BO, the dog star.

On March 16th, Rich Lederer emailed me the following palindrome, which uses "BO" in it referring to actress BO Derek.

What did the star of the movie "10" say to the president of the United States? "OBAMA, I AM A BO."

And there it stood for almost a month. Then, on April 13th, the first family shocked the world by electing to get a presidential pooch, and they named their canine candidate

"BO." Could Mr Obama have named the dog after Ms Derek in a trans-gender, transspecies move to commemorate the Clintons' cat, who went to cat heaven on February 20th? First Cat Socks (1970-1990) and First Dog Bo both show the important role that animals play in the Washington power structure. These two politically powerful pets remind the leaders of the world that dogs and cats take quite different, yet equally valid, approaches to the delicate matter of whitehousebreaking, and that ambassadors from other countries should do their duty according to their own traditions on their official visits to the White House.

A few days ago, Mike Morton emailed me a message about the onomastic drama unfolding in the highest doghouse in the land: "I hear the new White House dog is named Bo. I look forward to palindromes based on '... BO OBama.'" This stunning development demanded an immediate response, so I wrote the following two palindromes and emailed them to Mike within minutes:

Obama stating his feelings about getting the new pet:

YO, BO! GOD, A DOG! OBOY!

The dog's apology after having an "accident" on the rug:

BO: "OBAMA, I AM A BOOB."

Rich's original line with BO in it has turned into a politically palindromic puppy prediction. There can be no BOne of contention about that.

DAVID MORICE

Iowa City, Iowa