Dear President Obama,

[cali]

I'll dispense with the usual bromides, and get straight to my point: Cutting deficits on the backs of the poor and working poor while asking nothing of the wealthy and the corporate sector, is not shared sacrifice. It's shockingly unfair and callous. It's Reaganesque in the ketchup mode.

In fact, the shared sacrifice cant, is cruel and callous anyway one looks at it. The poor suffer enough- and not just physically or socially, but psychologically. The anxiety attendant upon those living in poverty and those just scraping by is constant and deeply wearing. Worrying about enough food, about heat, about the car breaking down or the danger in the community you live in, is profoundly debilitating.

You have asked NOTHING, not one red cent from the most privileged in our society. In fact, you've tossed them bouquets- extensions of the bush tax cuts, an inheritance tax "compromise"

With your background as a Community organizer in Chicago's South side, you know the vital importance of Community Action Agencies, and yet you propose deep cuts in funding for them. You should know of the vital importance of LIHEAP, particularly to those in the NE, who are so reliant on Oil to heat their homes. And yet, these are the deepest cuts you're proposing, according to many accounts. High speed rail is a nice thing, but $55 billion for that project whilst slashing programs to the poor? I find that heartbreaking. And despicable. And what about the military budget? Waste there is legendary.

I can promise you this: There will be push back. I suspect you know this, and that much of this is merely cynical bid to win the so called independent vote. But in the end, it doesn't really matter why you're proposing that the poor and working poor and those on the edge, take the brunt of budget cuts, it matters that you're doing so.

It makes me heartsick.

[Bonobo]

1. I guess we have learned that you don't reach the top by pissing off the power players.

End of story.

Editor of Harvard Law Review... Get there by bucking trends and pissing off the entrenched power elite?? I don't think so...
One of the youngest Senators? Same thing...
President... with a dark complexion and the middle name "Hussein"? .... All the more so. You HAVE to be playing the game the way they want you to play it.

What the hell was I thinking?

[Skip_In_Boulder]

2. "What the hell was I thinking?"

Well, it was a grand thought will it lasted but alas it is coming to an end.

[readmoreoften]

24. I'm just glad you were able to come to your senses.

Miscalculating is no big deal. But you see what's become of the people who are committed to defending this lie. They've stood up for everything we've fought against for a decade now: torture, war, social safety net destruction, private accumulation of our public infrastructure.

There's no excuse.

[whathehell]

3. Great letter....I would send it to the WH...It can't hurt. n/t

[cali]

5. Thanks. And yes, I'm planning to write it out and send

it.

[emilyg]

22. Good.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

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[vi5]

6. No, there won't be pushback...

Because the same chorus will continually tout "The republicans will be worse!!! PRESIDENT PALIN!!! PRESIDENT HUCKABEEEE!!!!" and all involved will think that is enough, and sadly all of us (myself included) will be manipulated and suckered by this logic. Obama knows it. His staff knows it. The DNC knows it. And most elected Democrats (the majority of whom 25 years ago would have been "moderate Republicans") know this. Which is why the entire party will continue tacking right and following the money. And why we'll all pay the price.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

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[cali]

8. You're wrong. There's already pushback

Senator Kerry. Expect Senators and many reps of both parties from all the New England States to push back hard on the cuts to LIHEAP.

[TBF]

10. Any chance Kerry will run? nt

[cali]

12. No.

[vi5]

16. Kerry isn't "centrist" enough.

I know. Hysterical, isn't it? But the fact is that Kerry is viewed by the beltway insider village media as a "liberal" (THE MOST LIBERAL MEMBER OF TEH SENATE!!!!!!). So Obama would never listen to someone whose wisdom is not considered sufficiently bipartisan or centrist to win the approval of David Broder and Richard Cohen by listening to what he has to say.

[TBF]

17. Then we should all give up and kill ourselves, right? Sorry, I'm tired of this crap.

The democrats can wake up and meet the needs of the people, or they are destined to be a very bad caricature of the republican party. Sooner or later someone will rise up to defend labor, and when they do this party will be history. Most of the people in this country are very poor and no one is currently representing them. I can't possibly be the only one to notice that.

[vi5]

20. I notice it....

The problem is the people have been numbed. What's the old saying...."bread and circuses"? We've become a short sighted, selfish country. So people just look out for their own best interests and refuse to see the big picture. They say "Oh well, I'm not in a union so I don't care. And I don't want them getting my taxpayer money." They don't realize that the rights that labor fights for end up extending to the whole country.

I've never been in a union in my life and you won't find a more staunchly pro labor person than I am. The Democratic party's abandonment of labor is the single most disheartening thing in a couple of years of consistent and regular disheartening actions to me.

[Ghost in the Machine]

9. I disagree with you a lot of times, but this is spot on.. I gave it a hearty REC! n/t

[cali]

11. thanks.

I wish I didn't feel the need to write it.

[Vinca]

13. I find it amusing the POTUS was breast beating at the prayer breakfast,

then mandating certain death for poor Americans who cannot afford heating oil. (Amusing in a sick and warped sense . . . no laughter here.)

[cali]

14. I missed that. thankfully.

I try not to pay attention to that shit.

[tomp]

21. that point would fit very nicely in your excellent letter, though.

you might think about adding it to emphasize obama's pathological hypocrisy.

[Overseas]

15. K&R. I agree. //nt

[merbex]

18. It is another example of his cynicism and his focus on '12 campaign

Because as you noted this decision does affect the Northeast predominantly and how does the northeast usually vote?

It is the same way he treats progressives/liberals...taking them for granted and using them as a whipping post to impress the people who will not vote for him anyway.

I have a lot of frustration toward people who call themselves progressives who are not willing to stand up and call out these despicable decisions just because it is Obama who makes them

[HughBeaumont]

19. Yep.

Absolutely NOTHING is asked of the rich. Not one goddamned thing. Not ONE sacrifice. Their precious lives cannot and will not be harmed in any way. Disgraceful.

[DearAbby]

23. +1

[sad sally]

25. cali - your thoughtful words are an inspiration.

Bet many of us (me included) will also let the President know how disheartening the policies we see coming from his office are. Silence gives consent...

[pa28]

26. Pawn sacrifice.

They could ramp up enforcement on illegal tax havens or audit high end earners to make up the revenue. But, no. This would be a purely political act to show that Obama is one of the "very serious people" who must have austerity as item number one on the agenda.

The funny thing is that voter's memories are short and this maneuver would be the deciding factor for nobody in 2012. The only people who will remember will be those on the edge who were finally pushed over. They'll join the ranks of invisible, non-contributing, outside the bubble statistics.

[orleans]

27. dear cali

no offense but he doesn't care that you're heartsick

he doesn't care because look what he's doing.

he doesn't care.