A Letter to Obama: What's Happened to you?

Just a few months ago, I was mesmerized by a tall and fit African-American man whose ears seemed to stick out a little like mine.  (But, at least as a woman, I can cover mine up with hair.)

Perhaps this young man's prominent ears are somewhat symbolic of what many of other Americans are hoping for.....someone who will listen to our hopes for a country whose people are ready for change.

Nevertheless, when I heard Illinois Junior Senator Barack Obama give his victory speech after the January Iowa Presidential Primary, I knew that this guy was going to be a very very serious contender in the rest of the Democratic race.  Perhaps he could even be the Democratic nominee for president!

Well, it was a long and hard race, but Obama and his team accomplished a feat that many political stategists a couple years ago would have thought impossible.  A youngish African American with a strange sounding name had responded to a deep need in American citizenry.  He appealed to whites and people or color, the older and many more of the younger, even a good number of women, especially younger women.

By June at last Obama had enough delegate votes to be assured of being the candidate of the Democratic party in the November election.  His followers felt positive that at last they had a candidate who would make a difference in leadership for a country that has been under the control of special corporate and right-wing interests for way too long.

But the honeymoon wasn't to last long.  Before we knew it we heard our candidate, one whom many of us supported with money and time, beginning to sound too much like the other run-of-the-mill candidates out there.

In response, I am writing the following letter to Barack Obama, hoping for some answers that will help me and many others understand just what in the devil is going on!  Join me as I ask some important questions.

Dear Senator Obama:

Congratulations on receiving the majority of Democratic delegate votes which will enable you to be nominated as the Democratic candidate for President of the United States. Many people have voted for you in caucuses and primaries throughout the country because you convinced them that you and they were going to work together to bring about real change.  We thank you for your confidence in us.

But some of us have some serious concerns about your stands on certain issues now that you look to be our nominee for change.  Here are some examples:

1. At the American Israel Public Affairs Committee meeting just two days after you sewed up the Democratic nomination you made a point that you would NOT negotiate with Hamas because that group is run by terrorists.  I thought that you said during the campaign that you would be open to sitting down and talking with any country who wanted to after you were elected.
2. When the Supreme Court recently decided that rape of a child was not a crime requiring the death penalty, you made a point to disagree, saying that such a heinous crime should require the ultimate penalty of death.  I was disappointed in your statement.  Look at what countries besides the United States that still kill its criminals.  Most industrialized countries did away with the death penalty long ago.  You know as well as I do that the death penalty does not lead to less offenses.  Dangerous persons need to be locked up for good, but a civilized country does not still kill its criminals when there are better ways to keep dangerous criminals away from society.  The death penalty is not the civilized way when life imprisonment would be more humane.  We cannot become the crime we are against.
3. You disappointed many of your supporters on your reversal of your position regarding the overhaul of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). I cannot believe that you now support the new bill, also backed by the Bush administration.
4. You voted to give the Bush Administration another $162 billion to continue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  If you oppose this war, why do you keep voting in favor of continued funding?  Sometimes a candidate must stand up for what he or she believes in, refusing to follow the blind crowd ahead.
5. You recently announced that you would refuse federal funds for your presidential race, even though earlier you had said you would accept such funding as a way to show your support of campaign finance reform.  Seems to me that once again you are not keeping your word.  This concerns me.

Perhaps I am being naive. Maybe I don't know what it takes to get elected these days.  Maybe I erroneously believe that candidates should stand by their ideals, and when a candidate says he is the candidate of the people, that person should truly be of the people.  Am I not seeing something here that others understand?  Are these actions necessary so you can be elected? 

Sen. Obama, what other surprises are you going to pull on us yet before November? Can we continue to trust you as a person who wants the people to lead?  So far, you seem to be taking the easy road, one making a sharp turn to the right.

I eagerly await your answer.  I still have a vote left to cast next November.  It may be for you, or it may not. 

I will be voting on behalf of the next generations after me.  Are you prepared to lead with a vision of peace and justice for all generations?  I really need to know.

Sincerely,

People Power Granny
Rachael Bliss

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