Dear Mr. President

Dear Mr. President,
I cannot help but write you a letter about the current status of our great nation, and the people that make up this "city on the hill." Over the past two years, I have seen this nation take a downward turn. Like many Americans, democrat, republican, libertarian, and green, I have been trying to determine what your game plan is for the America that I have grown up in, and grown to love. I would like to lay out a couple of questions based on promises that you made during your campaign to help me collect my thoughts.#1. On March 27, 2008, with the Democratic and Republican primary elections in full swing, you made the promise of complete transparency, and an offer to revolutionize the way that bills and packages are passed. You promised to offer three days of public viewing before bills are passed, as well as a "change" from the status quo in Washington. I have been amazed at your tact so far in putting this to use. So far, all packages and bills passed (with the exception of Executive Orders that are strictly done by you), none of the bills or packages have been posted for public viewing prior to vote. The largest spending, so called "stimulus" package ever to be brought to Congress was passed without one......NOT ONE......member of congress reading the package. In fact, you did not read the package. How can anyone blame them? The 1100 page stimulus and 800 page TARP II package were introduced and vote on within one day. With no transparency, pork from both parties, and no knowledge of what was actually in the bill, you made the situation sound dire, as if the government was going to stop functioning, and everything would go south. Then, with no republican votes, and 11 democrats voting against the package, you signed it into law. Now, we sit here, complaining about AIG, and the CEO bonuses that were given out with taxpayer money. You, D-Chris Dodd, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi come out to speak against the bonuses, and ask for NAMES, and say how disappointed you are with the Greed of these CEOs. You, Dodd, and Barney Frank then go on the defensive, and say that you never knew about the bonuses, and that it was part of the Bush Agenda. Then, reluctantly, you indicate that there was a part of the huge stimulus bill, written by Chris Dodd, that allowed the CEOs of AIG to take all contractual bonuses from before Feb. 11, 2009 (all of the bonuses handed out). Because you did not read your own huge stimulus bill, YOU allowed this to go through. You could have taken a stand and owned up to your campaign promise, but you didn't, in more ways than that. But, hey, The top two recipients of AIG campaign funds were Chris Dodd, followed closely by YOU, Mr. President. Wouldn't want to bite the hand that feeds you?#2. Throughout the campaign, you claimed that George W. Bush did not take care of our troops. You claimed that you would do everything in your power to help the troops, and get the care they deserve. The system of our Veterans Affairs system is in desparate need of repair, but your idea of repair is beyond reprehensible. Yesterday, you and Rahm Emmanuel, came out with a plan to save 400-500 million for the VA (supposedly) per year, by making our Wounded Warriors pay for their care out of their own pocket, and with private insurance. This is NOT the care I thought our troops deserved. Thirteen veterans groups came out actively against the proposal, and VA officials indicated that the plan should be thrown out. Reluctantly, you threw out the plan just five hours ago, due in large part because both the majority of Democrats and Republicans said it would not go through with any support. Good message to send though, right? You are willing to spend 900 million on repairing the Gaza Strip, a breeding ground for the very terrorists that wound our soldiers and our allies, but you wanted to make our troops pay their way after giving life and limb for their country? Oh, not to mention 30 BILLION dollars of your bailout went to funding FOREIGN BANKS. Our taxpayer money paying for foreign banks, and not our Wounded Veterans. Hmm?#3. You seem to be sending a very mixed message about numerous issues. You constanlty run on the campaign of civil rights, and owning up to help groups. But the reality is that you don't want to help these groups, because they will not need you. An example is gay marriage. The LGBT groups unanimously voted for you during the election, hoping for marriage, and benefits rights. You came out, along with Joe Biden and stated that you do NOT support gay marriage, but then you come out and say you will advocate for new rights. Which is it sir? You also said you were going to help out with immigration, and you have a speaker of the house that claims that illegals coming into the United States create jobs, and are patriotic. No matter what you can say, they broke the law to get here, they are collecting our citizens taxpayer money, in our country, and bail out at any sign on trouble. Tell the people going through the proper immigration and naturalization process about what is happening. They may feel a little, "jipped". WE ARE NOT A NATION OF VICTIMS, AND UNTIL THE GOVERNMENT REALIZES THIS, WE WILL PERPETUATE THE VERY MIND SET THAT GOT US HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE. Finally, you ran a campaign against the War in Iraq, indicating you wanted troops out in a year. I agree with your current plan to phase out troops, and leave a residual force, and I applaud you for taking that stance, but that wasn't what you were elected on. Now you are talking about going into Pakistan on a regular basis to take out targets, something that Bush didn't even touch. What is your stance? Please tell me, I may be pleasantly suprised, but I don't think your democratic friends will be.#4. Mr President, you have stated that you are throwing the "politics of fear" out the window, and replacing them with hope and change. However, I haven't been able to ignore the fact that you simply use fear mongering, just in a different way. To you, George Bush used the "politics of fear" to wage his war on terrorism. You claimed he used fear to keep the nation at war, and protect the United States for nearly eight years after 9/11. Now you use the politics of fear to wage a wars against America, and its ideals. You claim that we must spend more money, or the government will collapse. However, you throw in trillions of dollars of spending that DO NOT have any place in an economy such as this, and simply further the financial troubles of this country. You discuss the minority perspective that global warming is moving faster than ever (researchers say they only need one more year to prove it false), you want cap and trade, to limit greenhouse emissions, which would simple drive up prices for businesses and everyday americans. You have done enough. We are going to pay for all of this spending eventually, because we surely don't have the money now. What if China no longer takes on our debt? Have you ever thought about the fact that this isn't the time to raise the prices of everday commodoties for Americans. Instead of going out on a whim, and stating an agenda, please promise to take your time, and think things through? It would be a welcome change from your first three months.Finally, I still believe that you are getting a "pass" right now. America just went through 8 years of Bush Bashing, and endless rhetoric of how terrible he was. Now, all of a sudden, when you take on his national security policies (with the exception of GITMO), you are hailed, and hoisted up. You can fill out an NCAA bracket, while the nation falls apart, but nobody says a word. I, understand that the NCAA bracket really holds no significance, but let me ask you this; Do you think if Bush would have spent ten minutes filling out the bracket, people would be laughing, and discussing his Final Four? I am pretty sure it would be a media field day, talking about how Bush was "sleeping on the job", and ignoring the enormous problems facing our nation. Remember, when Bush stayed in a classroom for seven minutes after he was informed of 9/11, he was crucified. People did not say that it was necessary, as the Air Force, and Secret Service were weighing options on how to remove the President of the United States to his safe location in an effective and safe manner, or that Bush was trying to hold composure in one of the most trying instances in US history. I wonder if you pandering to the Mickey Mouse Club Media with your brackets, dog talk, and jovial jokes will last long. In my opinion, when they see that you are simply a talking head, with a teleprompter, and no truth to back up your statements, that glossy finish you hold onto so tightly will gradually slip away.