Mr. Daikeler Goes To Washington

Actually, it’s Mr. Congdon and Mr. Daikeler go to Philadelphia but riffing on It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia just doesn’t carry the same Capra-esque American Dream type of feeling. So anyway my bosses, Carl and Jon, met the President (yes of the United States) the other day. I got wind the meeting from my wife, via Facebook, and given I’d just spent the last week with them and had heard nothing of it I was incredulous that it was as exalted a meeting as advertised, which was along the lines of “because of the success of P90X on American health the Prez wants a meeting.”

Nevertheless this didn’t stop me from crafting a quick email with my personal agenda. This was, essentially, if you do manage to get some face time could you mention that we could be a big help to his wife’s childhood obesity initiative? As some of you know my next birthday challenge will be centered around publicizing childhood obesity. If we solve this we WILL solve the obesity epidemic. No question. And, frankly, if we can sell grownups on P90X and Insanity getting kids to exercise will be a piece of cake. We just need a forum to do it.

Of course I didn’t expect this to happen. I expected more along the lines of the Lebowskian “um, well, the first lady is pretty cool” photo op sorta deal. Mr. Smith never really did get to Washington or, if he did, he probably turned into Charley Wilson. Heroes are often made in strange and serendipitous ways but grass roots campaigns going huge is generally a thing of lore. But Jon and Carl had a dream....

My Dinner With Obama

Bravo for an incredible piece of maneuvering and pitching. It probably encapsulates why we’re successful as a company. People laughed when we first tried to sell legitimate fitness and nutrition on an infomercial. And they thought we were insane when we first pitched P90X. But not too many people out there could turn a glad-handing opportunity into this:

Then the President interrupts me and says "I totally agree. We definitely want to hear more about what you are doing - and I mean that." He turns to his entourage and says "Let's make sure of that, ok guys? I want to make sure we follow up and connect with them to hear what these guys are doing."

Let’s send Mr. Daikeler to Washington!

Just get up off the ground, that's all I ask. Get up there with that lady that's up on top of this Capitol dome, that lady that stands for liberty. Take a look at this country through her eyes if you really want to see something. And you won't just see scenery; you'll see the whole parade of what Man's carved out for himself, after centuries of fighting. Fighting for something better than just jungle law, fighting so's he can stand on his own two feet, free and decent, like he was created, no matter what his race, color, or creed. That's what you'd see. There's no place out there for graft, or greed, or lies, or compromise with human liberties. And, uh, if that's what the grownups have done with this world that was given to them, then we'd better get those boys' camps started fast and see what the kids can do. And it's not too late, because this country is bigger than the Taylors, or you, or me, or anything else. Great principles don't get lost once they come to light. They're right here; you just have to see them again!