A Letter to President Obama

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 18:03:21 +0000 – By Patrick DorinsonPolitical Commentator

Dear Mr. President,

First let me tell you that you delivered one helluva speech on Tuesday. You are without a doubt one of the most gifted orators I have ever seen and I have seen quite a few. But your speeches are like cotton candy. From a distance cotton candy looks quite substantial but up close it is just air and sugar, light on substance and not very nutritional.

You seem to believe that we can have it all. But that is what got us into this mess in the first place.

In 1967, President Lyndon Johnson told Congress that the United States could not continue to wage the War in Vietnam and also fund his Great Society programs. The message to Congress was called "The Hard and Inescapable Facts". Earlier LBJ had said, "We can continue the Great Society while we fight in Vietnam." But eventually he was forced to admit that was not possible and he raised taxes on almost everyoneto pay for both.

To pay for it all, you are proposing European style tax hikes. And instead of European movie stars coming to America as "tax refugees", our Hollywood stars might go the other way. Then again, that might not be such a bad thing.

You also mentioned energy independence. Let's state right here and now that the notion of energy independence is one of the biggest whoppers I have ever heard and it ranks with, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help you". There is no such a thing and never will be. Period. But heck it sure sounds good.

In your speech you stated that, "We know the country that harnesses the power of clean, renewable energy will lead the 21st century. And yet, it is China that has launched the largest effort in history to make their economy energy efficient".

You are absolutely right Mr. President. Over the next 15 years China plans to bring online 30 new state-of-the-art nuclear plants, the cleanest most renewable energy source there is on the planet.

How many are we building? Oh, I forgot that your supporters in the Green Lobby don't want any nuclear plants. Wind and solar -- that's the ticket. Well, if the sun ain't shining and the wind ain't blowing that will be mighty difficult.

On education you spoke eloquently about the need to meet the educational challenges in creating a 21stCentury workforce. But whose plan are you going to follow? Yours, or someone else's?

You said, "We'll invest in innovative programs that are already helping schools meet high standards and close achievement gaps. And we will expand our commitment to charter schools."

Again, Mr. President, I totally agree. But how far are you willing to go to stand up to the teachers unions and their egghead, Ivy League allies in academia?

Will you sit silently by while they try to destroy the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program right in your own backyard?

Here is what the Washington Post said about you and the program just a few weeks before you were inaugurated.

"During the just-concluded campaign, Mr. Obama spoke dismissively of the federally funded voucher program that gives poor D.C. families access to the kind of educational opportunities his family is fortunate to have. The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program gives low-income families up to $7,500 per child for their children to escape failed public schools and attend private schools. Some 1,900 children receive vouchers, and many more are clamoring to join the program. Democrats, and their allies in public school teachers unions, oppose the vouchers and, with the party soon to control Congress and the White House, supporters of the program are right to worry."

Are they right to worry Mr. President? Will you side with the unions or the kids? Will you give the kids of Washington and America the same opportunity your children have?

My guess is you will side with the unions because the kids can't contribute millions to your re-election campaign or walk precincts.

I absolutely adored and admired Ty'Sheoma Bethea, the young girl from South Carolina. But I think you and we can do better than to just fix the leaky roof in her school. Give her family a voucher so she can attend a better school and she will become that doctor or a lawyer she yearns to be.

How about it?

And finally you spoke about letting the 2001 Bush tax cuts expire in 2011 which effectively would raise taxes on those making more than $250,000 a year.

This would include many small businesses, ranches, and family farms. How are we supposed to have a recovery when you tax productivity and also those that do most of the investing in this country?

Your tax program is designed to create fewer taxpayers and more tax beneficiaries which is just robbing Peter to pay Paul. And we all know that when that happens you can always depend on the support of Paul.

Now I realize that neither you nor your comic relief of a sidekick Joe Biden have never rubbed two nickels together to try to make a dollar. In fact, you both have spent your whole lives spending other people's money, a habit you seem bent on continuing. But even you must agree that tax hikes are counterproductive.

As LBJ wrote to Congress in 1967, Mr. President, these are the hard inescapable facts. I think you have a lot more explaining to do before the American people swallow this monstrosity of a program.

And you are going to need more than just fancy words.