How Not To Give Obama A Letter

President Barack Obama and his aides like to remind audiences and journalists that he reads the letters of real Americans to know their concerns.

But judging by what happened to Brenda Lee, a woman who describes herself as a journalist and a "Roman Catholic priestess," there's a right way and a wrong way to try and get a letter into the president's hands.

Lee literally got carried away in Los Angeles International Airport after she insisted on trying to give a letter to Obama before he left the West Coast for Washington today.

As the Associated Press reports:

Lee said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press that she wanted to hand Obama a letter urging him "to take a stand for traditional marriage."

She said she asked a Secret Service agent to give the president her letter, but he refused and referred her to a White House staffer. Lee said she refused to give the staffer the letter.

"I said, 'I'll take my chances if (the president) comes by here,"' said Lee, who identified herself as a Roman Catholic priestess who lives in Anaheim, Calif. "He became annoyed that I wouldn't give him the letter."

 

Lee, who was wearing what she described as a cassock, said she protested when she was asked to leave.

"I said, 'Why are you bothering me?' They escorted me outside the gate," she said.

She said security officers allowed her to return when she promised she would not yell or wave, but then other officers arrived and told her to leave.

"I said, 'I'm not leaving,"' she said. "They tried to drag me out."

Two officers then picked her up and carried her out. An Associated Press photographer photographed the incident. "I was afraid you could see under my clothes," she said, her voice choking up.

Lee, who said this was the second presidential event she has covered, was later released.

The incident occurred about 10 minutes before Obama arrived at the airport by helicopter to board Air Force One.

I've got a two syllable suggestion for Lee: e-mail.