This letter was forwarded to me via email. It’s a world class rant, and makes for a very satisfying read. I’ve left out the name, school, address, and telephone number of the writer to protect her identity.
April 17, 2009
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington , DC 20500Mr.. Obama:
I have had it with you and your administration, sir. Your conduct on your recent trip overseas has convinced me that you are not an adequate representative of the United States of America collectively or of me personally.You are so obsessed with appeasing the Europeans and the Muslim world that you have abdicated the responsibilities of the President of the United States of America . You are responsible to the citizens of the United States .. You are not responsible to the peoples of any other country on earth.
I personally resent that you go around the world apologizing for the United States telling Europeans that we are arrogant and do not care about their status in the world. Sir, what do you think the First World War and the Second World War were all about if not the consideration of the peoples of Europe ? Are you brain dead? What do you think the Marshall Plan was all about? Do you not understand or know the history of the 20th century?
Where do you get off telling a Muslim country that the United States does not consider itself a Christian country? Have you not read the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the United States? This country was founded on Judeo-Christian ethics and the principles governing this country, at least until you came along, come directly from this heritage. Do you not understand this?
Your bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia is an affront to all Americans. Our President does not bow down to anyone, let alone the king of Saudi Arabia. You didn’t show Great Britain, our best and one of our oldest allies, the respect they deserve yet you bow down to the king of Saudi Arabia .. How dare you, sir! How dare you!
You can’t find the time to visit the graves of our greatest generation because you don’t want to offend the Germans but make time to visit a mosque in Turkey .. You offended our dead and every veteran when you give the Germans more respect than the people who saved the German people from themselves. What’s the matter with you? I am convinced that you and the members of your administration have the historical and intellectual depth of a mud puddle and should be ashamed of yourselves, all of you.
You are so self-righteously offended by the big bankers and the American automobile manufacturers yet do nothing about the real thieves in this situation, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Frank, Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelic,the Fannie Mae bonuses, and the Freddie Mac bonuses. What do you intend to do about them? Anything? I seriously doubt it.
What about the U.S. House members passing out $9.1 million in bonuses to their staff members – on top of the $2.5 million in automatic pay raises that lawmakers gave themselves? I understand the average House aide got a 17% bonus. I took a 5% cut in my pay to save jobs with my employer. You haven’t said anything about that. Who authorized that?
I surely didn’t!Executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be receiving $210 million in bonuses over an eighteen-month period, that’s $45 million more than the AIG bonuses.. In fact, Fannie and Freddie executives have already been awarded $51 million – not a bad take. Who authorized that and why haven’t you expressed your outrage at this group who are largely responsible for the economic mess we have right now.
I resent that you take me and my fellow citizens as brain-dead and not caring about what you idiots do. We are watching what you are doing and we are getting increasingly fed up with all of you. I also want you to know that I personally find just about everything you do and say to be offensive to every one of my sensibilities. I promise you that I will work tirelessly to see that you do not get a chance to spend two terms destroying my beautiful country.
Sincerely,
Every real AmericanP..S. I rarely ask that emails be ‘passed around’………….PLEASE SEND THIS TO YOUR EMAIL LIST……it’s past time for all Americans to wake up!
I do hope this woman’s taxes are in order.
Nice Deb 
Hate to be such a pessimist but he doesn’t give a flying f***. He won, remember? In his mind, that gives him carte blanche do whatever the hell he wants and tough s*** to logic–or anything or anyone else. It’s whatever he wants to do–including trying to run for president of the world. By cozying up to all the scumbags and other losers, he sets himself up pretty well. My comfort is that he is going to come face to face with the real Messiah at some point–and it won’t be a pretty sight….
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O-Booger may not read or bother with this but I THOROUGHLY ENJOYED it. Helps remind me that I’m not insane and not the only one who has reached a major level of disgust with this person. She spoke for me.
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The fourth grade teacher also spoke for me. I also find everything he says and does extremely offensive to all of us who cherish our American history, heritage and culture. I just finished reading Sandburg’s classic biographies (yes, two) of Abraham Lincoln, and my regard for our sixteenth president soared higher than ever before. Yet I cried when I read it because we have no Lincoln in the White House now. He’s the antithesis of Lincoln; not worthy even to polish Lincoln’s boots. And they’re both from Illinois?
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I hope this women is fired. I would never want her teaching my kids. I hope she doesn’t show this bias to her class. Next thing you know, we will have a bunch of fourth grade neo-cons running around. Obama didn’t “bow down” to the king of Saudi Arabia. That is merely how people greet each other there. It is no different than our handshake here in the West. Why are people so daft that they can’t understand it. Christ!
Cheers,
Nick in Gettysburg
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Obama didn’t “bow down” to the king of Saudi Arabia. That is merely how people greet each other there.
Um…they were in England at the time. And he didn’t bow to the queen.
Also, did you notice that the King didn’t return the gesture. There’s a reason for that:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2005/09/11/1457667.htm
See? That’s why we don’t understand it. But we’re the daft ones.
I’m sure there are Obama voters who teach some of my my kids…I try not to think about it.
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Obama didn’t “bow down” to the king of Saudi Arabia. That is merely how people greet each other there.
Right. If the Saudi king had bowed, that statement might have meant something, but since he didn’t, it was meaningless.
Especially since it directly conflicts with the official statement from the Obama administration. What are you? Anti-Obama or something?
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Our European arrogance in alphabetical order.
1. The American Cemetery at Aisne-Marne , France . A total of 2289 of our military dead. We Apologize.
2. The American Cemetery at Ardennes , Belgium . A total of 5329 of our dead.
3. The American Cemetery at Brittany, France . A total of 4410 of our military dead. Excuse us.
4. Brookwood , England American Cemetery. A total of 468 of our dead.
5. Cambridge , England . 3812 of our military dead.
6. Epinal , France American Cemetery. A total of 5525 of our Military dead.
7. Flanders Field , Belgium . A total of 368 of our military.
8. Florence , Italy . A total of 4402 of our military dead.
9. Henri-Chapelle , Belgium . A total of 7992 of our military dead.
10. Lorraine , France . A total of 10,489 of our military dead.
11. Luxembourg , Luxembourg . A total of 5076 of our military dead.
12. Meuse-Argonne. A total of 14246 of our military dead.
13. Netherlands , Netherlands . A total of 8301 of our military dead.
14. Normandy , France . A total of 9387 of our military dead.
15. Oise-Aisne , France . A total of 6012 of our military dead.
16. Rhone , France . A total of 861 of our military dead.
17. Sicily , Italy . A total of 7861 of our military dead.
18. Somme , France . A total of 1844 of our military dead.
19. St. Mihiel , France . A total of 4153 of our military dead.
20. Suresnes , France . a total of 1541 of our military dead.
Apologize to no one. Remind those of our sacrifice and don’t confuse arrogance with leadership
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Swiped this ND. Gave you the credit, of course. Thanks.
BT
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Thanks, hon.
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You are all so foolish…
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Honestly i feel that Obama is only trying to do exactly the opposite of what Bush would do in that situation. So what if he bowed to some leader, is it that bad that finally one american has decided to take themselves off this pedistal that we know run and control everything. Even if he looked like a fool atleast he looked like a humble fool and not a blood thirsty dictator such as our last so called leader. He is simply trying to end this world hatred of the united states.
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Even thought it has been pointed out that this email did not originate with this teacher, I’d like to address my comments to its contents.
It is amazing to me to how people are manipulated into to making stupid and uninformed comments about our President and his administration. Let me say first and foremost, I’m not writing this rebuttal because I’m an African American and the President is an African American. If Gore or Kerry were in office, I’d write the same message.
This school teacher would get an ‘F’ for her comments because they deliberately are partisan, narrow minded and doesn’t tell the whole story.
When we had a President (Bush) making stupid comments about the axis of evil, what was our enemies suppose to say about America coming across as arrogant — have you listened to his speeches when he was President. Look at it from their point of view; in every war we’ve had beginning with Viet Nam (by the way (All of them initiated and sanctioned by the Republican Party in tandem with the Military Industrial Complex), millions of people have died: Over three million in Viet Nam (55 thousand Americans); 500 thousand in Iraq (4600 Americans). Both of them completely unnecessary and no threat to our national security — and even admitted to by non other than Dick Cheney and Carl Rove.
This teacher is worried about Obama apologizing to other countries because of our arrogance. Well, guess what — WE WERE ARROGANT — and it got a lot of good people killed. For what! So that the Military Industrial Complex and big business could make a few billion dollars more.
If you don’t think that there’s the perception in the world that America is arrogant, then you need to read a book called, “JFK and the Speakable by Jim Douglas.” It took the author 10 years to research this book on the ‘Cold War’, ‘The Military Industrial Complex’, ‘The CIA’ and who was really responsible for the assassination of an American President. I promise after you read this book, you’ll think twice about perceptions of America around the world.
The writer says Obama is out making speeches where he is apologizing and appeasing other nations. There is no nation in the world that does not know that America is the powerful nation in the world at this point in world history. The dumb thing to do is to beat on your chest and tell every other nation how powerful you are. The smart thing to do is to ‘walk softly with a big stick’. It takes a really big person (or countries) to admit that they made mistakes. Being charitable doesn’t take away your power, it enhances it. All intelligent people know this.
The writer says Obama didn’t visit the graves of our fallen when he was in Germany. In fact, the President traveled in Germany, visited american graves and went to Ramstein Air Base and visited with wounded American troops at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. He then moved on to Paris, France, ahead of D-Day commemoration services later in the week. The reason this writer didn’t mention this is because the President insisted that the press not know about it. He also went to Buchanwald prison camp and gave a speech about the evils of war along side a Jewish Nobel Peace Prize winner.
This writer says that the Obama administration have the historical and intellectual depth of a mud puddle and should be ashamed of themselves. This comment is truly laughable. Has this woman ever heard Bush speak? I would put Obama intellectual prowess over Bush’s any day. Any takers?
This writer says Obama is offended by big bankers and the American automobile manufacturers, yet the ‘real thieves’ are Dodd, Frank, Raines, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Well, let me get this straight; wasn’t big bankers, AIG and the automobile manufacturers who came to Washington with their hands out? Wasn’t it companies like Halliburton who got no bid contracts from the likes of Dick Cheney. It amazes me that the neo-cons and Fox News will try and crucify Acorn for questionable bookkeeping with 10 million in grants they get from the U. S. Gov’t, but this woman never questions the tens of billions mispent on an illegal war (Iraq). One trillion dollars was spent on a war even the Cheney and Rove finally admitted was not a necessary and absolutely no threat to Americas security. Unbelievable!
This writer complains that the House and Senate passed bills to increase their bonuses and pay. She has a point here. Our system of government is broken because of special interest. Anybody can be bought in Washington and it is truly sad. I’ll bet this writer didn’t know that 95% of special interest groups and lobbyist are made up mostly of Republicans with big business constituents.
This writer complains that the Obama administration feels that the citizens of this country are brain dead, are idiots and not caring about what this government is doing. Well, lets see what this administration is doing:
1. He’s trying to get a healthcare bill passed so that 50 million people without healthcare can be taken care of. That includes some people in this family. The neo-cons will try to scare Americans by speaking their code words, i.e., ‘socialized medicine’. It doesn’t matter to them, we’re the only Western Civilization that doesn’t take care of all its citizens with a healthcare plan. According to the neo-cons, ALL first world countries who have a national healthplan are socialist. If that’s the case, I don’t think you should make plans to go to Europe in the near future. It doesn’t matter to this writer that the U.S.A. ranks 37th in healthcare — in the WORLD. We’re even behind Costa Rica. It doesn’t matter to this writer that 60% of the bankruptcies filed in this country are do to excessive medical expenses. I could go on and on…but I think you get the point.
2. He’s trying to get an energy bill passed so that we’re less dependent on Opec oil and the big oil companies.
3. He.s trying to do something about Global warming and emission standards.
4. He’s trying pass a stimulus bill so that people, i.e., teachers, fire-fighters, regular workers, etc., can get unemployment longer due to the bad economy. Some of this money goes for infrastructure projects and to help States with their own debt load.
5. He’s trying to reduce taxes on incomes lower than $250k per year. Will rich peoples taxes increase, probably. I know this is a sore point for conservatives and republicans. Well, I have no sympathy. Not because I dislike rich people. I was a broker with Dean Witter at one point in my life and I can tell you with a high degree of certainty, that there are plenty of ways for the rich to get around tax increases and save more money. I wasn’t rich and I used a few of them. The rich will ALWAYS be able to take care of themselves. I’m always amused that it is always the middle and lower income republicans who always make the most noise about this.
6. He’s encouraging young people to do service work, go into the military, peace core, etc, so that they can earn money and grants to go to college.
7. I could go on and on and on, however, I’m going to stop here. This administration could go along with everything that the neo-cons, conservatives and republicans have always championed, i.e., create more wars for the military industrial complex to profit off of, turn a blind eye to high prescription and medical costs, reduce taxes to the rich (so that it can trickle down to the rest of us :-), limit the size of government so that companies that should have been regulated could continue to bleed this country dry, etc. However, this administration chose to do something different; it chose to try and make a difference in the lives of its citizenry.
In the everning, there are two shows I usually watch, alternating the flicker from one to the other. These show are O’reilly, Hannity, Cambell Brown and Anderson Cooper. The first two are on Fox News and the latter two are on CNN. It is utterly amazing to me how partisan Fox News is. On Hannity’s show, everything and I mean everything he says is negative about this president. O’reilly, whose show purports to be fair and balance is slightly less irritating. Of the two networks, you truly would have to be brain dead to conclude the Fox News is by far more nec-conservative than CNN.
I watch both networks not because I agree with what O’reilly and Hannity says, but because I want to be better informed even though I don’t agree with them.
There is nobody that I know that doesn’t believe that Obama is smarter than George Bush is, yet Obama is characterized as anything but a moron. If you query ANY current world leader, who would you think they would say is the more intelligent president — Obama or Bush?
Is any one party better than the other. The answer to that question on face value is NO! The republicans have some strong platforms and the democrats have some strong platforms.
I just happen to believe that the party who espoused the premise of, ‘I am my brothers keeper’ is the party that best reflects the values I want to live by.
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Don’t understand foreign policy or geopolitical strategy much, do you James? That’s OK, though – neither does the President.
And that, I’m afraid is just the beginning of the problem.
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James,
If you believe that Obama is good for this country, you are sorely mistaken. While those who pay no taxes now stand to make even more of my money with the tripling of the earned income tax credit (which is not a credit, it is a payment), the sad fact is that almost everyone who pays taxes will pay MORE taxes under Obamanomics, myself included, and my wife and I together already make less than the magical $250k threshold that in light of already plumetting tax revenues, will be sure to be ratcheted downward in a fruitless attempt to cover some of the now unprecented deficit spending that has done next to nothing to benefit the economy. And before you try to sell me some more Obamarhetoric on this subject, I am a tax attorney, and I can read. Any such attempt on your part is a waste of time.
He, his tax cheat Secretary of the Treasury, and of course, The Sheriff…SloJo Biden are tragically out of their depth, and they will irreversibly crater this economy unless more in Congress realize that when the country is destroyed, so is the taxpayer-funded gravy train that they rely on for a living.
But by all means, continue to support him. When the crash comes, and you are looking for someone to blame, you and your mirror can get some serious alone time.
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First of all, I’m not trying to convince you of anything — I could care less. People like you will always your own point of view — but your numbers are dwindling. I will tell you this: Obama won the election, and guess what, he’ll win the next one as well. People like you with your selfish and conservative points of view are almost becoming irrelevant in this day and age. You talk about your taxes going up, but you didn’t comment on the American deaths and deficit Bush caused with the Iraq war; the huge tax breaks for the rich or the wasteful spending of billions with no-bid contracts given to Bush’s cronies. Trust me, I’m not surprised.
Three years ago, I made a few predictions to some neo-cons with your point of view. 1. I said after Bush, we would most certainly have a democratic woman or African American become President. 2. Within ten years, we’ll have a national healthcare plan for all americans. 3. We will get rid of the death penalty in this country. Points 2 and 3 are most certainly on their way, and THAT you can take to the bank.
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People like you will always your own point of view — but your numbers are dwindling.
Someone doesn’t follow polls either.
You talk about your taxes going up, but you didn’t comment on the American deaths and deficit Bush caused with the Iraq war; the huge tax breaks for the rich or the wasteful spending of billions with no-bid contracts given to Bush’s cronies.
And another series of issues that you apparently know nothing about. Quick question: why did the administration award a “no-bid” (not what it’s really called) contract? Do you have any idea? Any at all?
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thank you James for being so patient with us and for spelling out these issues for us. you have done us a great service. God speed sir!
yall need to listen to James. i truly believe that he is genuine in his beliefs, and his mis-education is representative of why the US is destroying itself today. plz go back and re-read his points 1 thru 7, and ask yourself “how could any rational, intelligent, educated person believe this?”
yet these issues, that he has numbered for us, are EXACTLY what they (the Left) have been taught to believe, and reinforced via the Dems and the state-run media.
a circle is a square.
black is white.
conservativism is bad.
socialism is good.
individual liberties must be controlled. etc…
until we as conservatives and constitutionalists re-educate the masses, such as James represents, to the values of our Constitution, Independence and Federal Republic, then we, as a nation, FAIL.
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Hi Reeko, I believe you are sincere as well. I really should say, you really don’t need to be patronizing to me! If I’m misguided, aren’t you as well?
I’m not saying that the dems are all good, and the neo-cons are all bad. But, let me ask you a question. Was the McCarthy era good for this country? The fact that Kennedy didn’t want to stay in Viet Nam (and was going to pull our troops out after his reelection), was that good for this country? Was the Iraq war good for this country? Watergate? Iran Contra? Conservatives republicans were behind all of these and about 4 other international incidents. If you believe all of these were good for the country, then you and I have nothing more to discuss. I wish you God-speed as well.
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Conservatives republicans were behind all of these and about 4 other international incidents.
Yawn. Seems like LBJ had a lot to do with our increased involvement in Vietnam. Quite a bit, in fact. In fact it was a Republican who finally pulled us out.
The Iraq war? You have no idea what you’re talking about. You don’t understand the real stakes or the real costs of that war. But again, neither does the President. That’s the problem.
McCarthy era: was the communist movement good for this country? If there hadn’t been a significant (and yes, subversive) communist movement, would the overreaction of McCarthyism have happened?
Iran-Contra? Depends on how much you valued the hostages lives, I suppose.
But if you’re going to go cherry-picking through history, looking for malfeasance, let me assure you that there’s more than enough material damning the Dems to match anything you can dredge up.
And in current events news: Both Michigan and California have incredible economic problems, which are a direct result of unfettered Democratic policies. They would have problems even if the national economy was doing well. MA is cutting back on its health care plan because…oh yeah, they can’t afford it. Now Obama is setting the entire country on the same path.
Forgive us our lack of excitement.
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People like you with your selfish and conservative points of view
So now its selfish to observe with the demonstrable experience of history that you, and every individual in this country can make better decisions on how to spend your money than can government, and that unless you are an idiot, it will almost certainly be used more efficiently because unlike the government, you can not simply tax something else and just take it from others…put another way, you can spend your money more wisely because you have “skin in the game”, and are not removed from it by your ability to legislate more.
Enjoy your chains. At some point, the gold leaf on the shackles you are willingly putting on will scrape away, and you will find that the brass underneath tarnishes easily. I cannot begin to imagine the betrayal you will feel when you awake to the squalor of the mediocrity that you will gladly consign yourself to, and realize that your liberators live a very different life than you, because as the pig said, all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.
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People who want the government to provide for them don’t realize that the Dem socialists who are supposedly working on their behalf have little to no knowledge of how the economy actually works. They keep spending and spending and spending, and they think everything is gonna be hunky dory, but they’re bankrupting the country. Conservatives want no part of this.
Asset Manager: Social Security checks may be at risk this year, thanks to Obamanomics
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This will be my last post guys. It’s clear our stances are entrenched and nothing is going to change either side.
The same old tired arguments and ‘scare tactics’ that republicans used against democratic candidates and to control their own constituency won’t work anymore. That’s why McCain lost. And thats why Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Rush limbaugh, Sean Hannity or whomever the republicans pick to run in 2012 will lose in that election as well.
I read somewhere that at the Republic Convention there were less than 200 minorities of any stripe, i.e., blacks, asians, hispanics, etc. When I say your party is becoming irrelevant, trust me, it is.
I remember the same tactics were also used against Clinton. We all know how much conservatives hated him. Yet he left a smaller government than Reagan, less tax increases than Reagan, and even balanced his budget — which Reagan didn’t do. Whose the socialist here Reagan or Clinton?
When Obamas administration is proven to be as effective as Clintons was, the neo-cons will come up with something else to try and crucify him on — they always do.
I’m not going to rehash my old arguments as to why I believe what I believe and why I’m a progressive democrat. I’m a decorated Viet Nam Vet who served in Viet Nam. I also lost a brother in that war. If I’m against going to war just to line the pockets of the military industrial establishment, then you’ll have to excuse me. I saw, first hand, what war does to people.
Our national security was not at stake in either Vietnam or Iraq. In Viet Nam, history has already proven that point!
To the respondent who made the comment about LBJ, you’re the one who doesn’t know history. Johnson went along with the joint chiefs and the military industrial complex to stay in Viet Nam because he had not choice. If they could kill his predecessor to further their agenda, then what choice did he have. Because of the freedom of information act, there’s ample proof to prove this point.
So, believe what you want and I’ll do the same. Some day, we’ll see who was right!
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“…and realize that your liberators live a very different life than you, because as the pig said, all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.”
FINALLY! a reference to Animal Farm. and i am still sorely upset and disappointed that in these Sotomayor coronation hearings, instead of any references to the deliciously appropriate Animal Farm (George Orwell, 1945) as it might pertain to some “wise Latina” being more equal than others… instead, we have everybody laughing at Al Frankenstein’s questions about Perry Mason episodes…
how ignorant is that?
anyhoo, if not mistaken, Animal Farm was required reading in HS until sometime in the late 80s early 90s? i don’t remember the flap over it right now, but i kinda remember the NEA union advocating replacing it in high school with something like Catcher In The Rye… (anybody remember that and can clarify?)
Blackiswhite, love your channeling Sam Adams:
“If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains set lightly upon you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.” – Samuel Adams
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Some day, we’ll see who was right!
That day is coming sooner than you think.
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This will be my last post guys. It’s clear our stances are entrenched and nothing is going to change either side.
Well, then aside from a somewhat childish attempt to imply there is something wrong with us, simple because we know a manure merchant when we read one, and we are not buying, why did you bother?
The same old tired arguments and ’scare tactics’ that republicans used against democratic candidates and to control their own constituency won’t work anymore. That’s why McCain lost.
No, Sherlock, McCain lost because despite every attempt made by your side to portray him as a “conservative”, in practice, there wasn’t much of anything to distinguish him from the Magic Chicago Kenyan. The only reason he got as many votes as he did is because he had Sarah on the ticket with him.
Like your number in Congress and the Oval Office, you fail to realize that the money that is being filched from those who actually earn it is a finite resource, and that sooner or later, those of us who own small businesses and actually employ people will decide that we are tired of the government’s hands in our pockets to support social agendas that are not the proper province of the government. Now that several places in the country have decided to ratchet their tax rates up to fifty percent…or more, on “the rich”, that day is coming sooner rather than later. As the tax rates climb for everyone, and with the coming inflation and higher interest rates forcing even more pressure on declining tax revenues, with out a return to sane fiscal policy, there will only be two potential results: A massive tax revolt, or a bloody revolt. I relish neither, but I see no other end to this.
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Yet he left a smaller government than Reagan
You should check out where he cut government. Yup, almost entirely in the military. Those were dark times for the military, and they left us unprepared for the challenges of the new millenium. You should try to tell the whole story, instead of these misleading half-truths. I’d deal with the rest of your claptrap, but after reading the statement below, it’s not worth it.
If they could kill his predecessor to further their agenda, then what choice did he have.
Ahahahahaha!! It’s always best to get your history straight from Oliver Stone. I suppose that’s why the rest of your silliness reads like fiction as well.
You’re not a progressive Democrat – you’re a loon.
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The open letter to President Obama was supposedly written by a schoolteacher in Missouri. A cursory investigation reveals that while the teacher, a Ms Kathleen Lyday, is a real person, she insists she did not author the letter. The same piece is sometimes attributed to “Franklin Bell” or “Douglas M. Casamer,” but as far as I could determine nobody has actually come forward to claim it. It’s no wonder.
http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/barackobama/a/letter_to_obama.htm
Where to even begin! O.K., I’ll try to skip past some of the nutty accusations and deal with the factual errors.
“Sir,” writes the author, “what do you think the First World War and the Second World War were all about if not the consideration of the peoples of Europe?”
The fact is, both of those wars had raged on for years before we entered either, and when we finally did we did so because someone attacked us. A German u-boat sank the Lusitania and the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. We did, indeed, sacrifice and fight hard on the battlefields and on the home front. We did tilt the balance of power to help bring about the Allied victories in both cases, and we certainly did a good thing with the Marshall Plan, but many people in England, France, Russia, and other countries have for decades resented the common American attitude and belief that we won those wars practically by ourselves. We did not.
That ‘tude comes through clearly in the subject “Letter to Obama”, and American “arrogance” was clearly evident in many of President George W. Bush’s remarks in the lead-up to the Iraq Invasion.
Here is exactly what Obama did say about America being arrogant:
“In America, there is a failure to appreciate Europe’s leading role in the world. Instead of celebrating your dynamic union and seeking to partner with you to meet common challenges, there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive. But in Europe, there is an anti-Americanism that is at once casual, but can also be insidious. Instead of recognizing the good that America so often does in the world, there have been times where Europeans choose to blame America for much of what is bad.
”On both sides of the Atlantic, these attitudes have become all too common. They are not wise. They do not represent the truth. They threaten to widen the divide across the Atlantic and leave us both more isolated. They fail to acknowledge the fundamental truth that America cannot confront the challenges of this century alone, but that Europe cannot confront them without America.”
This President is a wise man who makes a lot of sense, and the wing nuts out there would do well to listen to him instead of taking a few of his words out of context and using them to fan flames of discord and contention. Those folks are simply hoping and trying to make the President fail, and they don’t seem to know or care how wrong they are in doing so.
Perhaps you remember, prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq most of the nations in the world warned Bush not to do it. They, as well as about half of us Americans, were right. Going to war with Iraq, a nation which had done nothing to us and had not even threatened to harm us, was ill advised and just plain wrong! But Bush was arrogant and dismissive of anyone who disagreed with him, and it cost the United States a lot of friends as well as inciting even more hatred and determination among our detractors. Bush did huge damage to America’s standing in the world and Obama is trying to heal that.
The writer of the letter asks Obama “Where do you get off telling a Muslim country that the United States does not consider itself a Christian country?” and “Have you not read the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the United States?”
I would ask the writer “Where do you get off asking President Obama, a former professor of Constitutional law and former editor of the Harvard Law Review, if he has read the Constitution?” Here is the actual quote from the President’s speech, to which our phantom blogger refers:
“We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values.”
The Right Wing likes to pretend otherwise, but the president is absolutely correct. We are not a theocracy, Christian or otherwise. Thank God! To the best of my own knowledge, neither the Declaration of Independence nor the Constitution of the United States mentions Christianity or any other religion. This nation was founded on many admirable principals and ideals. Religious freedom ranks high among them.
And all the furor over Obama supposedly “bowing down” to the Saudi King is pure nonsense. The gesture, by my own observation, was closer to a nod than a bow. Many observers thought it looked more like the much taller Obama had simply bent over slightly toward Abdullah as the two were about to shake hands, not, as one might envision from all the fuss, some wretched scene with our President groveling before some huge golden throne. The Right Wing has twisted and mangled the facts in yet another attempt to misrepresent. Truth and conscience be damned! It is ironic that Conservatives who never complained about the cozy relationship between the Bush family and King Abdullah for the past eight years now claim outrage over a small, symbolic gesture of respect.
At one point the letter writer complains that Obama is ”so self-righteously offended by the big bankers” but then just two paragraphs later, referring to Fannie May and Freddie Mac executive bonuses, the writer asks pointedly “why haven’t you expressed your outrage at this group?” It becomes clear that no matter what Obama does or does not do, he will be criticized for it by the disciples of the “Party of No.”
The great majority of the rant in question consists of mere rambling opinion and banal expressions of hatred. The few Items that profess to be fact are, as far as I can tell, all bogus or trumped-up. So why do I bother laboring over something of so little merit? It is because too much of this kind of twisted drivel gets circulated on the internet. It would be laughable except that so many people don’t bother to think for themselves and simply accept such rubbish at face value. A co-worker passed-on the “letter” to me today. He is an intelligent and articulate professional and nobody’s brand of radical as far as I can tell. Yet when we talked he seemed to think the letter was credible because its author was a teacher! When I went online to find a ready rebuttal I came up empty. I thought “If nobody bothers to answer this trash there is, incredibly, a real chance that enough people will buy into it to really do some harm.”
I’ll close with one last item. I had to do some searching for this one, but as I suspected, there is no truth to the claim that “the average House aide got a 17% bonus.” The statement appears to have been extracted from the following context which I found attributed to the Wall Street Journal:
“Capitol Hill bonuses in 2008 were among the highest in years, according to LegiStorm, an organization that tracks payroll data. The average House aide earned 17% more in the fourth quarter of the year, when the bonuses were paid, than in previous quarters, according to the data.”
That works out to an annualized bonus of 4.25 percent. Still not bad in hard times, but even that occurred during the Bush administration! I suppose no claim is too far-fetched for the Right Wing to try to smear over Barrack Obama’s good name.
Art Galloway
Missouri City, Texas
July 2009
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That works out to an annualized bonus of 4.25 percent.
Not at all. It would be nice if more Obama supporters could actually do math – then we wouldn’t be fighting these battles on health care and cap-n-trade. There was a 17% increase in the bonus that they are paid once a year. That means that their annual bonus went up 17%, but we still don’t know what the actual bonus % was.
The point being that a 17% raise is quite large. And the fact that it is awarded annually means that trying to divide it by 4 is pointless.
I may get around to the rest of your spewage later, if I’m bored and at loose ends. End-to-end nonsense, though, so I’ll have to put on my wading boots.
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And all the furor over Obama supposedly “bowing down” to the Saudi King is pure nonsense. The gesture, by my own observation, was closer to a nod than a bow.
Hahahaha!! Watch this. He’s nodding all the way down to King Abdullah’s sternum. If that’s just a nod, he’d hit his head on the floor if he tried to bow.
He nodded to the Queen, and looked pained doing it. He bowed to the King and looked like it was completely natural.
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At one point the letter writer complains that Obama is ”so self-righteously offended by the big bankers” but then just two paragraphs later, referring to Fannie May and Freddie Mac executive bonuses, the writer asks pointedly “why haven’t you expressed your outrage at this group?” It becomes clear that no matter what Obama does or does not do, he will be criticized for it by the disciples of the “Party of No.”
Now you’re not making any sense at all. The writer asks why the President treats two groups differently (leaning on private enterprise while coddling the government-sponsored enterprise), and you somehow translate that into a “damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t” scenario.
That is a mind-bogglingly far-fetched interpretation, and would be unfair even if it wasn’t (i.e., if the President is going to treat the groups differently, he should lean on the government organization rather than tinkering with the private enterprises).
Now you’re falling out of the “I don’t read or understand things very well” category and into the “I’ll twist anything anyway I want to support Obama” category.
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Geoff, there is just so much wrong with that comment, it’s not worthy of a response. Plus, I suspect it’s a cut and paste job, and he’ll not be back.
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Geoff, there is just so much wrong with that comment, it’s not worthy of a response. Plus, I suspect it’s a cut and paste job, and he’ll not be back.
Yeah, I know. I’m just going through the motions, myself. Passes the time, is all.
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That letter from the 4th grade teacher kicked A, though.
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Hi Art.
It is good to see that a reasoned and intelligent person has taken up the mantle against the ‘windnuts’ conservatives who have been responding to the 4th grade teacher comment in this blog. And yes, I researched it too where she denied sending this letter.
I stop responding to these idiots three weeks ago. Fact is, they will never get it — and that’s why the republicans lost the last election and why they will lose again. These clowns have the same simple-minded mentality as the ‘birthers’ and the other idiots they are sending to disrupt town hall meetings. When the most prominent people in their party aren’t even politicians, i.e., Limbaugh, Palin, Hannity, Coulter, Beck, O’reilly, etc., is it any wonder that the ignorant faction would come out of the woodwork and start to make some noise. No wonder there were less than 200 minorities of any stripe (asians, hispanics, blacks) at their convention. They are ignorant and they want to remain that way. Believe me when I tell you, a lot of it is racial. They resent having a black man in the White House. It doesn’t matter to them that Obama is head and shoulders more intelligent than Bush was. Even when they, or someone they know, are enjoying social security, civil rights legislation, medicare, V.A. Benefits, etc., they will still resent the democratic party for passing the legislation for these entitlements. To them, all these earned benefits are socialist — how stupid they are.
Ten years from now when we do have healthcare reform with many private options as well as a public option, they will still find something else to criticize.
Republicans would rather we started another stupid war against a country we could beat just to prove we’re a superior military power and line the pockets of wealthy businesses. You never hear them comment on the 4600 American lives lost on a war that had nothing to do with 9/11.
I just wanted to say to you that you can expect a lot rebuttal and vitriol from these people and its probably best to just ignore it — I do. Just know that there are many others like you out here fighting the good fight against these fools. They are fast becoming irrelavent and they’re too stupid to know it.
God bless.
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When the most prominent people in their party aren’t even politicians, i.e., Limbaugh, Palin, Hannity, Coulter, Beck, O’reilly, etc.
Palin’s not a politician?
They resent having a black man in the White House.
Typical liberal attack: if you disagree with him, you’re a racist. His race was the only reason I considered voting for him. His policies are why I decided not to. It’s weird: we liked Colin Powell when he supported conservative policies, and got mad at him when he didn’t. We liked Condi Rice. We like Michael Steele when he’s not making problems. It’s almost like politics trump race.
It doesn’t matter to them that Obama is head and shoulders more intelligent than Bush was.
He’s certainly head and shoulders better at speaking and public relations, but there’s no concrete evidence that he’s more intelligent. But libs are always over-impressed by honeyed words – they rarely dig into the message to seek truth, so long as the message sounds nice.
Even when they, or someone they know, are enjoying social security, civil rights legislation, medicare, V.A. Benefits, etc., they will still resent the democratic party for passing the legislation for these entitlements.
Actually we’re huge fans of civil rights legislation, but not to the point of reparations or reverse discrimination. And, of course, we’ve always been big supporters of veterans’ benefits. We do resent the Dems for passing Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, because we always knew that they were bad programs that would eventually be financial disasters.
Which they are.
Republicans would rather we started another stupid war against a country we could beat just to prove we’re a superior military power and line the pockets of wealthy businesses.
Riiiigghht. That’s why we went to war. Beyond being an idiot, you’re pretty much a raging bigot – the only canard you haven’t mentioned about Republicans is the fangs.
You never hear them comment on the 4600 American lives lost on a war that had nothing to do with 9/11.
And you’re a liar, too. In fact, this very site carries a weekly tribute to a fallen member of the military.
And, guess what? We didn’t go to war in Iraq because of 9/11. The GWoT didn’t focus on the groups responsible for 9/11. I don’t know why you think that 9/11 is the only reason we could possibly have gone to war, but I suggest that you do a little historical reading to find the truth.
That’s a lot to ask, I know.
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Just do to iraq and Iran what we did to japan and drop a nuclear bomb on them and get this war over with.
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I dont think that would be a good idea (droping a nuclear bomb) ….muslims get pissed off,get wepons, and WW3 is now reality.
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