AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA ON THE HEALTH PLAN FROM AN ARDENT SUPPORTER

Dear President Obama,

We live in a nation where a woman can run for one of our highest office with little understanding of geography and can quit a governorship midstream and yet she can sell a million copies of her book and get a job with the FOX network;

where an actor acting as a commentator can garnish incredible publicity by stating that the people of an island devastated by an earthquake deserve no money from us at all ("We already give them aid. It's called taxes.");

where a former president can bring us to our knees and a year later what he did is no longer remembered.

Dear Mr. President,

I am an ardent supporter of you and I am an ardent supporter of a universal health plan. I support the health program because I have seen firsthand how our health system built on greed and a lack of compassion destroys the human spirit. I support it for personal reasons and reasons that have nothing to do with me. Nonetheless, I understand when enough is enough.

Last night when Republican Scott Brown won the Senate seat in Massachusetts--a state that has now turned its back on the great liberal legacy of Teddy Kennedy just a few months after his death--I believe the message is clear.

I wrote you this letter to include this speech:

My fellow Americans,I am honored to come before you this night and talk about universal health care. When I made the pledge to give every American a choice to be healthy, to have insurance even when they have preconditions or lack the financial means to purchase health insurance, to make sure each American was able to get the care they needed because we are a great country made even greater when we all have access to quality healthcare, I did not believe the power of money could misrepresent facts and issues as effectively as it did. I did not believe the lobbyists who fought against this bill would do so out of greed and a lack of compassion. I thought strongly that our country could get around its divisive ideologies and work for an issue that is in the best interest of all Americans--economically, emotionally and compassionately.

I've been in office a little over a year. During that time I have passed legislation on ninety-one promises out of about five hundred that I made on the campaign trail. There are many other issues before us. A lack of viable jobs. The misuse of TARP funds. Large bonuses for banks paid from government monies. A war in Afghanistan. A souring impatience that a job can be done overnight correctly when many good things and ideas need time. The health bill will have to be one promise I can't keep.

I have spent a lot of time on the health bill. I have spent a lot of energy and strength on what I believe in. Now its time to move on. If a health bill is to come, it will have to come from within the Congress--a Congress that cares more about the people of this country. I may not agree with the bill in its entirety, but I will sign it if it is a good bill.

As your president, I have said a great many things and I have tried to make this nation a greater force--a force for the good of the world--and a force to be contended with at home.

I have 407 more promises to keep. A few have already failed on the first attempt. I will not give up. I just hope when I walk away from this speech, all of us--me included--will take a look around and reflect on how our nation in the grips of a grave economic downturn can continue to allow medical debts and a lack of quality care for everyone to continue.

We did not win World War ll in a year. We did not cure polio in a year. We did not land the first man in space in a year. But we did win the war, we did find the cure and we did succeed at landing on the moon. We will succeed at making this a better nation--a nation where everyone who wants to work can and where everyone who needs access to quality care can get it.

Today I ask for your patience. Today I ask for your help. Today I ask that we put aside our differences and come together because we are more alike than we are different and that's because first and foremost we are Americans and proud to be Americans.

Thank you.

Dear Mr. President,

As one of your most ardent supporters, I want to thank you for trying.

Michael H. Brownstein

George Bush Gives A Lesson to Conservatives, Republicans and Rush Limbaughs

Click here to see the video of former President George Bush who is proud to work for President Obama.

Listen to what he has to say.

And. please, all of you Rush Limbaughs out there--please realize how whne we work together, we solve the problems before us.

Obama's First Year--Keeping Campaign Promises

Obama made five hundred campaign promises and 91 have come to pass successfully.

"LIASSON: Well, Barack Obama is a president who came into office facing a huge set of unprecedented problems - a collapsing financial system, the worst recession since the Great Depression, two wars. And on top of all the things he had to do, the crises and the emergencies, he also had an incredibly ambitious agenda of his own: health care, energy, financial re-regulation. And now that we're at the end of this year, he passed a lot of it."

"RAZ: Mara, recently, Congressional Quarterly, the nonpartisan publication, did a study looking at President Obama's first year. It concluded that he was more successful in getting more legislation passed in his first year than any other president since World War II. It seems pretty significant. "

The above quotes come from an NPR interview. Click here to read it.

And here is another article:

Tracking Obama's Campaign Promises: 91 Kept So Far by Jae C. Hong/AP--

"Since taking the oath of office on Jan. 20, 2009, President Obama has kept dozens of his campaign promises, but has delayed action on many others.

"While on the campaign trail, Barack Obama made hundreds of promises. And throughout the president's first year in office, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Web site PolitiFact has tracked each one of those commitments.

"Just before Obama took office, PolitiFact combed through campaign documents, speeches and debate transcripts to see what promises he had made. They found more than 500 individual promises and put each of them into a database to be monitored closely.

"They found 91 promises have been fulfilled, 33 compromised on, 87 stalled and 14 broken. The remaining promises are designated as being "in the works."

Obama--the hardest working president since--I don't know--ever.

More on Obama, Haiti and Rush Limbaugh

Isn't it curious that Obama has "...tasked Bush, along with fellow former President Bill Clinton, to lead the private fundraising efforts to help Haiti and its people recover."

Even though "George W. Bush paid a huge price when America watched, in horror, as New Orleans was drowning and governments at all levels were slow to respond."

Both of the above quotes come from BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writer, Analysis: Obama heeding lessons of Katrina.

And why Bush?

To quote more of the article: "'This is a time when the world looks to us,' Obama told House Democrats on Thursday. 'And they say, given our capacity, given our unique capacity to project power around the world, that we have to project that not just for our own interests but for the interests of the world.'"

And: "The world is watching because of the expectations that come with being a rich, powerful democracy that is supposed to look out for its neighbors.

"And because the stain of Katrina is not gone.

"'This is one of those moments that calls out for American leadership,' said Obama..."

But, Rush Limbaugh, I'm taken in by the fact that he asked for Bush's help and Bush offered to help.

Right now you have made the Republicans look like Katrina was just another example of what Republicans are--nothing but selfish individuals who care nothing for what happens to the people it affected.

And don't forget it was under your president that Haiti received major aid.

Obama, Haiti, and Rush Limbaugh.

I'm glad my government has a clue--when the terrible earthquake hit Haiti killing thousands and doing great damage, I thought back to Katrina--and how it took our president--Bush that is--to figure out anything was wrong. I thought about 9/11 and how Bush continued to speak to school children.

A terrorist is on a plane that took off from somewhere else and, yes, our intelligence let us down. Again. Just as it did in Iraq with Bush and parts of Africa under Bush and even in Katrina under Bush. Unlike Bush, Obama was able to take the blame--even though the man boarded a plane outside of our country and went through a number of security checks outside of our country.

Rush Limbaugh--you're an idiot.

Pat Robertson--you're an idiot.

Obama's response was not for the African-American, it was for all of us who have pride in how our nation can react quickly and smoothly to make this world a better place.

Obama, I'm proud of you.

Obama and Banks

Obama has proposed a tax on the richest banks--and why not.

Let's start by looking at the compensation of one of the bailed-out banks--Citicorp:

Citigroup Inc filed the compensation data below on 3/13/2008:

Sir Winfried Bischoff Chairman--373,734--base salary, 1,950,000--bonus salary, 6,130,390--total compensation

Vikram Pandit CEO 250,000--base salary, 573,813--total compensation

Gary Crittenden
Chief Financial Officer--403,410 base salary, 14,030,000 bonus salary, 19,369,506--total compensation

Sallie Krawcheck Chair and CEO—GWM--500,000 base salary, 5,820,000 bonus salary, 9,918,267 total compensation

Lewis Kaden Vice Chairman--500,000 base salary, 4,000,000 bonus salary, 6,771,307 total compensation

Michael Klein CEO—Global Banking--212,500 base salary, 5,500,000 bonus salary, 7,861,438 total compensation

*The above executive compensation data is an excerpt from the proxy statement filed for
Citigroup Inc on 3/13/2008

I can go on and on. One of the CEO's from Citicorp made 13,000,000 dollars. See the complete chart here.

So why should we not make the banks the Republicans bailed out with the TARP funds--including Citi Bank above--pay for the havoc they put America in. Their greed and their continued greed does not have our best interests in mind at all. Maybe now they will realize it's not always only about profit, but about doing the right thing.

Under the Republicans they used the money for large bonuses--not for lending money out to help businesses prosper during hard times.

If we stole even a thousand dollars from the federal government, we would be in jail. I feel the bonuses they gave themselves are the same as stealing--and yes, they continue to steal by granting themselves even bigger bonuses.

Why purchase a copy when you can have the original?

“'To a certain extent, he’s our version of Obama — the tall, lanky, good-looking, well-spoken senator' is how a former top {Republican} party official put it."--Jonathan Martin, Daschle-dashing Thune in 2012 mix – Wed Jan 13

I have only one question: If you need a version of Obama and you already have an Obama in office, then why do you need a copy?

That's about as silly as a vegetarian ordering a dish made of soy because it has the taste of turkey. If you want to eat turkey, eat turkey.

If you want the original, go for the original.

If you want a version of Obama, then go with Obama.