I was so pleased when you won, even though I did not vote for you. I marched with Martin Luther King in the summer of 1963, and my favorite boss in Vietnam was a black buck sergeant who helped us go to sleep by playing his guitar and singing the blues. It’s about time, I thought. I definitely have been giving you the benefit of the doubt. Anyone who sang “We Shall Overcome” has to be proud that you are our President now.
I am very disappointed, so I am going to tell you what makes me so proud to be an American, and, because I think you need to hear about my America, I’m going to tell you something personal about my family, and I’m also going to invite thousands of others to try to explain to you why we love America, an America you do not seem to understand.
If enough Americans are willing to tell you their story, you may start to get it, you may be able to see where you are going wrong. You have over three years left to be our President. What a waste it would be if you just helped turn this country into a bitterly divided land like we were before your hero, Abe Lincoln, was able to start bringing us back together.
Americans love underdogs because so many of us came from nothing to build this great country of ours. We even love underdog horses like Sea Biscuit.
You are an underdog. America yearns to love you too, but I think you may be messing up because you may not really understand what America is all about.
If you are really interested in bringing us all together, maybe you can listen to the thousands who may heed my suggestion to get in touch with you, and tell you their story, how they succeeded because of their will, and without any government help.
In the interest of brevity, I’ll just tell you about two of my grandparents. My Mother’s Dad came here from Poland when he was 12. He went to work in his older brother’s clothing store. He had no childhood to speak of, he had to work so hard. My Father’s Mom was the oldest back in Europe, and, to help pay for their passage here; her parents had to sell her to inn keepers for two years before she turned 13. She also had no childhood. My Dad was her first child, and he had to quit school before he entered 9th grade to help support our family.
In spite of these modest beginnings, my family has prospered. None of our success has been given to us by the government. We have earned it through thick and thin.
We are of course thankful that we live in a country where there is religious freedom, freedom of speech and all that, but I want you to know that we need to remain a land of opportunity where we don’t count on the government to solve all our problems.
My family, which traces our roots from barely literate pre teen immigrants, has accomplished many great things without any government help. We have excelled at some of our best universities. We have served in WWII and Vietnam. We have built tens of thousands of homes, served hundreds of clients, produced popular TV shows and successful films, fixed gas and water pipes in our cities, designed clothing, worked with disadvantaged kids, and helped endow many fine schools, all without any help from the government, and all because we were left alone to do our best and to contribute to society.
I really want to make your life more difficult, which is why I think more of us need to tell you about our families’ stories.
We don’t want the government to save us, President Obama, we just want you to understand who we are.
But, can someone please tell me what “wee-wee’d up” means? I’ve never heard that expression. I know the baby-talk verb: “Wanna go wee-wee?” I suspect it can also be a noun- I’ll forgo examples as this is a family blog. But “wee-wee’d up?” Was that TOTUS having fun?
Possibly, because members of Congress head home in August, “wee wee” is a lunkheaded reference to the fifth little piggy, the one who went “Wee! Wee! Wee! All the way home!”
@Barbara –
Hi Barbara. I wrote late at night when I was tired, so please feel free to edit it before someone figures out how to forward it to P O’B. I’ve read it over this AM several times, and have yet to find any reference to “we-weed up.”
What do you and others think of the idea of thousands sending our new young President letters like this, of course with copies kept here or some other convenient internet place for the record?
It might make for some interesting reading, kind of an articulate and very peaceful town hall, OK?
This is all I’ve found, and it doesn’t make much sense unless he was saying that people in Congress would have too much to drink and decide to pass “his” bill.
I’m working on the assumption that Ø is substituting the nursey term for the equivalent vulgarism, in the great tradition of GHWB’s “deep doo-doo.”
The surprising thing is not that President Obama said it, it’s that a highly paid professional wordsmith with nothing else to do typed it into the teleprompter system.
@Barbara – I think the source of the recent tremors can now be identified – it’s the rapidly spinning remains of anyone who ever in their life strung words together in a sentence.
Comments 15
How to be a Truly Great Leader.
August 20th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
Dear President Obama:
I was so pleased when you won, even though I did not vote for you. I marched with Martin Luther King in the summer of 1963, and my favorite boss in Vietnam was a black buck sergeant who helped us go to sleep by playing his guitar and singing the blues. It’s about time, I thought. I definitely have been giving you the benefit of the doubt. Anyone who sang “We Shall Overcome” has to be proud that you are our President now.
I am very disappointed, so I am going to tell you what makes me so proud to be an American, and, because I think you need to hear about my America, I’m going to tell you something personal about my family, and I’m also going to invite thousands of others to try to explain to you why we love America, an America you do not seem to understand.
If enough Americans are willing to tell you their story, you may start to get it, you may be able to see where you are going wrong. You have over three years left to be our President. What a waste it would be if you just helped turn this country into a bitterly divided land like we were before your hero, Abe Lincoln, was able to start bringing us back together.
Americans love underdogs because so many of us came from nothing to build this great country of ours. We even love underdog horses like Sea Biscuit.
You are an underdog. America yearns to love you too, but I think you may be messing up because you may not really understand what America is all about.
If you are really interested in bringing us all together, maybe you can listen to the thousands who may heed my suggestion to get in touch with you, and tell you their story, how they succeeded because of their will, and without any government help.
In the interest of brevity, I’ll just tell you about two of my grandparents. My Mother’s Dad came here from Poland when he was 12. He went to work in his older brother’s clothing store. He had no childhood to speak of, he had to work so hard. My Father’s Mom was the oldest back in Europe, and, to help pay for their passage here; her parents had to sell her to inn keepers for two years before she turned 13. She also had no childhood. My Dad was her first child, and he had to quit school before he entered 9th grade to help support our family.
In spite of these modest beginnings, my family has prospered. None of our success has been given to us by the government. We have earned it through thick and thin.
We are of course thankful that we live in a country where there is religious freedom, freedom of speech and all that, but I want you to know that we need to remain a land of opportunity where we don’t count on the government to solve all our problems.
My family, which traces our roots from barely literate pre teen immigrants, has accomplished many great things without any government help. We have excelled at some of our best universities. We have served in WWII and Vietnam. We have built tens of thousands of homes, served hundreds of clients, produced popular TV shows and successful films, fixed gas and water pipes in our cities, designed clothing, worked with disadvantaged kids, and helped endow many fine schools, all without any help from the government, and all because we were left alone to do our best and to contribute to society.
I really want to make your life more difficult, which is why I think more of us need to tell you about our families’ stories.
We don’t want the government to save us, President Obama, we just want you to understand who we are.
OK?
August 20th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
bravo, Z, bravo.
August 20th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
@fuster – You are cordially invited to a Chicago BBQ.
Just let me know what you prefer:
-A marmalade chicken
-Bison al Zolt
August 20th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
Nice, Zoltan.
Over O’s head.
Steven from Indiana
August 20th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
Very nice letter, Zoltan; but I think you would have more chance of being understood if you had addressed it to Steven’s mule, which looks attentive.
Short of going down to Washington with a two by four I don’t see you getting the President’s attention.
August 21st, 2009 at 1:53 am
A marvelous message, Zoltan, whether Obama gets it or not.
August 21st, 2009 at 5:49 am
Great letter, Zoltan.
But, can someone please tell me what “wee-wee’d up” means? I’ve never heard that expression. I know the baby-talk verb: “Wanna go wee-wee?” I suspect it can also be a noun- I’ll forgo examples as this is a family blog. But “wee-wee’d up?” Was that TOTUS having fun?
August 21st, 2009 at 6:46 am
Possibly, because members of Congress head home in August, “wee wee” is a lunkheaded reference to the fifth little piggy, the one who went “Wee! Wee! Wee! All the way home!”
August 21st, 2009 at 7:22 am
Far be it from me to question the grammar of The Greatest Orator Since Cicero, but “wee-wee’d up?”
August 21st, 2009 at 8:13 am
@Barbara –
Hi Barbara. I wrote late at night when I was tired, so please feel free to edit it before someone figures out how to forward it to P O’B. I’ve read it over this AM several times, and have yet to find any reference to “we-weed up.”
What do you and others think of the idea of thousands sending our new young President letters like this, of course with copies kept here or some other convenient internet place for the record?
It might make for some interesting reading, kind of an articulate and very peaceful town hall, OK?
August 21st, 2009 at 9:00 am
Ok, pardon moi slowness.
It might mean pissed off.
August 21st, 2009 at 9:12 am
This is all I’ve found, and it doesn’t make much sense unless he was saying that people in Congress would have too much to drink and decide to pass “his” bill.
I’m working on the assumption that Ø is substituting the nursey term for the equivalent vulgarism, in the great tradition of GHWB’s “deep doo-doo.”
August 21st, 2009 at 10:06 am
The surprising thing is not that President Obama said it, it’s that a highly paid professional wordsmith with nothing else to do typed it into the teleprompter system.
August 21st, 2009 at 10:27 am
@Barbara – I think the source of the recent tremors can now be identified – it’s the rapidly spinning remains of anyone who ever in their life strung words together in a sentence.
August 21st, 2009 at 1:04 pm