(It is with great hope that this letter reaches the person I voted for in 2008. I am not at all certain of his whereabouts, but the last address I had was 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW)
The Honorable Barack Obama,
With all due respect Mr. President, it is time to stop trying to win the hearts and minds of the Republican leadership. There are proposals afoot that would have been laughed at as the ravings of the lunatic fringe not so long ago. Your response has been to seek compromise and to work around the edges, instead of calling "Bu##sh##", and laying out a clear and strong counterpoint.
I applaud your instinct to seek bipartisan solutions to our problems. In the long run that is the only way to make real, lasting progress. But what you don't seem to understand is that the people in charge on the other side of the aisle right now are not interested at all in compromise and bipartisanship. To put it bluntly, they hate you. There is nothing you can do or say to change their minds or to convince them that working with you in any way might help the country move forward. So it's time to stop trying to get them on your side, even a little bit. Forget about trying to win over the minority of people in this country that reflexively scream "Socialism!" at every word you say. It's time to say to Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Paul Ryan, Michelle Bachmann and Rand Paul, "You are just dead wrong." It's time, Mr. President, to stand up for the millions and millions of people who voted for you. It's time, Mr. President, to remind us that you are on our side.
A to the Men
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