[img]583|left|Eric L. Wattree||no_popup[/img]An Open Letter to President Obama
Mr. President:
I've always been one of your biggest supporters. I remember looking on with moist eyes the day you threw your hat in the ring. I knew even then that I was witnessing the beginning of a new era in America. Even then I knew that you were destined to become the next President of the United States. Along with millions of others, I embraced the audacity of hope.
While I've voted in every election since I've been eligible to vote, this time it was a little different. For the first time in my life, I set my cynicism aside and invested my time, money and emotion into a campaign.
I defended you in my columns against even the slightest hint of criticism. I wrote letters and corresponded with people and with groups all over the country promoting your interests. I even arranged for my bank to send a modest check each month.
I didn't do these things because I saw you as a rock star. I did them so I could contribute something more than just lip service to change in America.
Now I'm asking you to reciprocate. As I see it, you're on the verge of deeply disappointing millions of people like myself.
When the pundits began pointing out that the far left was becoming disenchanted with you for compromising your campaign promises in the face of GOP pressure, and then your administration started sending out trial balloons, I began to agonize. Here we go again.
What made these reports even more painful was knowing that the mild admonishment from the pundits hadn't gone far enough. The truth is, not just angry radicals are becoming disenchanted. Your entire base is. The dream that was so palpable in the hearts of millions just months ago is on the verge of evaporating before our eyes, of succumbing to the very thing we rallied against, business as usual.
In a previous article, I pointed out how much I admired the fact that you tended to give reason priority over ideology. I found it quite refreshing to see a politician who assessed every issue on its on merit instead of basing his decisions on pre-chewed and regurgitated dogma. I had hoped such a mindset would break the gridlock in Washington and help the American people to get the kind of governance they deserve.
It became clear early the GOP was having none of that. They demonstrated that it wasn't effective governance they were after. Their primary motivation is to bring you down and regain power by any means. Why pretend otherwise?
I thought you'd recognize that and quickly replace your carrot with a stick —or more appropriately, a brick. To my horror, you're still running around Washington trying to pet a snake. Wake up, Mr. President. It's time to show backbone. If you don't, by this time next year you'll be both branded and through.
Somehow I managed to miss Harvard. But as a proud product of South Central Los Angeles, I have extensive experience when it comes to aggression. Believe me, mindless aggression never can be appeased through kindness.
The Republicans are like coyotes. They're still feeling you out at this point. Once convinced there is nothing to fear, they're gonna have you for lunch. They're bullies. The first place a bully goes looking for a victim is to the guy always trying to make friends with everybody. He draws the bully like a moth to a flame. The bully perceives Mr. Nice Guy's need to seek out friends as weakness.
You're only into your seventh month as President. While you're putting up a good front so far, the reality is the Republicans, in spite of small numbers, already have you cowering in the corner while they encourage blatant insurrection all over the country.
They're publishing cartoons about your assassination, telling blatant lies about your initiatives, and showing up at your town hall meetings armed to the teeth. You even have a war criminal running around shaking his finger at you for having the audacity to investigate his crimes. He is telling the people you're too weak to defend them against an aggressor. The fact is, you're not looking too good.
You're allowing the Republican party to Carter-ize you. They're ignoring your accomplishments, portraying your assets as liabilities. Meanwhile, you're too busy trying to make friends to fight back. They're making you look like a wimp. The American people can't stand a wimp, regardless to how nice a guy he is. You may feel that you're being reasonable, remaining above the fray. That is not the public perception. Even as I write, the American people are beginning to ask a very pertinent question:
How can we trust this man to protect us from Osama Bin Laden when he can't even stand up to Dick Cheney?
You should also ask yourself that question. Republican strategy has nothing to do with substance. It's about perception. Ask Jimmy Carter.
What should you do about this situation?
Fortunately, growing up in the inner city was instructive in this area as well.
Most young boys in the ‘hood learn very early that if they want to save themselves a lot of unnecessary fighting, they should grab the biggest bully in the crowd and wear his butt out.
Thereafter, everybody else will leave them alone. That's what you need to do to Dick Cheney. It's not such a daunting task. Most bullies are wimps in disguise (that's how they know who to target).
Start by revealing Cheney for the he is.
I guarantee, he's undoubtedly one of the biggest wimps in Washington. He's simply been hiding behind the power of his positions. He has learned to play the strong silent type.
Don't forget, this is the same Dick Cheney who hid behind his wife's apron strings to avoid having to defend this country in Vietnan. It's easy to be tough now when he doesn't have to place his own life on the line.
Thus, you should start by unleashing Attorney General Holder to do a full and unfettered investigation of the Bush administration's war crimes (just like the Republicans would surely do if the situation were reversed).
Thereafter, there's a literal certainty that the fingers of Bush's corruption would creep so deeply into the Republican party that they wouldn't have time to think about anything but saving their own butts.
Then set up a public relations office in the White House to both coordinate your initiatives and trumpet your accomplishments.
In the area of healthcare, for example, you need to do more than talk to the people about the hardships that the private insurance industry has visited upon the America. You need to demonstrate it by going about the country, gathering up people who have personal hardships to share (with a special emphasis on finding Republicans who fought against the Clinton healthcare plan).
Use these people to do political ads about what they had to endure. Run those ads continuously, all across the country.
The same ads could be produced using small business owners discussing what they were paying in healthcare costs five years ago as opposed to today, the impact on their businesses and their ability to hire new employees.
I've also noticed that the economy is rebounding, yet I've heard little fanfare about it. That's a big deal.
The White House public relations office should be all over that. It seems to me that if you do nothing else in your term of office, the fact that you averted a second Republican-generated Great Depression, and without GOP support, is something that the American people should know about.
Finally, I once heard you mention that you didn't support reinstating the Fairness Doctrine. That's a complete giveaway to the Republican party. It makes no sense.
The argument that the Fairness Doctrine hinders the right of free speech is specious. The Fairness Doctrine doesn't hinder speech. On the contrary, it promotes it. It mandates that if a broadcaster disseminates inaccurate or slanted information, that it must provide equal time for opposing views. Thus, there's nothing in such a policy that would hinder free speech It simply makes it costly and inconvenient to tell a lie.
The American people have just as much right to expect truth in content with respect to what goes into their minds (and the minds of their children) as they do with what goes into their bodies.
One is as important as the other since accurate information gives people the necessary knowledge to act in their own best interest. As every insurrectionist knows, depriving the people of accurate information is the easiest way to deprive them of their rights. That's why the GOP is deadset against this policy. It's impossible for them to compete in an informed environment.
I continue to pull for you, Mr. President. I'm confident you have the character to overcome this hurdle and go on to become one of this nation's greatest Presidents. All you need is someone who's not afraid to give you a little tough love. Here it is:
Your heart is in the right place. All you need is for your backbone to get the message. The Republicans are not going to respond to reason nor platitudes. Show 'em what you're made of. Give 'em hell. The American people are behind you.
Respectfully,
Eric L. Wattree
Mr. Wattree is a writer, musician and poet who may be contacted at wattree@verizon.net
You may learn more about Mr. Wattree at wattree.blogspot.com
Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everybody who doesn't look, think, and act like me. It's just that God does.
