November 20, 2009
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C.
Mr. President:
When I first saw you making the Keynote Address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, I was completely mesmerized. I was convinced you were the man to eventually occupy the White House, stop the insanity of the Bush Administration and reinstate standards of integrity and a commitment to the American people not seen since the days of John F. Kennedy.
I followed your primary and presidential campaigns as if there wasn’t another newsworthy program on television. Your demeanor, ability to speak and words that gave the nation a new sense of hope captured my entire family and me. I sat before the television the night you won the election and shed tears with my wife at your success. We cheered you on inauguration day and expected to see great things begin to happen when the euphoria of that event subsided.
When you re-established the former Clinton Administration in every major position in the White House, I knew we were in trouble. There must have been a reunion party among the Billy Boy Alums, champagne pouring out of every investment house on Wall Street, and a state of delirium among the health insurance industries. You wasted no time in stacking the deck with cronies from the past (much to the dismay of those of us who honestly believed your message of “change” was authentic). For the most part, they are a motley crew of consummate political whores, at best. From information I have gleaned, you got somewhere around 25 million dollars for “favors owed” (euphemistically called campaign contributions) when you were sworn in. What happened to all that money, Mr. President?
I refer you to an article published on November 19, 2009 in The Public Record (www.pubrecord.org) titled “The Critical Unraveling of U.S. Society, by David DeGraw. If it isn’t already required reading by your White House Staff and The Cabinet, it most certainly should be. It suggests you and your administration are the antithesis of all we had hoped and voted for. In the final analysis, Mr. President, your greatest skill is beginning to look like that of a consummate master of political double speak.
If you have one modicum of concern for this country and the millions of people who are suffering because of the questionable comprises you have made, and the shenanigans of the Barons of Wall Street and the Health Care Blood Suckers, you should take immediate steps to turn this political, social and economic Titanic around. Divest yourself of any association with all of those who brought this catastrophe down on our heads, hold their feet to the fire and get yourself some new playmates.
Don’t give us any more of the bull puckey about bi-partisanship. That is so hokey and transparent no one buys into it anymore. Since when did a bunch of charlatans, such as those the Republicans have placed on the national stage, demonstrate any credibility. They are what they are; a bunch of radical zealots, most of whom have a marginal intellect, at best. All they have accomplished is stirring up the radical right and virtually holding your legislative agenda hostage. On the other hand, how are we to know that, in the final analysis, it was not so much a smoke screen as a way of enabling you to buy more time to collude with your “buddies“?
If you are serious about pulling us out of this depression, then permit me to make a few suggestions.
1. Tell Geithner and Summers to take a hike and crawl back to their siblings at Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, etc. and tell them to serve notice on those bandits that you are coming after them. Replace them with competent people who are squeaky clean and in whom the American people can have complete confidence.
2. Tell Bernanke that the Federal Reserve is going to be transparent and free of any secrecy in all its future endeavors. No more footsie with the sharks the Fed has been in bed with for decades.
3. Appoint an Economic Advisory Commission to advise you on all future economic programs for the purpose of restoring honesty, integrity, trust and competence to all economic institutions in this country.
a. The Commission should be chaired by Paul Volker.
b. The membership should include all of the following:
[1] Paul Krugman, Princeton University
[2] Joseph Stiglitz, Columbia University
[3] Nouriel Roubini, New York University
[4] James Galbraith, University of Texas
[5] Simon Johnson, MIT
[6] Robert Reich, University of California at Berkeley
c. This group should be riding shotgun over a new and more effective economic recovery program that will serve all Americans.
4. You should serve notice on the House Banking Committee and the Senate Finance Committee that you are appointing a commission to design a comprehensive program for the oversight and regulation of all aspects of banking carried out in the United States.
a. The Commission should be chaired by Eliot Spitzer. Yes, Eliot
Spitzer. Just because he was indiscriminate in his sexual habits
doesn’t mean he isn’t smart as hell and a person of professional
integrity. After all, William Jefferson Clinton had no problem in
burnishing his rather tarnished image. Why can’t Eliot Spitzer?
Let’s throw hypocrisy to the wind and concentrate on the best minds
around to get us out of this mess.
b. Elizabeth Warren is one bright woman and a person of impeccable character. Her knowledge, experience and education are vital to any
effort of this nature.
c. Andrew Cuomo, Attorney General for the State of New York.
d. Brooksley Born, formerly Chairwoman of the Commodities Exchange Commission, and one of the nations pre-eminent authorities on
derivates, graduated top in her class from the Stanford Law School.
She was marginalized and resigned because she dared to speak the
truth to the crooks in power. The price of being honest in an
otherwise sea of corruption, I suppose.
e. Give these people the authority to come up with a system of
oversight and regulation that will be the envy of the industrialized
world. You know full well they can do it.
5. Just for good measure, put Katherine Sabelius out to pasture and replace her with the more qualified and experienced Howard Dean. HHS is no place for politics these days.
6. Do your own strong-arming and politicking, and replace Rahm Emanuel with Jesse Jackson, Jr. He is smart, honest and a better fit for what your administration should represent to the nation.
You may choose to see this as nothing more than fodder for the shredder. On the other hand, it is past the time when you should get serious and do the job you were elected to do by ALL THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. It is in that spirit that I took the time and effort to write this.
Respectfully yours,
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
P.O. Box XXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
E-mail XXXXXXXXXXXXX
cc: Vice-President Joseph Biden
Senator Christopher Dodd, Chairman Senate Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
Senator Patrick Leahy, Chairman Senate Judiciary Committee
Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr., Member House Joint Economic Committee
Congressman Barney Frank, Chairman House Finance Committee
Congressman Anthony Weiner, House Committee on Judiciary
Congressman Alan Grayson, Member House Finance Committee
Congressman Dennis Kucinich, House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C.
Mr. President:
When I first saw you making the Keynote Address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, I was completely mesmerized. I was convinced you were the man to eventually occupy the White House, stop the insanity of the Bush Administration and reinstate standards of integrity and a commitment to the American people not seen since the days of John F. Kennedy.
I followed your primary and presidential campaigns as if there wasn’t another newsworthy program on television. Your demeanor, ability to speak and words that gave the nation a new sense of hope captured my entire family and me. I sat before the television the night you won the election and shed tears with my wife at your success. We cheered you on inauguration day and expected to see great things begin to happen when the euphoria of that event subsided.
When you re-established the former Clinton Administration in every major position in the White House, I knew we were in trouble. There must have been a reunion party among the Billy Boy Alums, champagne pouring out of every investment house on Wall Street, and a state of delirium among the health insurance industries. You wasted no time in stacking the deck with cronies from the past (much to the dismay of those of us who honestly believed your message of “change” was authentic). For the most part, they are a motley crew of consummate political whores, at best. From information I have gleaned, you got somewhere around 25 million dollars for “favors owed” (euphemistically called campaign contributions) when you were sworn in. What happened to all that money, Mr. President?
I refer you to an article published on November 19, 2009 in The Public Record (www.pubrecord.org) titled “The Critical Unraveling of U.S. Society, by David DeGraw. If it isn’t already required reading by your White House Staff and The Cabinet, it most certainly should be. It suggests you and your administration are the antithesis of all we had hoped and voted for. In the final analysis, Mr. President, your greatest skill is beginning to look like that of a consummate master of political double speak.
If you have one modicum of concern for this country and the millions of people who are suffering because of the questionable comprises you have made, and the shenanigans of the Barons of Wall Street and the Health Care Blood Suckers, you should take immediate steps to turn this political, social and economic Titanic around. Divest yourself of any association with all of those who brought this catastrophe down on our heads, hold their feet to the fire and get yourself some new playmates.
Don’t give us any more of the bull puckey about bi-partisanship. That is so hokey and transparent no one buys into it anymore. Since when did a bunch of charlatans, such as those the Republicans have placed on the national stage, demonstrate any credibility. They are what they are; a bunch of radical zealots, most of whom have a marginal intellect, at best. All they have accomplished is stirring up the radical right and virtually holding your legislative agenda hostage. On the other hand, how are we to know that, in the final analysis, it was not so much a smoke screen as a way of enabling you to buy more time to collude with your “buddies“?
If you are serious about pulling us out of this depression, then permit me to make a few suggestions.
1. Tell Geithner and Summers to take a hike and crawl back to their siblings at Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, etc. and tell them to serve notice on those bandits that you are coming after them. Replace them with competent people who are squeaky clean and in whom the American people can have complete confidence.
2. Tell Bernanke that the Federal Reserve is going to be transparent and free of any secrecy in all its future endeavors. No more footsie with the sharks the Fed has been in bed with for decades.
3. Appoint an Economic Advisory Commission to advise you on all future economic programs for the purpose of restoring honesty, integrity, trust and competence to all economic institutions in this country.
a. The Commission should be chaired by Paul Volker.
b. The membership should include all of the following:
[1] Paul Krugman, Princeton University
[2] Joseph Stiglitz, Columbia University
[3] Nouriel Roubini, New York University
[4] James Galbraith, University of Texas
[5] Simon Johnson, MIT
[6] Robert Reich, University of California at Berkeley
c. This group should be riding shotgun over a new and more effective economic recovery program that will serve all Americans.
4. You should serve notice on the House Banking Committee and the Senate Finance Committee that you are appointing a commission to design a comprehensive program for the oversight and regulation of all aspects of banking carried out in the United States.
a. The Commission should be chaired by Eliot Spitzer. Yes, Eliot
Spitzer. Just because he was indiscriminate in his sexual habits
doesn’t mean he isn’t smart as hell and a person of professional
integrity. After all, William Jefferson Clinton had no problem in
burnishing his rather tarnished image. Why can’t Eliot Spitzer?
Let’s throw hypocrisy to the wind and concentrate on the best minds
around to get us out of this mess.
b. Elizabeth Warren is one bright woman and a person of impeccable character. Her knowledge, experience and education are vital to any
effort of this nature.
c. Andrew Cuomo, Attorney General for the State of New York.
d. Brooksley Born, formerly Chairwoman of the Commodities Exchange Commission, and one of the nations pre-eminent authorities on
derivates, graduated top in her class from the Stanford Law School.
She was marginalized and resigned because she dared to speak the
truth to the crooks in power. The price of being honest in an
otherwise sea of corruption, I suppose.
e. Give these people the authority to come up with a system of
oversight and regulation that will be the envy of the industrialized
world. You know full well they can do it.
5. Just for good measure, put Katherine Sabelius out to pasture and replace her with the more qualified and experienced Howard Dean. HHS is no place for politics these days.
6. Do your own strong-arming and politicking, and replace Rahm Emanuel with Jesse Jackson, Jr. He is smart, honest and a better fit for what your administration should represent to the nation.
You may choose to see this as nothing more than fodder for the shredder. On the other hand, it is past the time when you should get serious and do the job you were elected to do by ALL THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. It is in that spirit that I took the time and effort to write this.
Respectfully yours,
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
P.O. Box XXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
E-mail XXXXXXXXXXXXX
cc: Vice-President Joseph Biden
Senator Christopher Dodd, Chairman Senate Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
Senator Patrick Leahy, Chairman Senate Judiciary Committee
Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr., Member House Joint Economic Committee
Congressman Barney Frank, Chairman House Finance Committee
Congressman Anthony Weiner, House Committee on Judiciary
Congressman Alan Grayson, Member House Finance Committee
Congressman Dennis Kucinich, House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform
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