Saturday, June 4, 2011

An Open Letter to the President

Hey Barrack buddy I'm doing fine but...



Dear Mr. President,

Before I dive straight into what I consider is the despicable practice of armchair quarterbacking I will be upfront and write that I totally understand that the very minute you became president on January 20, 2009 you inherited a massive shit storm of unparalleled proportions. During the previous administration the economy was utterly wrecked, the national deficit doubled, and the federal response to the disaster resulting from Hurricane Katrina was a tragic comedy of errors.

Your predecessor did not stop there, with the country brutally attacked on September 11, 2001, he justifiably went to war targeting the terrorist organization responsible and the government of Afghanistan that was providing a safe haven and assistance. Had Bush left it there things more or less would probably have worked out fine. Instead, like some spoiled brat wanting to show up his eternally disgruntled father he and his ever-ready corporate cronies manufactured a crisis cajoling the American people into going to war with a country that had absolutely nothing to do with the attacks on September 11.

As if driving the United States into an unnecessary, and possibly illegal, war in Iraq was not enough the men and women of the armed forces had to deal with Bush, his Vice President and Secretary of Defense pushing them into conflict done on the cheap with nowhere near enough personnel to secure the country. Because of their mismanagement, this unnecessary war quickly dissolved into a hellish quagmire where tens of thousands of American and Iraqi lives were ruined and hundreds of billions of American taxpayer dollars disappearing into some black hole.

I do not completely blame the Bush Administration, while the 2000 election is “questionable” the American people clearly sent them back to the White House in 2004 and to be honest President Obama many in your own party did absolutely nothing to oppose their behavior. Long story short sir, I understand the problems you are still facing but I have to be honest and say you are dropping the ball on one problem that could cost you the White House in 2012.

Yesterday, “dismal job data” was released showing only 54,000 jobs were created with the unemployment rate ticking back up to 9.1%. Now throw in the real unemployment rate with millions having given up and others making do with underemployment and the genuine percentage of those without a job are pushing 20%, and that may be a gross underestimate.

Listen Barrack, I’m not some right-wing wacko out to bust your chops questioning where you were born, I’m a guy who had openly supported you while living in a blood red county of the chief red state in the nation. The best analogy I can offer is that I truly feel what Daniel had to go through after thrown into a room full of hungry lions. However, the simple fact that I see almost nightly on the television news friendly to you is that your response to the millions of Americans without a job ain’t cutting it sir.

Yeah I know you are the president with duties and responsibilities that keep you jumping, but like it has been mentioned many times you often seen detached and unemotional. Paul Klugman put it best back in March with this column:

So one-sixth of America’s workers — all those who can’t find any job or are stuck with part-time work when they want a full-time job — have, in effect, been abandoned. It might not be so bad if the jobless could expect to find new employment fairly soon. But unemployment has become a trap, one that’s very difficult to escape. There are almost five times as many unemployed workers as there are job openings; the average unemployed worker has been jobless for 37 weeks, a post-World War II record. In short, we’re well on the way to creating a permanent underclass of the jobless. Why doesn’t Washington care?


Now he does not single you out but dude, you are the president and for better or worse you get the blame and like someone else I heard on the news tell you once I am getting very tired defending you. Lately you have been buoyed from knocking off that bastard Bin Laden and having him fed to the fishes, which was a nice touch, but unlike a number of liberal pundits who think your reelection is assured his death will not mean a thing on Election Day in 2012 to the jobless.

Yeah, your hands are tied in many ways but I am just not seeing you or Biden out pressing the flesh and “feeling the pain.” I remember you in London, on yet another overseas trip, blowing the toast to Queen Elizabeth and Vice President Biden is nowhere to be seen.

What would I have you do? For one be screaming at the top of your lungs every time a video camera get pointed your way that the Republicans are playing games with the debt limit and charging at windmills on a whole host of stupid issues. One Republican criticism that I am actually beginning to think is hitting the mark is your love of celebrity, while this comment may be unjustified you may need to skip the a few meetings with athletes and movie stars and go into a few unemployment offices across the United States and talk with the people there.

Mr. President I apologize if this post is off the mark, I know you are a busy man but the collection of Republican misfits vying for your job are weirder than the aliens from the cantina scene in Episode Four of Star Wars. The idea of them representing the party of Lincoln, Teddy, and Ike much less being elected is very depressing. Dude, I've heard it repeated many times you do not like drama, but something off-the-wall, out of the box, and radical is very much needed to address unemployment, unless that is done or something monumental that shows you clearly recognize the situation you will more than likely find yourself out of work in early 2013.

22 comments:

Randal Graves said...

Re: Biden. Do you have any idea how long it takes to fix hair plugs up real nice?

As for the rest, both parties are MIC puppets. My suggestion to you, drink some more of that beer.

Unknown said...

I don't want to be cynical as Randal I still have hope that there is someone up in Washington still fighting the good fight. I know Bernie Sanders is, and we need more like him. If this was a petition I would sign it. Agree with 100% percent of what you said.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lowandslow said...

People vote their pocketbooks. Always have, always will. I don't think any of them from either party have a clue about anything except how to feather their OWN nest. I WILL NOT vote for any incumbent. In fact, I'd welcome one of those million man/woman marches on Washington, hoping to scare 'em all into simply packing up and leaving town RIGHT NOW! Couldn't happen soon enough for me.

S

Lowandslow said...

You do know that Congress passes many laws for us to follow yet they exempt themselves from those same laws, right? Here's something I would love to see passed ASAP:

Proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution: "Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States."

I give it ZERO chance of being passed by Congress, for obvious reasons.

S

Leslie Parsley said...

As far as I'm concerned, since most businesses are owned by Republicans, it is in their best interests to prevent the economy from improving while Obama is president. This is just one of their many organized efforts, along with disenfranchising voters and destroying unions, to bring the country to its knees.

Sherry said...

I'm not sure I agree with this. After all, Boehner promised that Congress would fix the problem of joblessness and so far he hasn't produced either.

I'd be more inclined to think that the Democrats will prevail in 2012, but I'm usually wrong. LOL

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

I'm even going to go one step further on the war thing, bra. Not only would I have NOT gone into Iraq, I would have gotten out of Afghanistan no later than 2003. By then (and, yes, it would have been even more so had they not allowed bi Laden to escape into Jalalabad or Pakistan), we pretty much had annihilated Al Qaeda and, yeah, all of this nation-building bullcrap is pretty much pie-in-the-sky anyway, no?

Mr. Charleston said...

Somehow I misread the last paragraph as Reptilian misfits instead of Republican. Seems to work as well though.

Kudos on this post BB. I'm in total agreement however, given the state of multi-national corporations that basically answer to or care about no one, I'm not holding my breath.

Windsmoke. said...

Very strongly written and a lot of valid points. You have to admit the attack on the twin towers by terrorists is an act of war on America and their must be a response if not America will be seen as an easy target by terrorists. Not a ideal situation to be in i know but it's best to be seen to be doing something than nothing at all. Hurricane Katrina is the perfect example of doing nothing at all or doing something about it to slowly :-).

Commander Zaius said...

Randal: Damn straight on the hair plugs but right now I would not turn any hair assistance down.

Yeah, both parties are craven little bitches. Nothing will really change here until the situation gets so bad we are motivated enough to pull an Egypt on them.

Tag: That is where Obama could make a difference, he has the bully pulpit he could use to motivate Americans but getting him to step up is like pulling hen's teeth.

LowandSlow: I agree that they only know how to protect their positions, the truly insane thing is that the American people are in general letting them do it.

Yeah, the 28th would be nice, as well as restricting all corporate money going to politicians.

Leslie: While the democrats are not without sin, yeah this onslaught to change long established laws and procedures is mind blowing in its coordination.

Sherry: That was essentially my hopes in 2008. But something got seriously FUBARed along the way. I honestly believe the only thing that can work is a fundamental change in the American mindset. While there are exceptions generally speaking we are a narrow minded and ignorant bunch these days convinced of our "exceptionalism" even as the country falls apart and the rest of the world leapfrogs us.

Will: That is what puts me in the same frame of mind as Randal, all talk of reducing the deficit is utter bullshit until the wars are ended.

Mr. Charleston: This is just another one of my ridiculous rants when the bullshit of daily life threatens to overwhelm my feeble mind. Expect a post soon about my pending expatriation to some far away country. It is about time for one and Hell, one day it will come true.

Windsmoke: Absolutely, we had to go to war after the 9/11 attacks and Bush could have gone down in history as a great president if he had stuck to that campaign. I am convinced thousands of years from now when the history of the American Empire is on dusty bookshelves along with the Persians, Alexander's, Romans, and British scholars will openly debate about why we Americans screwed the pooch on Iraq.

lime said...

it really is terrible. and really, i don't see either party as much giving a damn.

Marja said...

Yeh that war has cost america a lot of hurt and money. Sorry to hear that so many people are jobless in your country. I hope that things wil turn around.

Bill's Big Bamboo said...

For all those snipping at the president, I guess they think McCain/Palin would have been a better mix.

That said ... I am VERY disappointed in President Obama. We are still at war, people's rights are still attacked -- i.e. abortions, gay rights, health insurance, etc. The "hope" he promised seems no where to be found.

As for "jobs" ... they are not coming back. Technology has taken too many away & they are NOT returning. Let's face it ... one of the MAIN reasons for the issue is a WORLD PROBLEM. There are too many people on the planet. Over Population. Simple as that.

Cloudia said...

You are wise, my Beach Bum!




Aloha from Waikiki :)

Comfort Spiral

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Commander Zaius said...

Lime: Neither party really cares and in my mind the main reason is that they are owned by the corporation. This is not really a new situation since Congress is spent far more time owned by some power bloc than really representing the people. This is where the president need to get on his bully pulpit.

Marja: I'd be less concerned about unemployment if the jobs were being opened up faster. While no one in power will admit it this new "underclass" could, and should, get far more angry than the morons in the tea party could ever have hoped.

Bill: I agree, but instead of the usual stimulus package Obama could have pitched a massive rebuilding of American infrastructure which we desperately need.

Cloudia: Thank you!

R W Rawles said...

The best thing you can say about Obama is that he is smarter than 100% of all living Republicans and that he is only marginally less effective than Clinton. He still does not deliver change I can believe in. Nevertheless, I pray he does not get shot before I can walk precincts and vote for him again.

Nance said...

Joe Klein had an excellent article in this weeks Time Mag, speaking to both Ryan's and Obama's mis-read of "mandate" and the funny things that happen when elections are won. I think you'd get a kick out of it and see the wisdom, too: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2075194,00.html

I'm with you. Mr. President: There is no higher priority than jobs and the economy. Anything else you're doing at the moment, clear the desk and get to work on what we really need.

Life As I Know It Now said...

Or tequila or wine or something like Randal suggests. I am a true blue Democrat but the party has left me--I haven't left the party.

Commander Zaius said...

RW: Amen, but I figure as long as his poll number are weak the rednecks will not be so eager. Dude, unless a employment miracle of the highest order jumps up and bites us on the ass Obama will be doing the speech circuit for big bucks in 2013.

Nance: I'll be sure to check it out, as for Obama I actually believe the celebrity lifestyle might have taken his eyes off the proverbial ball.

Liberality: James Carvile is prediction the 2012 election cycle will be very bad, I agree.

Jo ~ said...

hi there feller...I'm allergic to politics! aaaaaaachooo! I weigh the state of affairs by my pocketbook which still has not recovered...the price of shit is skyhigh even the necessities, I don't what the heck is gonna happen to people. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and there ain't no middle class is there?

Ranch Chimp said...

Thanx for the read Bum .. lot's of truth there too. Many who are whining about the Iraq invasion are also those who were jumping for joy during the first strike, I didnt of course, and was opposed to it, but not for the usual crap most of the masses concerned themselves with, such as peace, love and reaching out, I frankly didnt give a rat's ass about Iraq or it's people, but because I knew it was going to be a milking ($$$$)for defense contractor's and those like Halliburton, after all ... they are the only company large enough to be able to rebuild a nation, but the sub- contracting being directed by them I knew would be robbery, because of the mass amount of suplus budget there was, I also knew, it wouldnt just be an "in and out" deal, and would drag on for year's. I was even pinpoint accurate when I said that Halliburton would soon leave their American homebase and relocate, like clockwork they did, and moved from Houston to Dubai, why? ... heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, because folk's like that think 5 year's ahead of us, and knew inquiries about fund's and investigative panel's would come soon, and even more to come that we havent seen yet, trust me :) Bush's deregulation policies really f'd up the globe actually ... but this was being planned by the major entities for a quarter century at least, most folk's dont see these thing's, because they are too distracted and short visioned. I voted for Bush/ Cheney in his first run (2000) and voted straight republican for year's before that even. I still am fiscally conservative and very conservative on defense. Anywayz, enough of that ... good read Bum!