An open letter to Barack Obama

[Skeptik]

Mr. President:

You have inherited the worst recession in recent memory, perhaps the worst since the great depression, two wars, Islamic fundamentalism in the Middle East, yet another war between the Israelis and Hamas, out of control government spending, a losing struggle in the war on drugs, and a failing health care system. Soon, your detractors will have to admit that you are not a Muslim terrorist, a Marxist, or the Anti Christ, even though there will be some who won't be convinced regardless of what may happen. Your supporters will have a hard time convincing anyone that you're the messiah, that you actually have the power to solve the intractable problems besetting this nation, or that your policies are all that much different from those of the previous administration.

Imagine the letdown when both extremes face up to the fact that you are a human being, a politician of far more than average ability in that field, but a politician nonetheless. Of course, the most extreme will still cry that you're a devil or an angel, but those cries will mostly fall on deaf ears.

You do have an enormous amount of political capital, both domestic and foreign. How far that will take you in convincing the rest of us to do what must be done to begin to solve the problems we face is yet to be determined.

At least we do now have a leader who does not suborn torture, who has some credibility with our allies and enemies alike, and who may be able to inspire people to work together. We have a leader who may, just by example, inspire black youth to higher aspirations and take some credibility from the voices telling them that their problems are caused by white prejudice. We have a leader who speaks English well.

Maybe your most fervent supporters will be not the black community, but the teachers of English.

And the losers will be the writers of political humor. They will miss your predecessor.

 

[Skull Pilot]

I thought the 70s were worse.

gas lines, double digit unemployment, sky high interest rates, American hostages in Iran, but keep telling yourself this is worse.

 

[Zoom-boing]

You didn't include the illegal immigration problem.

 

[eots]

DEAR MR PRESIDENT

“There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee...that says, fool me once, shame on...shame on you. Fool me...you can't get fooled again.”

ya get my drift Mr Barack Hussein Obama....

 

[Skeptik]

You didn't include the illegal immigration problem.

No, I didn't. That's one more challenge that can be added to the list. I really don't foresee any satisfactory resolution to that one any time soon, do you?

No doubt, we will still have challenges for some time to come. The nation faces intractable problems that aren't going to go away, and the new administration will most certainly screw up some things at least. Moreover, the president has limited power (thank the framers of the Constitution for that), therefore limited power to both fix and cause problems.

But, nevertheless, the kakistocracy is over, at least in the executive branch. Now, let's start on the legislative.

 

[Svante]

Mr. President:

You have inherited the worst recession in recent memory, perhaps the worst since the great depression, two wars, Islamic fundamentalism in the Middle East, yet another war between the Israelis and Hamas, out of control government spending, a losing struggle in the war on drugs, and a failing health care system. Soon, your detractors will have to admit that you are not a Muslim terrorist, a Marxist, or the Anti Christ, even though there will be some who won't be convinced regardless of what may happen. Your supporters will have a hard time convincing anyone that you're the messiah, that you actually have the power to solve the intractable problems besetting this nation, or that your policies are all that much different from those of the previous administration.

Imagine the letdown when both extremes face up to the fact that you are a human being, a politician of far more than average ability in that field, but a politician nonetheless. Of course, the most extreme will still cry that you're a devil or an angel, but those cries will mostly fall on deaf ears.

You do have an enormous amount of political capital, both domestic and foreign. How far that will take you in convincing the rest of us to do what must be done to begin to solve the problems we face is yet to be determined.

At least we do now have a leader who does not suborn torture, who has some credibility with our allies and enemies alike, and who may be able to inspire people to work together. We have a leader who may, just by example, inspire black youth to higher aspirations and take some credibility from the voices telling them that their problems are caused by white prejudice. We have a leader who speaks English well.

Maybe your most fervent supporters will be not the black community, but the teachers of English.

And the losers will be the writers of political humor. They will miss your predecessor.

the politique enemie of Barack Obama are responsables for the bad economie but they say Obama and Bill Clinton for this. how come they say this when there are liars? the people o f America must support presiident Obama s o he can become success with his programmes as president.

 

[Zoom-boing]

You didn't include the illegal immigration problem.

No, I didn't. That's one more challenge that can be added to the list. I really don't foresee any satisfactory resolution to that one any time soon, do you?
No doubt, we will still have challenges for some time to come. The nation faces intractable problems that aren't going to go away, and the new administration will most certainly screw up some things at least. Moreover, the president has limited power (thank the framers of the Constitution for that), therefore limited power to both fix and cause problems.

But, nevertheless, the kakistocracy is over, at least in the executive branch. Now, let's start on the legislative.

Nope.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

Moreover, the president has limited power (thank the framers of the Constitution for that), therefore limited power to both fix and cause problems.

That hasn't stopped any President in recent history from pretty much doing whatever they wanted, why should it stop Obama? I hope it does stop him, but I doubt very seriously that it will.