A Letter To Michael Moore

[RBInMaine]

(I have sent this letter to Mr. Moore. Thought I'd share.)

Dear Mr. Moore,

We agree in a number of areas and disagree in some. I admire your guts and candor in general, but there are times when I think you go overboard. Saying you are more depressed with Pres. Obama and Democrats (because they haven't done enough) than you were with Bush/Cheney is such a case. Michael, if you are so depressed, then make like Al Franken and run for elective office yourself. Meantime, please allow me to refresh your memory on a number of points.

The Democratic House has passed hundreds of good bills. Your depression really rests with the Senate and its knot-tying rules being abused by the R's. The Dems also have a far more diverse caucus than the R's in this big regional nation, and they always have. Please understand the nation better. This is nothing new. It is harder to get such a diverse caucus to come together on many of the big sticky issues such as healthcare which is our stickiest and perhaps most complex. However, you must give the President and Democrats credit for trying and getting closer to getting something comprehensive passed, no thanks to the Republicans, than any President and Congress in 100 years. Yes, the bill is far from perfect. If we had he kind of national movement needed for single payer we'd have that. But we just don't. But this bill does do some needed insurance practices reform, gets millions more covered, and reduces the debt over time. It is a start. It is something. And we need to do SOMETHING. Doing nothing is not an option, and the options are limited given having to get so many diverse people to come together on something. We NEED to pass the bill and then work to improvement it over time. We need to start somewhere. Too many people are dying not to do so. Alan Grayson, Bernie Sanders, Sherrod Brown, Al Franken, Howard Dean, and many other progressives support it as a start. You should too.

The bank bailout totally sucked, but it was better than the next Great Depression. Little choice there. It's being repaid, and new banking regulations are pending in Congress. A bill is coming.

Iraq is winding down, and Pres. Obama did exactly what he said he would on Afghanistan. He wishes he had not inherited either problem, but he did and he is doing what he said he would and wants it all to end as soon as reasonably possible. End of story.

Thanks to Pres. Obama and the Dems, hundreds of thousands of teachers, firefighters, cops, construction workers, etc. are on the job, as well as plenty in the private sector including in the green energy sector. More is coming. This recession could have been much worse.

Thanks to Pres. Obama and Dems, hundreds of thousands more kids have healthcare, women have equal pay for equal work, stem cell science is moving ahead, and there are fewer restrictions on choice.

Thanks to Pres. Obama and Dems, the don't ask don't tell rule is on the way out.

I saw Obama speak during the campaign. I saw his inaugural speech. He said it would take YEARS to fix these huge problems. He inherited the biggest mess since the Great Depression. It won't be fixed overnight.

Do I have disappointments too? Sure. Dems need to get more united, clearer in their messaging, and MUCH tougher on the Republicans, and Senate rules need to be reformed. But c'mon, you're feeling worse than the darkest days of Bush/Cheney? Buck up partner. If it's that bad, run for office yourself. You have plenty of name recognition and money. Go ahead. You can't just point out problems with your movies and rhetoric, and you can not crawl under a rock in despair and quit. You need to organize. You need to step up yourself and run for office.

PS: You once called Bill Clinton our best "Republican" President. Clinton won two elections and left office even after a sex scandal and a relentless right wing assault with a 60+% job approval.