:
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Dear Mr. President:
Thank you for all you're doing for America.
I want to share with you a true story even though it's about an asleep dream I had recently. I live in a heavily Republican area, so maybe that was partly the goad. Anyway, in this dream I was preparing for a large gathering at my house to organize a block neighborhood watch group. After arranging about 20 chairs in the living room, which had magically expanded for the occasion, I opened the door to look outside for people who might be arriving early.
To my surprised delight, there were Secret Service agents all over the neighborhood, and a big black limo with U.S. flags on the front fenders had just pulled up in front. Yes, I heard a distinct fanfare when the limo's back door was opened and YOU stepped out! Followed by the First Lady, of course, wearing a sleeveless coral dress with a single strand of white pearls.
Somehow without being told, I knew you had come to address the gathering I'd planned. But it was still a bit early yet, so we sat in the living room chatting away like old friends for awhile. You and Michelle - I think Sasha and Malia must've been at home since it was a school night - made pleasant company indeed, and you thanked me for having placed your official portrait in a place of honor on the wall next to President Lincoln's. I've always loved Matthew Brady's work and have a copy of his Robert E. Lee portrait though I could never bring myself to display it, because .... well, you know. But now I wonder if it might be okay to do that someday if I made a political statement by sticking him right smack dab between you and Mr. Lincoln. Only the worst dullard would miss the point.
The evening went well enough though I never dreamed the talk you'd prepared, and even though none of the neighbors ever showed up. The house was full of Secret Service people anyway, and I still had two of the most charming visitors imaginable. Even my two red chow dogs were happy.
When I told this dream later to a few friends, they all laughed and said I sure was full of myself. And maybe that's partly true because I don't even know the meaning of shy or inferiority complex. But I'm writing to tell you what "happened" because someday when you have the weight of the world on your shoulders trying to do the hardest, most thankless job, maybe you can get a little chuckle by thinking of my happy dream.
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Okay, so here's my question for DU'ers. I admit to not having the faintest idea what the answer might be, though I do know of course that most correspondence from the WH to the public has to be electronically generated. And I do suspect that's the case with the answer I received. I'm perfectly happy either way.
But let me describe it to you, because someone out there might know for sure. It came in a large greeting-card size good stationery envelope, and the inside held a single-fold piece of WH-embossed stationery containing the typed reply, thanking me for sharing my story of course. These days it's virtually impossible for a non-expert to tell a machine-generated signature from the real thing.
President Obama says he reads about 10 selected letters each evening, and does reply personally to a few when time permits. I'm quite certain he didn't compose an individual reply to me even though there might be one chance in ten thousand that he signed it himself.
I guess my main question might be, is there any way to tell or make a good guess as to whether he actually read my letter in the first place? Oddly enough, that's what would please me most.
= new reply since forum marked as read
i sent the president a hand written letter on very nice stationary and received nothing. not that i was expecting anything since i was whining about how hard things were for us (winter of '09 - '10) and that my daughter's business had folded and she and her family were living with me (on my social security) and we were eating rice and beans and having to go to the food pantry - and we could not afford the high price of gas - but at least we had each other and a roof over our heads and wood for the stove. but, i did receive a very nice holiday card with both of their signatures which i believe were machine generated.
i'm guessing your card has the real thing 
