"Yes We Can" Gets A Big-O Push

Anne here, sorting out all my Os . . . who to call what.

I have a problem with Os because for 10 years I've called Oprah The Big O, referring exlusively to her influence and not Oprah's ongoing weight management challenges (as defined by her, not me). And I regularly referred to the medical benefits of the Big O, in my consulting work.

I thought Oprah might be the biggest O ever in my vocab, but now we read -- and I believe, too -- that the world hasn't seen anything yet, in terms of O Power.

With Oprah being such a good friend, perhaps I can marshall all this O Power together in some sort of heirarchy . . . sort of like the Three Bears. Nope, that doesn't work either.

At any rate, the original Big O gave a big boost to President and Mrs. O's challenge that we all give back to our communities by promoting the Starbucks "I'm In" campaign on yesterday's show.

Walk in to any Starbucks location between now and Sunday, pledge five hours of community service before the end of the year and get a tall coffee.

To get an idea of O Power, the "I'm In" campaign received pledges of 350,000 hours (70,000 pledges) yesterday afternoon. The Starbucks challenge is to double the million hours of community service, pledged by its employees.

I just stopped by the I'm In website and checked my zip code for volunteer activities. The project does seem to be organized, with a long list of recognizable volunteer opportunities appearing.

What I missed in all this Obama-Mania activity is that the President recently announced the creation of the Renew America Together Initiative, a call for community service headed by General Colin Powell, www.usaservice.org. More later on this subject.

Bon Jovi was on yesterday's Oprah show, and he says to take a chill pill on Big Business -- in this case Starbucks --  getting a PR hit from Oprah.

This is the new way of the world, and the only way out of this economic mess. We roll up our sleeves and help each other.

To that end -- once I get my RSS feeds live and the SEO terms installed on Michelle Style, I will add a Yes We Can page to the website. While we're eager to know everything about the Obamas . . . and all the Big O's . . . they want something back from all of us.

Yes, sir.

Anne