 | Dear Mr. President, First off, please let me wish you a very Happy 50th Birthday on behalf of the Sacramento Progressive Alliance! Second, since I'm sure you read my FB page and our Progressive Alliance page religiously, I want to assure you that the vicious, nasty accusation that I "hate the player" (aka, you) that was made against me yesterday on this page is 100% false. I don't hate your Mr. President. In fact, like Chris Matthews, I still sometimes get that tingle up my leg when I watch you speak... though, to be honest, not as often as I used to. I not only don't hate you, I happen to like you... a lot. Like so many of my fellow Americans, I worked my ass off on your campaign, donating both time and money that I didn't have to help you get to the White House, and serving as Co-Chair of Faculty for Obama on the campus where I teach. On the night you wont the election, I wept openly, hugged dozens of strangers, and drank lots of beer (there may be a connection there somewhere) while celebrating your -- and our -- historic electoral triumph. I wept again the next morning while talking on the phone with my 80-year old Mom about your victory, in large part because neither of us ever thought we'd see an African American President in our lifetime. A few months later I spent more time and more money that I couldn't afford to take my family to DC for your Inauguration party, not because were invited or had tickets to any fancy balls, just because we wanted to experience an amazing moment in our nation's history. Of course we didn't know it was going to be 1000 degrees below zero and that all of the events were outside (I still get cold when I think about it), but it was worth the frostbite and the night we were stranded and lost at a suburban DC bus stop for hours and thought we would sure die. It still would have been worth it. Your inauguration was the best party I've ever been to and the proudest I've ever been to be an American. So no, I don't hate the player. In fact, if you and Skip Gates are ever free I'd love to share a near beer with you... you can even invite the racist cop. Or we could shoot hoops. I used to play in high school and I think I might be able to give you a game. Better yet, let's go bowling... I'm not very good, but I've seen you bowl and I know I can take you. Mr. President, I don't hate you, and neither do my progressive friends. Heck, I still think I have a bit of a man crush on you, but please don't tell anyone. We still love you, but since honesty is an important part of an healthy relationship, we do think you should know that your first 2 1/2 years in office have been a bit disappointing for many of us. And yes, we do think you could do a better job championing the progressive values that you ran on, the ones that inspired us. So no, we don't hate the player... but we will continue to to criticize, pressure, nudge, cajole, demand, beg and whatever else we can do to convince you to fight for vigilantly for the change we believed in. Happy Birthday. : ) |
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