In these dangerous times where it seems the world is ripping apart at the seams we can all learn how to survive from those who stare death squarely in the face every day and we should reach out to each other and bond as a community rather than hide from the terrors of life at the end of the millennium.

The earth is rocky and full of roots it's clay and it seems doomed and polluted but you dig little holes for the ugly shriveled bulbs throw in a handful of poppy seeds and cover it all over and you know you'll never see it again - it's death and clay and shrivel and your hands are nicked from the rocks your nails black with soil.

As long as you don't make waves ripples life seems easy. But that's condemning yourself to impotence and death before you are dead.

It seems to me that if you or I must choose between two courses of thought or action we should remember our dying and try so to live that our death brings no pleasure on the world.

It seems essential in relationships and all tasks that we concentrate only on what is most significant and important.

And I love that even in the toughest moments when we're all sweating it - when we're worried that the bill won't pass and it seems like all is lost - Barack never lets himself get distracted by the chatter and the noise. Just like his grandmother he just keeps getting up and moving forward... with patience and wisdom and courage and grace.

I am kind of a private person so I don't miss that part of show business at all. Looking back on my career in television and making a movie like 'The Sound of Music' from an adult point of view it actually seems kind of unreal. I was involved in shows that people grew up with - that hold memories for them - and it's a cool feeling.

I think I've been incredibly raw my whole career. A lot of people spend a lot of time trying to look cool and spend time being guarded and putting up walls. I just never had the time. It seems more honest to say 'Hey this is who I am.'

But if the choice is a cool president and 8 or 10 percent unemployment in a declining economy and a country that seems to be going in the wrong direction and structural unemployment for young people at 50 percent I'd rather have a dorky president who fixed those problems.

If I could have anyone on speed dial it would be George Clooney. He seems like a cool guy who would give good advice.