Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

Here’s my fresh seeds idea. How about a press conference given by President Obama announcing no more door-to-door or canvassing calls until September, and a reduction in television ads until after Labor Day? Crazy perhaps, but what a breath of fresh air it might be to weary, soggy, overheated Americans sitting at home watching television because they might just be unemployed, got laid off, or been foreclosed upon and are desperately trying to find a new place to live! Okay, you can throw in just plain bored too.

Just think . . . President Obama could set himself apart yet again by breathing a burst of fresh summer energy into his campaign by refusing to do things the so-called old-fashioned way. Choosing a different strategy such as this and giving the appearance that he’s taken the higher road as he continues his 2012 campaign might just set a new political atmosphere and path to victory, while at the same time throw a huge wrench into the otherwise predictably mundane campaign cogwheel!

One of the most refreshing characteristics about President Obama and his campaign promising change in 2008 was that it did feel like as a candidate he had set himself apart from the norms in many ways. Senator Obama’s rhetoric and tech-savvy campaign style had many of us from the first hello, so come on Mr. President, let’s shake it up again! President Obama needs to present himself once again as that fresh candidate who’s markedly different not only in his political ideology, but also in the way he chooses to conduct his campaign strategy against Mr. Romney and his big-money campaign machine.

I hope my idea can provide some of the traction our Presidential incumbent needs to set himself apart as a compassionate and more sensitive campaigner than his opposition — particularly because I believe the President, unlike Mr. Romney, is actually aware of what struggling Americans may be experiencing out there. Wasn’t the President’s journey one of tremendous struggle that most mirrors what the average American may be going through? And might not my stroke of genius, (that I will allow the President to borrow of course) be a really good reason to interrupt the latest summer reruns — because Lord knows, the President has got to have this press conference before the Summer Olympics begin. So I’m just going to sit back imagining the surprise folks will feel while they’re chilled out in front of the air conditioner, television and here it comes — the interruption we’ve all been waiting for — there will be a drawing down on campaign ads, canvassing and phone calls for another eight weeks! Wow, what an announcement.

Perhaps I’ve spent too much time in my sunny garden because I’m aware that imparting a message such as this to the President may need lots of wings, prayers and a tiny slip of paper finding it’s way into the First Lady’s vegetable basket before it ever gets through — but I’ve got hope and I’ve been around long enough to know stranger things have happened. After all, when was the last time there was an Obama growing vegetables in the White House?

Linda Gaines

Oak Bluffs