Hi guys!
Im a former intern for Obama and I wrote this letter telling his team to shape up.
I thought I'd post it here, where probably more people would end up reading it anyways. I think it might sum up the way a lot of us feel right now. Tell me what you think!
I will incorporate changes you suggest before I submit the final version.
Keep up the good work guys. ;-)
To whoever reads this in the Obama White House:
I was an intern on the presidents campaign. I worked over 100 hours per week for no pay. I went to 4 states for him, at my own expense, so I could knock on doors.
During the campaign all of us had serious discussions over whether we would take a bullet for Barrack Obama if some one attacked him. I said I would and I meant it. I still do.
But guys... the reason I'd take a bullet for Obama wasn't for him. It was because he was our country's only chance fix so many problems, like global warming, education and healthcare.
You in the Obama administration are taking people like me for granted. You seem to think we will support you and volunteer for you in the next election no matter what you do.
We won't.
You can't win in 2012 without our help, and you will lose seats in Congress in 2010 without our help.
We will NOT help you if you do not deliver on at least some of your promises. At the rate you are going, after one year in office, I will NOT volunteer on Obama's re-election campaign. You aren't worth the investment of my time and money anymore. You are not getting done what you promised to do. You need to change your behavior in order to get my support.
You aren't negotiating hard enough with the Republicans and the conservatives Dems. You aren't standing up to special interests like coal and the pharmaceuticals enough. And you certainly aren't dealing with Joe Lieberman.
During this whole year you could have invoked budget reconciliation at any time and passed a public option in the health bill with 51 votes. You chose not to. That was a choice. You made the calculation that you didn't need to keep your promise to us to fight for a public option, because you were afraid it'd be unpopular with Independent voters.
Sure Obama gives some inspiring speeches every now and then, but where are the specifics? You've had an ENTIRE YEAR. That is 1/4 of your entire presidency (possibly).
I expected you to have ordered and begun to build millions of wind turbines by now. I thought you were going to create Green Jobs and put people back to work by building a new energy infrastructure. You know? Like you PROMISED to do? Remember that?
You in the Obama administration have a chance to make a difference in the lives of everyone in America. Every single one of us are affected by your decisions. But you don't get points for trying. You need to get policy enacted and enforced.
Words aren't enough guys. You are holding back because you are afraid that you will lose political points if you take controversial positions, but you don't realize that holding back is actually political suicide.
Start invoking budget reconciliation. Start jamming things through even if all the Conservative Democrats aren't on board.
We, the legions of Obama supporters who elected you, the over 1 million people who gave you money and the hundreds of thousands who volunteered, we will not be there for you unless you start standing up and taking some risks.
YOU WILL LOSE CONTROL OF CONGRESS AND MAYBE EVEN LOSE RE-ELECTION IN 2012 IF YOU DON'T CHANGE YOUR BEHAVIOR.
Year one of the Obama presidency has been a disappointment, and if you don't start getting more accomplishments, we will all abandon you. Don't doubt that for one second.
-Will
PS
You are smart people, so I trust you know what your options are. But just so you clearly understand what I'm asking for, here are a few suggestions:
Keep your promise about "Green Jobs." Create jobs by investing huge amounts of money in building wind turbines, solar panels, light rail, a new more efficient energy grid, (no new coal plants, "clean" or otherwise). Put people to work!
This will win you a LOT of votes anyways, why on earth haven't you done this yet? Do not wait to make this part of a giant omnibus climate change bill, just pass it as a stand alone bill NOW. That way the jobs will be created in time to help Democrats in 2010.
I know there was some investment like this in the stimulus, but its not enough. I want you to make this investment, then just as importantly, I want you to invest a lot of time in propaganda about it. Make sure the public knows about it, dominate a few news cycles on your green jobs initiative. It will boost your popularity with jobless swing voters and your base, and by the way it will help the environment, the US economy and national security.
You should have created a giant Green Jobs program on your first day in office. You should have done it before healthcare (even though healthcare is very important) but do it NOW. Do it tomorrow. And don't do it as one single giant bill. Pass one small bill after another, just bring the bill up for a vote, vote on it quickly and move on.
If Republicans try to block green jobs bills, just attach them to the budget and use reconciliation. Spending on wind turbines is a budget issue anyways. As a matter of fact, you might want to skip right to budget reconciliation. We know the Republicans will attack everything you do, no matter what, so stop letting them waste our time.
The only way to win votes is to actually get stuff done. If you don't deliver, you will lose. Chew on that.