Dear Barry,
Sorry I haven’t written in a while. Like so many other Americans, I have grave concerns that you’ve not been listening. As one who so completely supported the stated ideals in your run for the Presidency, I have empathy, (if little patience), for the weightiness of your office. But, as minute after precious minute of your opportunity to legislate any positive change ticks toward utter Congressional stalemate, I am resigned to admitting that I have once again squandered my optimism on bullshit rhetoric. Deficit Panel…really? Troops in Combat? Don’t-Ask-Don’t-Tell? Financial Regulations? Public Health? Jobs Creation? Education? Responsible Energy? Fair Trade? These could all be headlines in some future memoir where you explain away your indecision points, politicizing everything to its least effective end. You were supposed to be the guy to stand up and do the right thing. When you get to be President, you can simply enjoy the perks, (the pad, the plane, the butler, golf…G. Ford), become a power crazed moron, (Nixon…W), do the right thing, (Lincoln…FDR), or stumble around while trying to look cool…and presidential, (most of your predecessors). I fear you may have fallen in step with the latter. If you have any desire to make your one-term legacy about anything other than the color of your skin, and since Thanksgiving is close at hand, this might help.
• Deficit – Spend less/collect more. For now, no tax break for the rich. For our fiscal future, redo the entire tax structure. As the wealthiest individuals and corporations get wealthier by loopholing their way out of paying their fair, (or any), share, (Exxon, GE, Halliburton), we have ironically become the reason we rebelled against England. Your ridiculous panel has missed every salient point. Put Paul Krugman in charge and get out of the way!
• Combat – Out of Afghanistan…NOW!!! They are not our enemy. We can’t help them. We’re not responsible for their belief systems. The life lost, the life-changing injuries and the mental stress are obscene and inhumane. You’re the Commander-In-Chief…call retreat! Military spending, (to paraphrase the straight-shooting Jimmy McMillan), is just “too damn high!”
• Don’t-Ask-Don’t-Tell – Enough! (see Commander-In-Chief, above).
• Financial Regulations – Let’s see…a group of greedy criminals conspire and bring the global economy to its knees while amassing obscene fortunes, and our response is a couple of days detention and a permanent hall pass so they can do it all over again. I guess that’s one way to deal with the problem…if you just don’t give a crap!
• Public Health – Too big to deal with if you allow the insurance industry free reign, (see Financial Regulations). Health is not a commodity to be bought and sold by greedy profiteers who blatantly call themselves ‘agents’. Until that becomes a basic principle of reform, your impossible to understand or implement Health Care Law will be a nightmare, mostly to those it was intended to help, (albeit not the screaming, night-sweats kind that will result from what the Republicans plan to do with it).
• Job Creation – Create unlimited jobs to rebuild our roads and bridges and water and waste facilities. More jobs in new energy technologies. These can all be paid for by the benefits the work will bring, reduction of oil dependency and the revitalization of the economy by a more fully employed work force. HEAVILY TAX any company that outsources jobs simply to increase profit, and rein in unreasonable union demands when they overreach equitable pay, safety and security issues.
• Education – Not a bargaining chip. We must, for the future of mankind, nurture the minds of our only true, renewable resource, (thanks, Bob), by making a complete pre-school to college education accessible and equitable for every child. Any alternative is just stoopid!
• Responsible Energy – There is no such thing as clean coal. Oil is strangling the planet in multiple ways. Making the decision to commit to more responsible energy sources is only muddled by the crudeness of petroleum economics. “Drill, Baby, Drill!” needs to be considered in the same light as yelling “Fire!” in a theater. People, (and sea life), get trampled.
• Fair Trade – First we need to see who’s trading and what the products are. Remember when certain places had special things and there were trade routes and silk roads? Well, the world has changed. Most everything can be made everywhere. Anybody can grow tulips. Everybody makes cars. They make really good Swiss cheese in Vermont. The uniqueness or the exotic element that enticed traders to face the hardship of an arduous journey has been reduced to the cost per unit which is unfortunately tied to abusive labor practices. Nike and Apple support their profit projections by manufacturing shoes and computers in Chinese factories where working conditions have led to an epidemic suicide rate. Because the world is a stock market driven economy, (perceived value rather than real value), making American products in America by Americans at reasonable, (as opposed to outlandish), profit, is no longer considered to be good business. If we could, somehow, return to a time when value was tied to quality and costs reflected an equitable exchange…aw crap! If I was better educated, I wouldn’t be having such idiotic thoughts.
I know that your loudest detractors mumble their mantra of less government at every opportunity. Talk about stoopid. Where they might have a point is in body count, (how many government workers does it take to screw in a light bulb?), but, even the screechiest Tea Partier really just wants government to do things better. That has to be your legacy. Whether you succeed or fail, you need to be the loudest voice about what is wrong and what should be righter with procedure and policy. Let your resolve be your platform for reelection rather than spending one precious moment on campaigning. You’ll win over the Green Party because so much of what they represent is true…and you know it. You’ll win back the Independents if you speak up for ‘We the People’. The 18 to 29ers lost hope when you lost your fire. Man up, Barry!
I hope this has been helpful. I realize that your TV appearance schedule and basketball games leave little time for saving the world and sure, it’s easier for whackos like me to govern from the couch with a laptop and little consequence, but you chose your job and those of us who hired you expect a better result.
Your disappointed buddy,
Joel