The "Guest Commentary" designation, which the Post uses for pieces like these, is a good way for the paper to let newsmakers and regular citizens weigh in on issues of the day. They can be lively and dishy at times. All too often, however, both the Post and the Rocky Mountain News use name recognition instead of reading value to determine what to plug in this slot. Hence, we see a lot of dry policy wonkery published under the name of elected officials, but probably written by one of their overworked aides, and/or pure puffery such as the Owenses' offering, which was the equivalent of a free campaign ad -- and if the paper tries to even the score next week by publishing, say, a valentine to Michelle Obama by Jeannie Ritter, the same criticism would apply.
Glad to know Frances and Monica like Cindy, though. As Frank Burns once said, "It's nice to be nice to the nice." -- Michael Roberts
