An Open Letter to Mr. Obama

Dear Mr. Obama:

As one very concerned citizen, I am writing this because I am greatly concerned about the direction you are taking this great country, and employ my right of free speech that is guaranteed by the Constitution of this, the United States of America, to state my case to you and before the American people. I did not vote for you, but not because I did not want to. I am an independent, but have generally always favored voting Democratic. I could not vote you--and did vote for John McCain--because you simply were not forthcoming enough with your ideas, and where you were, I could not agree with you on them. Thus far, I am glad I did not vote for you, but I would love for you to make me feel otherwise, that I had done the wrong thing

Knowing a little something of the political games that are played in Washington, and how the stakes have been raised and the benefits of winning have become, I felt it very strange that Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac started having problems right before the election, and that you had received the second highest amount of political contributions from those companies. Their problems were seen earlier on, but Barney Frank and other Democrats refused to acknowledge or do anything about it. Instead, their failure resulted in AIG, Leman Bros., and others failing. Was that what Bill Clinton had referred to, in his warning us of some “October surprise”? It created a crisis vast, global proportions. Timothy Guithner had said that “Never let a crisis go to waste--it is a time to do the things you could not do otherwise.” That begged the question of whether this, and others, such as the healthcare crisis, are manufactured more than real so you can use them as the catalyst for pushing your private agendas. You seem to put on a good show that you have the American people’s interest at heart, but your actions belie that to be the case.

In successfully using the internet as you did, your popularity soared, along with contributions in the millions that we were lead to believe were an accumulation of small donations from individuals. Given your instant popularity around the world, however, I have to wonder how well those donations were tracked and could have come from overseas.

You came from Chicago, a place known for corrupt politics, and we learned something of that in the case against Gov. Blagojevich trying to sell your seat in the Illinois legislature. You were not implicated in that, but from what I had heard of it, it is hard for me to believe that you were not. It is just a matter of spinning things the right direction.

And I have seen you do that all along in your administration. You hire on people who do not pay their taxes, and make us feel okay about it because you need their expertise to handle these crisis. You hire on others who become yes people to you far more than Bush did with his choices to different posts. Like with the New York flyover of Air Force 1, you make us apologies, and tell us things like that will never happen again. For myself, I have always felt that the reason you as you did was because you and your family were on the plane, and it would not look good for the President of the United States being the cause of what became a terrorist scare among his own people.

You ran on the mantra of “Change”, and “Yes We Can”, and people responded to you because they wanted change, but what kind of change do you intend to bring? You promised to change the same old politics of Washington, but things only seem to have gotten more out of control there. If these are the new politics, we may well have preferred the old. You told us you would do something different because the Bush administration’s failed policies did not work, yet your policies thus far have not been any more successful, and look to do more harm than any of Bush’s policies ever did.

Let us look at things thus far:

Your first act in office to sign a presidential order to close the Guantanamo Bay prison. To me, that action was not an action done “For The People” of this nation, but more “For Our Enemies”. Your second act, the signing of the Stimulus bill, and other major spending bills you told us was to help the economy and help people get back to work. Unemployment is still rising at a rate roughly equivalent to how much of that money has been actually spent.

Where has all that money gone to, Mr. Obama? You told us the Stimulus bill had to be passed, and that under your other mantra of bringing more transparency to Washington, said Americans would have a week to look at that bill. We got a glimpse of the first version of it, of 500 pages, but before it was signed, it had loomed up to 1500, and no one who had voted for it had even read it. Later on, there were reports that banks were not merely holding TARP money, but told to by you, and if they wanted to give it back, they could not. Others, not even wanting TARP money, were told they had to take it. In the case of Bank of America, they did not want to buy Merrill Lynch. You made them do it against their will. Then with GM and Chrysler, you kick out the CEOs and take over the auto companies. Later on, you have them close dealerships, including many that were still running profitably, and you ruin the livelihoods of those who owned them. Their unemployment was not caused by an economy gone south. They were caused directly caused by you, Mr. Obama. You are making the economy go bad, and I can believe that it is quite intentional.

Why? Because we are told that the banks are, for some reason, not making loans, so the state of California--already in a crisis--gets far worse, and they incur a $25 billion deficit. They have come to you for help, but you have turned them away. If they fail, many other states are due to fail after, as well. Yet you do absolutely nothing about it.

You tell us we have no money left. Their problem could be fixed, but that crisis does not matter to you. It should.

What does matter to you is nationalized health care, and cap and trade. You would have us believe these are more important. Are they? Can they be? I do not think so--not to the American people, at least. But they are to you, and I think it is because you want California to fall, and all the other states to fall with it. Once they do, and your agendas are passed, we will not be able to recover from it all. If it is not true, the possibility of it, at least, is something we should all be concerned about, and regardless, it is something that must be prevented.

Cap and trade looks to severely increase utility and energy taxes on a people who are already struggling when you promised our taxes would not go up. There is an EPA report that has been kept hidden that would show we do not need it. It will not help the average citizen, but does stand to benefit certain others very well.

With healthcare, you want to centralize the entire nation’s medical records into one place and control what each person can and cannot have help on in a plan in which you say will continue to give us a choice in medical plans but in actuality looks to do just the opposite. How can you say it will when the new is reporting that you will charge individuals a $1000 fee if they do not opt in for the government plan?

That, Mr. Obama, was the real turning point for me, because that is so un-American, and if you plan has provisions like that, America should be very concerned about what it is you are doing.

You look to insure an additional 50 million people without increasing the number of doctors needed to help them, and it will be complicated further if you offer amnesty to all the illegal immigrants that are in this nation. These people may be doing jobs that Americans do not want, but if they are offered amnesty, they will (and in some cases already have) educational benefits that will end up competing and getting what few jobs there are for those who are American citizens or here legally. And, if state governments begin to fail, we will only have yet more unemployed people on the rolls.

Why do you keep doing things that do not help the economy grow? You have spent trillions of dollars, and there has been precious little to show for it. Where, in fact, has all this money gone? Show us precisely. America needs to know. Given what else I have seen with you, I tend to believe you have the banks holding the money until you see fit to use it. You want to believe it will take time, but it is time you are wanting to get more control of this country. Fix the economy now, Mr. Obama! Do what the Republicans have been telling you to do: stop all this spending, reduce taxes and let the free market fix itself! It is not that difficult. In fact, Mr. Obama, in the interest of transparency, how about you show us were all those trillions of dollars are going?

You say you are trying to fix the economy, and you tell us it will just take time. As justification for it, you point to a few small things as evidence that it is getting better while everything you do actually ends up creating yet more unemployment, and puts us in a deeper hole. and little that actually creates jobs and makes the economy grow. Maybe in the long-term you have other plans that will eventually do that, but you are putting Americans in the position of believing that you are working to change things in a good way and that we will like the changes you make while focusing on agendas that are so far contrary to America’s interests and could severely put America at risk on several different levels both at home and abroad. , if you are successful in making all those changes,

You have tried hard to keep us from discovering certain things which have come into question, such as your birth certificate, and other records in which you have a bill which will prevent such public records being made public. You ask us not to believe you were influenced by people we have come to know have had checkered pasts such as Rev. Wright and Bill Ayers. You have an association with Acorn that seek to hide their activities and records, and have been accused of doing illegal voting registration that helped put you in office. Then there are those who point you to having a Moslem background. Your courting such favor to Moslems in your speech in the Middle East, and support for President Ahmadinejab would certainly seem to reflect that there is. But you keep such things very close to your chest. So much for transparency!

Personally, you being a black man, I do not see you having the same values and concerns as those before you in that office. I get the impression by your actions that you feel minorities are owed something in this country, and you intend to set things up so they will. Your looking for a Supreme Court judge who has ’empathy’ towards the law and your nomination of judge Sonia Sodomayor would look to be a step toward your being able to have legal authority to actually change the Constitution.

Information is released concerning torture by the Bush administration, the actual records of which allow our enemies to know the exact format in order to create and falsify information, as well as risks enflaming our enemies. Originally, I heard you released that information. Later, the reports were that this information had been ’leaked’ by someone else. With all the furor about it, to me it only appears as a smoke screen, something to keep everyone pre-occupied as you press on to get healthcare and cap and trade through.

Then Nancy Pelosi enters the fray and states that she was not made aware of what was being done at Guantanamo, even though records bear otherwise. When the heat gets to be too much for her here, she is suddenly sent on a trip to China to discuss global warming, of all things. I cannot help but think you gave her the mission so the heat on her would die down because pressure was building to have her step down, and you could not afford to have that happen. Shortly after, Timothy Guithner is sent over there, as well. That made me wonder if there was not some other purpose to the trips, as well, especially since media coverage on them was very sparse, and should not have been as such trips are the norm for them.

We are in a time of war, and in opposition to that war, you have decided to change terminology and make ’terrorism’ now ’man-made catastrophe’, and prisoners of war are now read Miranda rights, even though they are foreigners and not citizens of the United States. You have released certain prisoners of Guantanamo and others you wish to try in American courts and house in American prisons when Americans--the people you have taken a vow to protect--do not want that.

You gave a very good and moving speech at the Middle-East conference in Cairo to gain favor of the Moslems, and even though Americans feel it is wrong, you continue with your desire to still meet with Iran’s Ahmadinejab. After their election, however, protests break out there, and any other president that was leading this nation as it be lead would have came out and spoken out strongly for the Iranian people. France and Germany came out and did so immediately, but you, Mr. Obama, remained silent. When you did finally say something, you came out with only a written statement. Quite honestly, what was running through my mind was that to keep from offending Ahmadinejab, you had to first let him know that you were having to say something stronger to save face with the American people here. When you finally did say something stronger, your support came too late, and to me, your words sounded hallow and contrived. It did not sound as if you really believed what you were saying.

In fact, you made a point that you did not feel we should ’meddle’ in their affairs. Well, if we should not, then why did not feel that way when you meddled in Israel’s affairs, and you certainly had an immediate response for the Honduran president that was forced out because he sought to have their Constitution changed so he could remain in office longer than the two terms allowed him--just as you yourself are seeking to do here.

What kind of game are you playing, Mr. Obama? To me, it is a game of “catch me if you can”. You put on a good front to the American people, but your actions, Mr. Obama, are very much to the contrary. As you keep America off-balance with one thing, then another to deal or look at, you move on from one thing to the next in a mad dash to get things in place for whatever grand idea you have for America. The problem with that, Mr. Obama, is that you assume that we will like it, or that it will all be in our best interest. If it truly were, you would not be playing the games that you are and being so secretive of your real plans. You would be sharing it openly with the American people, proving to us why it is good, and encouraging us--not to follow you, for that has been a problem with great leaders all along--but to walk in like ways along side and with you.

What I see you doing goes against everything this nation is all about, and that is why I have decided for myself that I must state my opposition to it.

In addition to the things mentioned above, you refrain from strong action against Somalia for pirating one of our ships and holding its captain and 300 others captive, but you quickly take the credit for having freed him. I might have given you that except that you showed your truer nature in other times, such as with the Russian invasion of Georgia at the start of your term in office.

You have had three tests of your abilities since having been in office. Georgia was your first test. The second is with Iran, which I have covered some previously, but of which you are still being tested on, as is your third test which is in regards to North Korea. As one who is very interested in seeing us work toward world peace, I can understand your desire to find diplomatic solutions to problems, but the way to it is not by apologizing to the world for our actions as an act of kindness and appeasement.

That comes across as a weakness, and weakness is something wild animals will do in nature. America must stay strong, particularly in these dangerous times where others would like to strike at our weakness. So, in your doing this, you endanger all of America. We may be tired of war because of the terrible years in Iraq and fighting an unconventional war with an enemy that plays by different rules. We may be in financial straits because of the cost of that war, and your out-of-control spending toward big government.

We stay safe because of a strong military. There is nothing wrong with that because America’s goal with it is not world domination, but as a guard against those who would look to do the same not only to us, but to other, as well. Maybe we have gotten greedy the desire for that, but again, it is not to dominate the world, but only to protect that which others would strive to take away.

But it is not just a strong military that will protect us. It is in the spirit of freedom that exists within the souls of those who live here and enjoy that freedom that will keep our enemies truly away. And when you, Mr. Obama, speak from that sort of place yourself, you do America no harm. Truth is an unshakable and unpenetratable defense. If you speak from that sort of place, people will know it. Those who will stand along side you will be strong, and those who stand in defiance before you will not be standing there long. Truth cannot be opposed, and there is no fear in us when people stand upon it. Iranian protesters needed you to help them feel that America was standing with them. If they weaken, it is because you failed to do that for them. That becomes an indication of where it is you really speak from.

I believe you feel the need to do apologize and appease because you yourself believe that people have been wronged within our own nation by the white man who has largely maintained the power in this country over all others. I believe you desire to correct those wrongs by making opportunities more available to minorities and the poor whom you believe have suffered under “white man’s greed”. And you do that by punishing those who have held the power and money in this country in firing CEOs and taking over corporation which are not powers that you have taken upon yourself that you do not have.

As much as you and others--even other whites who voted for you--may feel some amount of justification for that, it goes contrary to everything that this nation is all about and looks to accomplish just the opposite of what you are trying to do. America only watches as things get only worse as your continue upon your path. The real test of your words are in the affect they have upon our nation, not on whether you feel they are right, and how others respond to them.

America--or the white men who have ran it--may have made many mistakes. You are making yours. But the solution is not to change by starting over, or trying something entirely different because you feel things are not working as you feel they should. The solution is to learn from our mistakes, change things as need to. We have been doing that with racism. You are proof of that. You have transcended the barriers that Martin Luther King of. You are the fulfillment--at least, in part--of his dream. When the “race card has been played”, white people--such as Geraldine Ferrarro during the election-- have been careful, if not eager, to try to make sure black people feel that what they are saying is not misconstrued, and they bend over backwards to make sure. But what we hear from people like Rev. Wright is that the black man is not satisfied with that. He makes it sound like the black man wants revenge, justice for what has been done to the black man, and other minorities.

And now you are in the position to that, Mr. Obama. But you are looking backwards, to the past, looking to correct wrongs Rev. Wright preaches about. You work to usurp and undo all those things that the white man has done. It is seen by radical Moslems as something evil. America is viewed as the great Satan, where men are greedy because of the money they have and the lifestyles they hold are extravagant. We are seen as loud and boisterous, sinful and godless. There will always be that in all men, because man is basically a sinful creature. Even the radical Moslems, who profess to kill in the name of their religion as a pretense to some righteous act of religious jihad do so because they themselves are angry and jealous of what the white man has done.

Do not get me wrong. There is some justification for how they feel. But the solution is not for you to make ammends for it through your apologies. In doing so, you lower the bar of excellence that man needs to strive for, that America has always had always kept high so we would have to reach for it. We set it high not to make it so others could not have those things that we have come to enjoy here. We have worked to keep it there so others would have to work for it, as well, and work hard for it as we here in America have.

What has happened here in America, however, is that we have lost sight of where it is even we have been going. We worked so hard, and worked so hard to defend and preserve what we have in this country that we have become self-absorbed in ourselves and what we have accomplished here. There is nothing really wrong with what we have done here. Yes, it is something for others to be jealous about. But it should not be simply that we have done this. We have only shown the rest of the world what kinds of things can be done. Personally, I think America is at a crossroads, where either others will work to undo what we have accomplished because of their envy and our self-absorbed attitude has become so great, or we will learn from what mistakes we have made thus far, adjust, and take the next great step in our evolution and truly help others to obtain their dreams as well so we can all live together in a world of peace. To do that, Mr. Obama, we must keep our eye on the future to make the kind of world that was Dr. King’s dream, where all men stand as equals, side-by-side with each other.

The ultimate goal should be that we become both the kind of nation we truly desire to be, work to be the shining creation of God we were meant to be as human beings, and spread--not the wealth--but the ability of all men to do those things which we, in this country, have striven to do as free men with the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

I say all these things not because I dislike you, Mr. Obama. I say them because I cannot respect you when you do things that I see are harmful to this country and what it has accomplished. In your attempt to make it easier for all to enjoy the fruits of this nation, you make it in fact more difficult. That is because in doing that, what you will instill in them a mediocrity that settles for something easier rather than a desire to strive for the best. If America needs any change at all, it is not to put everyone on the same playing field. The great American dream is not a big home and good job for everyone. The great American dream is different for each and every person, and America needs to be more flexible in letting the individual find, and enjoy, that dream in whatever way they see fit. That is freedom. Real freedom.

I have very intentionally not referred to you as President Obama in this letter. I feel compelled to be that way because it is in defense of this country that I say the things that I do, and again, I do so under the freedom of speech that I am given under the Constitution of the United States--of which you yourself swore to uphold. I want to be able to refer you as my president. I should like to, but right now, I cannot. I am sorry about that, but I will not apology for my words as you have apologized to the world for America.