NOTE: I try to keep politics out of my posts. However, after observing many issues, I felt compelled to put my thoughts in a letter to our great President. I have always supported him and continue to do so. He has had struggles as our POTUS and overall he has done many great things–there are just a few critiques that I have. Read on and you may agree or disagree but I welcome your thoughts because I truly desire a country united of her people! Thanks and I hope to have given you food for thought! XOXOXOXO!
Our President looks so much more relaxed when he is smiling!
Dear President Obama,
I am writing this letter to you to give you my honest opinion on the last eight years that you have been the leader of our United States of America. You will be delighted at some of what I have to say and you may not be delighted at other things I have to say, but what I have to say will give you food for thought.
Since I voted for you twice, I feel that as a citizen of our country, I’m validated in my opinion.
First of all, I realize how difficult it must have been for you to enter into a presidency to clean up the mess that was left to you. That cleanup is still going to take years to finish. And I applaud you for saving the automobile industry. You saved many jobs and an important industry in our country. You also allowed parents to keep adult children up to the age of 26 on their medical insurance. Doing away with the “pre-existing” medical issues was another great act toward helping all fellow Americans.
In theory, “Obamacare” was great—but the execution missed points. I don’t blame you. I blame the republican congress and the fact that these people were and continue to sleep with medical insurance companies and the lobbyists who work for them.
I can attest that you definitely created jobs because I’ve been on a ton of job interviews and didn’t get any. Um—we need to talk. About “Ageism”. Call or email me.
You represented hope on so many levels.
I remember being in Paris just one month after you were sworn in for your first term. The French were incredibly happy that you were elected. They loved you. They, too, had hopes that you would bring people together.
So why did you fall short? I have a theory. I may be wrong, I may be right; I may be in the middle.
You were stymied by the Republicans. I realize that. But why didn’t you have the balls to fight them more aggressively? *Sigh* I know it isn’t your nature—you’re a laid back kinda guy—but you are the POTUS!! Man—you are supposed to be a LEADER! Threats of government walkouts. Spewing hate. You needed to rein these bozos in and call them out for what they are—hate filled individuals who care nothing about “we the people”—and you remained silent for the most part.
Your people skills—I have to tell you—they could be a little better. You made a huge mistake by not participating in the solidarity march in France after the Charlie Hebdo attacks. The Prime Minister of Britain, David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy all joined François Hollande. Damn—even Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined together to show their solidarity. Where were you? The French loved you and rooted for you from afar. You couldn’t fly over there for a day? Come on. You have your own plane for crissakes!
But here’s the big one. I delusionally thought and believed that you were finally the link to bring the races together. I know. Stop laughing. I’m too delusional and idealistic!
You may be the first President to be a person of color and it’s a wonderful, wonderful thing. You are bi-racial. You represent the best of two races! You could have brought an end to racial tension. Seriously. I really believe that. I do.
The way things stand now. Black people don’t trust white people. White people don’t trust black people. We have groups that hate the police and groups that support the police. We now have separate “Lives Matter” groups. Let me tell you this. ALL lives matter. Nobody should be turned away from getting medical help or an education. Respect for everyone. I’m rambling….
Look, I’m not asking you to “embrace” your white side by any means. All you needed to do was recognize it. Just recognize the grandparents who raised you. You could have spoken more about your mom. (Although, it’s just like a son to ignore his mom when he gets older and independent—you are just like all the sons out there—black, white, bi-racial, yellow, polka dotted—don’t get me, a mom, started!)
I feel you did an injustice to bi-racial people by not recognizing your entire roots. Look. Personal roots are important. It’s what our country is based on. We’re a melting pot. I’m second generation American. My “roots” are Irish and I identify with the Irish traditions my grandparents brought to this country. You have it even better because you have a great heritage. You have your African roots and European roots. How cool is that?
You are the melting pot of Presidents!!! You are every person!
And it’s cool that you identify more with your African roots than your European roots. That isn’t the issue.
The issue remains, for me, that you could have picked up where Dr. King left off.
Maybe it’s because I’m almost 61 years old and I see that life is short. In our lifetime, we need more kindness toward each other. We need to get along as a people. All races need to understand and respect each other. We need to learn more about each other.
We cannot hate. We cannot mistrust. We cannot bully nor can we hurt or murder or make anyone feel like less of a person because of who they are.
My heart and my spirit both hurt right now. I see the hatred and the racial maelstrom that has been created over the past few years. The situation looks dire. Wait a second. I have to get a tissue because I started to cry. (I’m very emotional)
Basically, I wanted to see race relations as one of those delicious Black & White cookies. The two races on the same dessert dish with each other. I thought that your two terms would bring visions of black and white people walking on the same side of the street, greeting each other with “Good Mornings” and “Good Afternoons” as they smile. And as they pass by give that hand motion of “I’ll call you”. You know, that motion where you mouth the words and point to yourself then pretend you have your phone to your ear and then point to the other person? I wanted that between races!
I wanted to see beauty products that both African American women and White women can use together! I wanted women of color and women devoid of color to get their hair done at the same salons! No segregation of beauty! (Hey. I am deeply shallow)
I just want a country racially united. Not divided.
You had the power to do this—and you failed. Why??????
Look at what’s going on now. Look at the hate spewed by the likes of Trump and Cruz and the rest of the circus. If any of these men become our next President, we will be a people divided. And it will be a situation so much worse than it is now.
How did our political system become hate based? Whatever happened to wanting the best for American people? What is going to happen to our country?
President Obama. It isn’t too late for you to go out and try to bring the two races together. Time may be of the essence but I still have hope.
You can never run out of hope and I am counting on you to step up to the plate as your one last task. (Well, that and finding someone to fill that empty seat in the Supreme Court). You have to try to bring everyone together.
You are our last chance.
Sincerely,
Cathe
PS–How does Michelle manage to make the best of J. Crew clothing? Jenna Lyons vision sucks and our First Lady wears J. Crew so much better! Michelle needs to write a style book. She rocks the clothing!
All I can say is… nations are resilient and so are its people. Look at the brighter side, you survived eight years of Beorge Dubya Gush… (Phooeey, survived? The best years of the comedy circus ever… the world could not stop laughing, that is, when they were not cowering or crying).
The divisions that you think would be worsened if those new cretins took over, I don’t think that is going to happen. It may take long years to get back to a reasonable level of mutual (dis)trust again. But it will happen. People are rational. When the hoopla over their prejudiced propaganda is over, the people will begin to see sense. Usually, it happens sooner than later. If you notice, the most diehard fanatics are often the ones who get the most easily disillusioned. A national madness lasts but a few years. Of course, those years may be dangerous and a lot of lives do get ruined in that duration, but it is never completely lost or irretrievably damaged that saner minds cannot prevail some day. By the way, the very fact that you are saying this aloud means that there are lots of other people like you thinking about it. So I think it just might be a return to rationality. 🙂
Thanks Tej. You are so encouraging. I truly hope rationality returns And I truly hope that others think along the lines that I do rather than the opposite. It’s so sad–you know? We want a better world but look what’s going on. Oh Dubya and Cheney. Two idiots who started years and years of military spending and lives lost and maimed for nothing. Thank you! XOXOXOXO!
In my own country, there is a similar madness – the right wing has won, for now. But they shall also lose soon. I was hoping that their madness would last a little longer, actually. With good reasons. You need to know their nefarious designs completely to properly detest them 🙂 The rebellion is peaking too soon. But that is my opinion. Let us see.
It is certainly a different kind of journey!!! XOXOXOXXO!
Thanks Catherine for a great post – the future office of the president will certainly be interesting. Have a great weekend dear. 🙂
Thanks Spear! Right????? It certainly will be interesting–that’s for sure! You have a great weekend too my dear! XOXOXO!!!
Thanks Catherine for your insightful overview. I speak for other (but not all) Australians and myself when I say we love President Obama. I mean on the surface, what’s not to like? Charming, articulate, and a good dresser! Superficial, I know, but it certainly is a good start. The system and issues that you discuss are deep and complex. It’s difficult for a political leader to have an exemplary tenure – there will always be some areas that are lacking and not everyone will agree with the priorities. If you are interested in a bit of Australian history, I have attached a blog post I wrote about two years ago upon the death of Gough Whitlam, a political statesman, who coined the phrase “it’s time”: http://www.thehipsterette.com.au/wordpress/?p=5264
Gough seemed like quite a guy. We need change here in the USA. And we need it now. I realize that what I write about IS deep and complex. And I love Obama–but relations here in the US between races right now just are not good. They aren’t. There is an intangible wall that is dividing us and we need to tear that wall down. I worry about this stuff. The rest of the world laughs at the circus of Trump and his cronies. It sickens me. But lets hope things turn around for the best! BTW. I loved your post! XOXOXO!
Like you, I worry about the state of the world, and how we, in our own small way, might change it. Have you considered writing a novel, set in contemporary times, with race as one of the themes? You have such an entertaining way of putting words together that I am sure you could weave it into the plot, making a multi-level read: deceptively light but with a powerful punch of a message. Of course, it would be a runaway bestseller and you could tour the world talking about it! And that pesky problem of full-time employment would be solved too!
Hi Catherine
What a great post and before I start on Obama I simply have to say, write, my dear, a book. You are a wordsmith par excellence.
Anyway, where was I? Look, I’m a Brit, what do I know, please feel free to correct and disagree. Ok, when Obama was elected, from a Brit’s perspective, I think we all went, ‘wow and wonderful, what’s not to like?’ He’s urbane, smart, perhaps an intellectual (more about that anon), handsome, and oh yeh, black, double wow! Mind you when he was given the Nobel Peace Prize I was a little surprised as he hadn’t done anything apart from being, ‘notBush’. Surely Norway, you weren’t thinking that????!!!! You need just a bit more, perhaps?
And what has he done – loads if you read the economic bits of (British) newspapers – unlike the British government (gets out the sick-bag) he’s really rescued your economy. And as for the ACA, seriously as Brit I just don’t get the people we saw on TV getting hysterical because it was ‘government interference’ or ‘socialism’. Umm, seriously you want people to be ill, you want an unhealthy population. Our NHS is totally differently run (and in the process of being ruined but that’s another story) but we don’t ever worry about going bankrupt or paying ANYTHING if you have a serious/life-threatening illness or accident or whatever, from birth to death we get our healthcare. So any move towards helping the uninsured must be great, mustn’t it?
But I agree about the people skills. He’s an intellectual, he’s cool, he appears to me to think that a lot of his opponents are complete idiots, which they are. But perhaps one of the greatest Presidents (not THE greatest) but one of them has to be Johnson who achieved so much and had so much legislation passed for poverty, voting rights and so on. And why? Because he was an experienced old hand and knew what to do, a politician through to the core. Obama, meanwhile was not long in the Senate before he was being talked up as Presidential material – you can see why, but… And then there’s the foreign policy. Look, don’t mess with the Afghans and think one more push will do, it won’t. Did he read his history books or was he advised by the military? I don’t know, but any expert will tell you that Great Powers fail again and again and again, in a medieval society at that.
And the race thing. Fascinating your take on Obama not recognising his white half. Not read about that anywhere else, but it’s so obvious. And also as an outsider it seems to me that Americans really know how to hate. I mean I despise Cameron and so do a lot of people but I don’t hate him, he’s like a thing under my shoe. But when the hatred started very soon after Obama became President, I thought, a lot of us thought, it has to be about his colour. And could it have been different? Because here in the UK we can’t believe this Trump phenomena, soooo awful. But there’s a lot of right-wing talk in Europe as well. Bad times. Which is why I escape by being deeply frivolous.
Apologies for the long reply but I’m fascinated by American politics and it’s good to read something that’s not about Trump!!! My final point is that history will look fondly at Obama – he will come out well.
xxx
Hi Penny! I LOVE your comment on this rather touchy subject (not a lot of responses–hmmmmm). But you are spot on with everything! Obama HAS done great things–and people overlook all the great he has done. And Bonaparte and I discuss the reason that congress and others don’t like him–simply–it’s because he is a man of color. Journalists are afraid to go there–and I don’t know why. If I was a journalist I would be having a long talk with him about the race issue that seems to be the elephant in the room.
I hate to say this buy many Americans are a hateful group–it never used to be that way and I’m sure if Bobby Kennedy and Dr. King had never been murdered, these two men would have made great strides in erasing hate.
Look–our gun laws are basically “anything goes” Politicians are AFRAID of the NRA. I’ve never ever come across anything like it. There are shootings every day over here–and it is no exaggeration. What you see on the news is the truth! Violence is perfectly acceptable here.
And healthcare. Can you believe it? People here are uneducated when it comes to socialism–even socialism “lite”. They equate it with communism. That is because nobody wants to sit down and read the facts. They all want DisneyNews. Not real news. We watch BBC news because that is how we get our “real” news! Everyone should have healthcare–it is a crime how America is “supposed” to be the greatest country and we cannot even have a decent healthcare program for all. How can we NOT take care of the citizens here? Everyone deserves to be treated fairly.
I love my country–but I want the America back–the one before the politicians ruined it. The one where church and state were separate. The America where politicians had a vision and a platform–not reverting to name calling.
And I am in complete agreement that we should have NEVER messed with the Afghans. At all. Why are our politicians such war mongers? The money spent on the military could be better spent on healthcare. Don’t even get me started on the way our good Veterans are treated when they come home to the states.
I want someone to take America back–but by not using hatred and bullying.
Wow. I’m off my soapbox now!!! XOXOXOXO!!!
Hi Catherine, Wow, I bet you’re glad you got that off your chest:-). Like Frugal Fashion Shopper, I’m British and do agree with most of what she says. However, I have lived in various parts of France for the past forty odd years (hubby French) and I think the French view of Obama is really,’he can’t go wrong’, apart from the Paris March, of course! I too was fascinated by your stance on the half-white side of Obama. Had never thought of it like that and so true, his blackness is THE elephant in the room. Having said that, could we reasonably expect the first black president of the US to turn around race relations? I know we did secretly all hope so. I mean, we (or should I say you), may possibly have the first WOMAN president and how about that for hoping for equal rights for women? OK, not the same thing at all, I know. But still, one can dream, eh?
Thoroughly enjoyed your post, Catherine, am definately glad I found your blog.
Bises
Rosemary
HI Rosemary. I received an email from one of my aunts earlier this morning and she asked the same question–why would I think that Obama could turn race relations around. Actually her thought was why should he? I think as a leader of our country, he did have an obligation. The President of the USA needs to address and try to smooth out issues within our country –perhaps I’m naive. But I think that was a huge elephant and I cannot believe that not one journalist addressed this. NOBODY even talks about it. I brought that subject up with one of my girlfriends the other day and she had never even thought about it but thought it made sense.
It’s so ironic that the USA is a virtual melting pot yet there is so much discourse and hate between these very same people–and not just race–there is discourse between all groups. It’s very sad. I just want everyone to get along. We need the Hippie Movement back!!!XOXOXOXXO!!!
Hi Catherine,
I just reblogged this as part of Saturday Shares on my blog – from the sticks to the bricks and back again. I think it is interesting most of the comments have come from outside of the US. I think history will judge President Obama well. He has done so much more than Americans give him credit for. I feel as though when he was elected every racist came out from under the rock they were hiding under including those who occupy seats in Congress. In my opinion the Republicans in Congress spent more time trying to make the first black President look bad than they did doing what was right for our country. The POTUS definitely identifies himself as a black man (but really does he have any choice in a nation that still follows the one drop rule). That being said I have heard him speak lovingly of his grandparents and mom. No matter what he says on the matter of race he is demonized. When he said Trayvon Martin looked like him, looked like what his son if he had one would look like he was accused of race baiting and fanning the flames of racism in this country. And just recently Ben Carson had the audacity to claim that if he (Carson) was elected he would be the first black President because apparently President Obama isn’t black enough for him. It is maddening.
Please let us know if the POTUS responds directly,
Lynne
HI Lynne. First of all, I want to thank you for reblogging this post. Secondly, Bonaparte and I were talking about the fact that most of the comments were from outside the US. I think this post may have hit a sore spot with some. I just call it like I see it. But O.M.G. I remember what Obama said about Trayvon Martin and he wasn’t race baiting. He was stating a fact. I know–I realize he has spoken about his mother and grandparents–and perhaps I didn’t word it the right way. I think he–and I hate to say this but–I think he should have mentioned them a bit more to pander to the vengeful Republicans in congress to keep them at bay. Kind of like keeping a rabid animal at bay. Carson–the only thing that man is good for is to put an insomniac to sleep–his voice is dull enough to make anyone snooze off!
Just the fact that the majority of voters elected Obama is a sign of hope for our 2016 election. Hopefully the majority of voters will elect a Democrat. I shudder to think what will happen if we don’t. But I feel for Obama–the poor guy never NEVER got any backing from the Republicans in Congress. What a shame. XOXOXOXO!
PS. Off topic–but my oldest son got to see the Red Sox win the series up at Fenway two years ago. I may be an ex-New Yorker, but we’ve got the family divided into Red Sox v. Yankees!
I’m hoping for a Democratic victory as well and think you may have hit a nerve with some Americans. If not, I fear all the strides made in the 60s and 70s will be reversed.
I love that your family is divided between the Red Sox and Yankees. Through marriage we’ve allowed a couple of Yankee fans into our family. What was my sister thinking? LOL. It is one of the greatest sports rivalries and the true fans have a hidden respect for the other team.
I think you said it all for me when you said: You are the melting pot of Presidents!!! You are every person! You echoed my sentiments exactly. And ou have me thinking and wondering now how much Obama can really do to fix things. Excellent post, Catherine.
Thank you Lady Calen!! There isn’t much time left–but it’s true. Obama IS the melting pot of Presidents! He IS every person and that is one aspect of his greatness! XOXOXO!
Good points here. IMO he failed because his own party turned against him at the hands of the Clinton’s who, control the Democratic Party, and now Hillary is promoting furthering Obama’s policies in a desperate attempt to win the nomination. Makes no sense.
HI Margaret. You bring up a good point. My thing with the Clintons is that they can be smug and feel a certain amount of entitlement. But it still isn’t as bad as the hatred spewed from Trump and Cruz. In my ideal world, Bernie would get the Democratic nomination but I don’t think it’s gonna happen…this is going to go down as the nastiest race for President ever!
Interesting how you’re not the only one who feels this way Catherine. I’ve noticed it too from my peers and locals as well. Perhaps he could be doing more (no, wait, he can. That’s pretty true.) Still, you’ve given credit where credit is due but please do not forget such one thing: he is still human. It’s been hard enough to begin cleaning up a mess that seems infinite. But then to tackle a million OTHER tasks at the same time with the same amount of success? Hardly think that’s fitting to ask for.
I can’t say if he’s given his absolute best. But I do recognize that he’s human and all humans falter. We can’t be Superman and Wonder Woman all the time; asking for more after each success is kind of like expecting a Superman.
But don’t listen to me. I’m politically illiterate. All I know is how to be human and how to see people as people, for the good and bad. Politics are ideas that have good intentions and are fought by rebels that slowly lose their humanity; hence, why politics are so savage. But again, don’t listen to me.
I loved reading this letter. In fact, I would have implored you to actually send it to him. I think he would’ve really given it some thought. Thank you for sharing earnestly Catherine. Fabulous post!
Thanks Pineapple! Yeah, I should have sent this to him. But now I’m in fear of what’ll happen with the campaign for the 2016 race. It’s not good on any level! XOXOXOXO!
I know… I fear for the country. However, we as citizen have power and we must exercise it in what ways we can. We have to be the change now, because congress and our candidates aren’t really gonna do it.
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Thanks Pineapple! XOXOXOXO!!!