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President Obama, We’re Fighting, Are You?

07/24/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictorie
President Barack Obama, we have been holding you accountable and you have not listened. You have done little to make sure that this nation moves forward in a progressive manner and done a lot in order to make sure that those who got us into this mess are rewarded. You have let Congress water down time and again the legislation which is necessary to protect the people of this nation all the while rewarding the bigots, the oligarches, and the elites in the same manner that your predecessor did. The economy is in tatters because politicians listening to the rich believed the idiocy known as supply side, trickle down economics. The stuff that is better known as voodoo economics. You have not stood up and lead your Party, and instead, have let Congress run amok. You have let weak kneed Harry Reid turn the Senate into a Republican arse kissing arena. You have let Nancy Pelosi pursue her own agenda unchecked.

At one time, Mr. President, the presidency of this nation was just what you are today. The President was there to sign bills, to enforce laws, and to defend them no matter what. That day and age has long since passed. We are now in a century when the President shapes legislation and controls the party that he is the nominal head of. Without your guidance, the party is busy working on doing what ever it wants, and that means that vital legislation has now been lost because of your dithering and weakness, Mr. President.

The Climate Change bill is gone. It was done in by the reluctance of certain Democrats and a whole lot of money from lobbyists from the oil, coal, and gas industries even when it was painfully obvious that, as far as these people were concerned, money was more important than lives and money was more important than protecting the environment. A large swath of the East Coast could soon become uninhabitable because of the natural gas extraction that is going on, but why should that matter so long as you and those who fund you can reap money off the suffering of others.

Economically, we’re in the pits because rather than standing firm against the idiocy of the Tea Party, you caved in and kowtowed to them and to the Wall Street demands regarding protecting their money sources. Right now, the bulk of our money is tied up in the wealthiest individuals in this nation and they are not able to buy enough to either return the tax revenue lost to the tax cuts for them, nor are they spending enough to keep the economy going. Money has to flow, and if that means that the government has to ‘redistribute’ it, then so be it. The government is one of the largest money engines in the nation. It is suppose to ‘redistribute’ money from the top to the bottom in order to keep the money flowing because the rich can never buy enough goods to generate that kind of monetary flow.

On LGBT rights, maybe if you were out there in full force advocating for our rights, Mr. President, we would not be hearing excuses from Speaker Pelosi. We would not hear from her on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act “It was next on my agenda, but then ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ was pushed.” This did not have to be an either/or situation. Both bills could have been easily done, especially if we had you pushing for them both, and if we had not had the fear mongers up there screaming about bathrooms. DADT could have been repealed quickly and without any heavy lifting. the Employment Non-Discrimination Act was an easy win, until it became absolutely obvious just how weak you are Mr. President. Because of your weakness we are hearing this from Pelosi as well “Making sure the bill is fully inclusive will take time.” About the only problem with ENDA is that it needs a bit of tweaking on the gender inclusion language, but that is all. She went on to say “We want to make sure we win this vote by more than a slim majority.” Given the support that this bill has, it should not require a slim majority to pass. It should pass handily. Both bills have broad support across this nation, but rather than standing up for the majority, you have kowtowed to a minority of bigots who are more interested in making sure that lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transpeople are kept second class citizens.

Shirley Sharrod is correct, Mr. President, you do not know what it is like to be an ordinary person struggling to survive and put food on the table. At one point, Franklin D. Roosevelt was the same way. That was, until he went to Georgia and found out what it was like to be dirt poor in the Rural South. Take a drive through Brunswick, Georgia sometime, Mr. President. Take a look at how the poverty, lack of healthcare, lack of equality, and the lack of help eats away at people.

I remember those drives, Mr. President. I remember seeing people who looked like they had been hollowed out. They walked like zombies. It is time, Mr. President, to put this nation back to helping the poor and the helpless.

It is time to do that before this nation is no more.

(This editorial was written in response to comments made by President Obama via tape at Netroots Nation.)