You ran on a campaign promising hope and change, and the nation bought into it, heart and soul, because frankly we needed hope and we needed change. Through the eight dark years of the Bush presidency, we saw our economic prosperity drain away, our civil rights trampled, our national security eroded, our friends and children dying every day in never-ending wars in the Middle East, and the wholesale destruction of the middle class in favor of the wealthy and powerful corporations. So badly did we need change that not only did we elect you the highest office in government, but we did so in a landslide, and we handed the Democratic party a majority in both houses of Congress—the mandate and all the tools you could reasonable want or need to get the job done were given to you on a silver platter along with the best wishes of the electorate (and the world) to go along with. My wife and I have a photograph of our two year-old grinning in front of the television as the election results scroll by. It was an incredible moment.
And with your election, the world’s good will for America came flooding back after having been atrociously abused by your predecessor. The BBC World Service ran page after page of congratulations from world leaders all over the globe. To cap it off, you were even awarded the Nobel Peace Prize before you had so much as unpacked your socks at the White House—that’s how high expectations were running for the Obama presidency.
So what have you accomplished to date? Let’s see...
- Patriot Act still on the books? Check!
- Guantanamo Bay still open? Check!
- American troops still getting their butts shot off in Iraq and Afghanistan with no end or exit plan in sight? Check!
- Bush-era economic players still in firmly power (Bernanke, Geithner, et. al.)? Check!
- Federal deficit still skyrocketing? Check!
- Truckloads of cheap loans and perquisites still flowing to wealthy banks while the middle class bleeds out? Check!
- Bank management largely responsible for the economic crisis still evading accountability and meaningful regulation? Check!
- America still on the wrong end of global climate change agreements? Check!
- Insurance and Big Pharma lobbies still dictating health care policy, ensuring that many Americans suffer third-world-level access to health care? Check!
- Republicans, after their ideology and policies were firmly repudiated in the last election, still somehow running the show? Check!
Mr. President, if you don’t mind my asking, what the hell is going on? Why, precisely, are you not accomplishing anything you were sent to D.C. to do? We gave you the White House with a large margin and a strong political mandate. We gave your party both houses of Congress, particularly the Senate. The whole world gave you a toothy grin and a big thumbs-up. So what’s the problem? In my thinking, there are three possibilities:
- You’re weak, incompetent, or cowardly.
- You know exactly what you’re doing and you’re doing it, it’s just that you baldly lied to us about your intentions.
- The democratic experiment in America is well and truly over, and we can dispense with the pleasant fiction that we aren’t living in a corporate plutocracy.
Honestly, I don’t think it’s number three, although I firmly believe we’re heading in that direction; there isn’t enough data yet to firmly pin number two on you, so let’s call it number one.
Let me lay it down for you: it was you and your party that prevailed in the last national elections, not the Republicans. There are a number of reasons for this. First, yes, your polished rhetorical style and obvious intelligence appealed to a citizenry weary of smirking, knuckle-dragging orangutans in positions of authority. But this wasn’t just about style. The Republicans had simply gone too far in just about every conceivable way. The Patriot Acts and the slough of offensive presidential edicts destroyed American civil rights and made a mockery of the Constitution. The war in Iraq was an obvious attempt to exchange the blood of lower and middle class children for access to oil and the attendant wealth, and the Bush administration’s bungling of the entire process left America caught in an expensive and bloody mess from which there still is no obvious graceful exit (and China locked up the oil contracts). The economy was a smoking wreck, and the banks that caused the mess in the first place were securing mountains of public cash and dirt-cheap loans to cover their losses with no accountability for their actions or any hint of oversight while the middle class faced job loss and financial ruin. Bush’s rejection of the Kyoto Protocol, institutionalized suppression of climate change science and his obvious contempt for anything other than the short-term financial interests of wealthy polluting industries over the needs of future generations disgusted anyone who cares about the environment in this country and all over the world. The Republicans had their way for eight years, Mr. President, and they blew it, blew it, and blew it some more. So deeply-seated was the public dissatisfaction with Republican rule that you and the Democrats carried the election not only with strong support from the blue states, but also by plucking a number of formerly solid-red states from the Republican support base. Understand? So: stop with the endless conciliation with the Republicans. They lost the election not because of bad marketing, but because people were sick to death of their policies. The Democrats need to get serious about passing legislation that aligns with what the citizenry actually wants. Look at the polls: We want health care with a single-payer option. We want meaningful action on climate change. We want the endless grinding military adventures to end. We want the banks to be held accountable for their actions and to get off the public dole. We want our civil rights back. What we don’t want—and let me make this absolutely sparkling clear—we don’t want the kind of legislation that the Republicans are going to enthusiastically support. And frankly, we though we’d already made this clear. We gave you and the Democrats a mandate and a Congressional majority. Use it.
Mr. President, I understand that your job is exceedingly complex, and I know there are pressures on you from every conceivable angle, that the non-governmental power structures in place during the Bush years are still in place today, and that they lean on you to support their needs over the larger needs of the citizenry. I’m not so naive as to believe that we can simply waltz out of the Middle East without making an even bigger mess than we’re making by staying. I understand our economy and the near-term stability of our civilization relies on our relationship with oil, our transportation infrastructure and the strength of our industrial activities as they’re currently constituted. But I knew these things before I checked the box next to your name on the ballot, and my expectations are no different because of this. You’re the President of the United States. It’s not supposed to be an easy job, but you are expected to lead, not follow, and not placate every whim and fancy of the opposition. You know why the People sent you to Washington D.C., Mr. President. Pursue the People’s business.
And while we’re on that subject, Mr. President, you should know if you don’t already that public patience with you and the Democrats is wearing exceedingly thin. Your popularity is dropping, progressives are getting tired of making excuses for you, and public sentiment is, frankly, getting pretty rough. The door through which those red states passed to support you in the last national election swings both ways. Recall that the good people of Massachusetts, one of the bluest states in the Union, recently elected a Tea Party Republican to replace Ted Kennedy. Again: Massachusetts elected a Republican to replace Ted Kennedy. That can happen to you, too, Mr. President. From where I’m sitting it’s extremely hard to imagine that you would garner nearly the same level of support you once enjoyed if the election were to be re-run tomorrow, and things are looking very ugly for a number of Democrats hoping to remain in Congress after the next election cycle.
But there’s still a lot of faith out there, and you still have time to do the right thing. But I’m done hoping, Mr. President, and I think the nation is getting a little tired of it too. It’s time for you to start leading.
Sincerely, and all my best to your lovely family,
Paul Sonntag
Shoreline, Washington
0 comments:
Post a Comment