Mr. President –
I am troubled.
I am troubled by your words, and troubled by your actions.
I am troubled that you can both declare that our mission is accomplished, and then stress that our young men and women absolutely must remain at war.
I am troubled that you say that we must be strong, then do your best to make our people weak and fearful with your rhetoric.
I am troubled that you claim to be fighting for democracy and against totalitarian rule, yet condone torture.
I am troubled that, because of your failings, our nation is being crippled.
Consider Iraq. When you claimed an imminent threat, I believed you. When that threat dissolved after the invasion, I could have forgiven you for being wrong. When you lied to America and told us that you'd succeeded in deposing a dictator just as you'd meant to all along, I lost all respect for you. Was that your real reason? Was that a cover? We can't know, because your story keeps changing to avoid admitting failure, without realizing that this indecisive stall and switch is the true failure.
Consider America. Are we strong, or are we weak? Must we be courageous, or should we listen to your hammering message of fear, pounded out in cynical rhythm with your chief advisor's desperate need to keep your party in power? How is it that you can say we face the Hitler of our times, yet eschew Roosevelt's famous depression-era admonition that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself?" The President who led us to victory against Hitler certainly did not agree with your approach. Allow me to include the entire first paragraph of this great President's inaugural address:
"I am certain that my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our people impel. This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days."
Have you read and truly considered these words? Have you considered the strength it would represent to have actual convictions, stand by them, and trust that the value of those convictions and of your actions would be enough to earn the people's faith?
I do not appreciate what you are doing to our country. I do not appreciate that you exhibit such a crude failure of good citizenship that you believe that sidestepping the Constitution can save our nation. I am troubled that you do not understand that the spirit and ideals of our nation are the United States. It is not just a matter of protecting our physical borders, or making sure we have enough fuel. You are failing in these tasks, too, but fundamentally, you fail because you sell our ideals, and you sell them cheaply.
This is not simply a matter of disagreement. I have disagreed with every President before you, in one way or another. I disagreed with your father on many issues, but at the end of the day, I still respect him.
I cannot respect you. You send our troops to die, tell our people to cower, and throw away the spirit of our nation, and I do not understand why.
(Mailed and emailed today.)