In the middle of August, I got one shot off to the president saying that I am getting ticked off that he is negotiating with people who want to do him in. If President Obama’s knees buckle on Wednesday night, it will have more dire ramifications than just this health bill.
I don’t know if a letter like this gets to him or somebody in the room helping with the speech, but I can hope.
Mr. President,
We need to see your teeth Wednesday night. I want to know that there is some steel behind the cool façade. This summer the message has been taken from you. You need to take it back, strongly.
I want the low growl that says we are going to get this done. I want to hear an attitude that says, “Any Democrat stepping out of line at this point is done. Not because I say so, but because every person who worked for me last year will be ticked off. Do you seriously think any volunteer will work for you next year if this opportunity is squandered?”
Look straight at the Congress and continue with, “You were sent here to do a job. So am I. Many of you are here because of me. You were swept into office because of change. Those of you Democrats who have multiple terms benefited from last year’s campaign. You are to put it on the line and get the public option done.” (Although, I would rather you go for the whole enchilada and say single payer here.)
“The entire country is looking at us. We have the votes. If you fail this mission, they will look at the Democratic Party and rightfully say, ‘There is no discipline there to get anything done. We have pie-in-the-sky ideas, but no backbone to see it to a reality.’”
We need to stick together. If the Republicans want to continue with their current strategy, then fine. Mr. President, you can’t control them. Hell, they can’t control themselves. You are teaching pigs to sing. Everybody is getting more and more irritated.
That irritation will result in apathy greater than what existed in the middle part of this decade when the Republicans took complete control of this country and ran it into a ditch.
Cool ain’t gonna cut it now.
There are times for changes in timbre and tone. It doesn’t have to be forever, one night will do. We, the people who got you there, need to know it is in there. After all the garbage that has been thrown at you, yes, you are allowed to get mad. You need to get mad on the behalf of those who can’t speak or buy their very own Congresspeople.
Michael Dukakis lost his bid to sit where you are now because he didn’t get mad at the right time. He tried to seriously answer a foolish question and got laughed out of the debate. You have, thankfully, gotten much further than him.
You have the numbers. You still have our hope. We need to know you can bring the hammers. Now is the time for hope to become reality.
The alternative is unthinkable.
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