Dear President Obama,

I usually steer clear of big political conversations, especially on this blog. But I have to talk to you about something very serious.

See, your image and your popularity level are suffering a bit lately. That’s OK, you can still bounce back. But you don’t want to make any major blunders right now. It just won’t help your administration in the short or long run. You need to show America that you still care about us, and that you don’t want to interfere with our day to day lives.

Which means you simply can NOT schedule your State of the Union address on February 2nd and preempt the season premiere of Lost.

Look, this is Lost’s final season. We’ve been waiting since last May for more episodes of this incredible show. And ever since the date was set for the premiere, we have been focusing on February 2nd as the day we’ll find out what happened after the climactic events of last season’s finale.

It’s not that hearing about the economy and health care reform and the war on terror isn’t important. It is.

But not when we should be watching Lost.

Now I know what you’re going to say – if you have the address on January 26th, that will preempt American Idol, which is a bigger and more popular show than Lost. Well, that may be true, but you have to consider two very important things here.
1) January 26th is not the season premiere of Idol, it’s just another episode.
2) Idol fans are more forgiving than Lost fans, who are rabid and insane, and will hold a personal grudge against you they will not soon forget come reelection time.

It may sound like I’m just pushing my personal agenda, but in all honesty, I’m really doing you a favor. Preempting the season premiere of Lost will do irrevocable damage to your administration, the Democratic party, and quite frankly, all of America. Please act accordingly.

Respectfully,
Alan Noah

UPDATE: Obama’s State of the Union will NOT be on February 2nd, making Lost’s season premiere safe.  Phew!  I will go ahead and assume that this decision was 100% the result of my above note.