Dear Senator,
I bid you well. I pray all is fine with you.
Even I have begin to suspect that I've done the wrong thing by beginning at the end of a series. Forgive me if I've created something that seems confusing.
I don't know if you've noticed the political signs posted along the roads in New Hampshire. I know you were here recently; you spoke at Mack's Apples, a capital place, over in Londonderry (that town holds a very special position in my heart). Maybe while you were in the Granite State you spotted the signs posted in support of your and John McCain's respective candidacies. I take you for an astute observer; surely you noticed that there is not a single sign from the Republican committee or the McCain campaign critical of you. Did you notice that? Not a single sign. Where I live, in the Monadnock corner of New Hampshire, there is an incredible Democratic presence here; you have many fine supporters. But there is not a street or traffic island whereon one does not see this sign: John McSame: Voted With Bush 90% of the Time! Unfortunately, I can't depict the sign as accurately as I would like here; but I know you know that the -Cain in John McCain is crossed out and a -Same is super-imposed. It's an effective sign, no doubt, but it is essentially negative.
You have repeatedly promised that you would be above the fray, that you would not sink to partisan, divisive, negative and base politics. But you have not even remotely kept your promise. Your campaign is rife with negative rhetoric; there has been nary a day wherein you have not tossed some negative bomb at John McCain. Worst of all was your rhetorical preemptive strike launched his way when you rather cunningly told your listeners that they would begin to hear from the Republican nominee that you would be untrustworthy because you were different, with a funny name, and that you did not look like those who adorned the American currency. This race-baiting, race-laden insinuation was not only petty and gauche, it was thoroughly old-school: your words and actions prove you are not new. (And John McCain NEVER did what you suggested.)
In the most recent ad produced by your campaign and approved by you, a most desperate ad if there ever was one, you charge John McCain of lifting Sen. Biden's now infamous words out of context. Those comments, begun by Mr. Biden with "mark my words," were issued as a warning that your supporters, should you win, would have to hang faithful because you would be challenged by a "generated" international crisis and you would react unpredictably. But only a fool would make the assertion John McCain mishandled Sen. Biden's words; only a fool would believe you. But the most audacious and foolish thing I've seen you do in recent months is to then say in the ad that "This is what Joe Biden REALLY said." Why is this audacious? Why is this foolish? Because it is you who has taken YOUR OWN RUNNING MATE'S words out of context! John McCain did indeed contextualize them; you, however, realizing the damage your OWN colleague's remarks would have on your White House bid, chose to create an utterly false impression from a mere fragment of what Joe Biden said. This, Sen. Obama, is bush-league politics par excellence. There is nothing new here.
You have promised to escalate the war in Afghanistan. You have begun to modify your "exit strategy" out of Iraq in such a way that it's beginning to sound like the exit strategy currently in play; you voted for renewing the Patriot Act (though partly modified) and FISA, you have accepted and even augmented President Bush's faith-based initiatives. Hence, would it not be fair -- and do forgive me -- to call you Barack TheSame Obama? Change we can believe in, Senator? Really?
Yesterday I heard a soundbite from one of your stump speeches. This is what you said in your "Closing Argument" speech:
I bid you well. I pray all is fine with you.
Even I have begin to suspect that I've done the wrong thing by beginning at the end of a series. Forgive me if I've created something that seems confusing.
I don't know if you've noticed the political signs posted along the roads in New Hampshire. I know you were here recently; you spoke at Mack's Apples, a capital place, over in Londonderry (that town holds a very special position in my heart). Maybe while you were in the Granite State you spotted the signs posted in support of your and John McCain's respective candidacies. I take you for an astute observer; surely you noticed that there is not a single sign from the Republican committee or the McCain campaign critical of you. Did you notice that? Not a single sign. Where I live, in the Monadnock corner of New Hampshire, there is an incredible Democratic presence here; you have many fine supporters. But there is not a street or traffic island whereon one does not see this sign: John McSame: Voted With Bush 90% of the Time! Unfortunately, I can't depict the sign as accurately as I would like here; but I know you know that the -Cain in John McCain is crossed out and a -Same is super-imposed. It's an effective sign, no doubt, but it is essentially negative.
You have repeatedly promised that you would be above the fray, that you would not sink to partisan, divisive, negative and base politics. But you have not even remotely kept your promise. Your campaign is rife with negative rhetoric; there has been nary a day wherein you have not tossed some negative bomb at John McCain. Worst of all was your rhetorical preemptive strike launched his way when you rather cunningly told your listeners that they would begin to hear from the Republican nominee that you would be untrustworthy because you were different, with a funny name, and that you did not look like those who adorned the American currency. This race-baiting, race-laden insinuation was not only petty and gauche, it was thoroughly old-school: your words and actions prove you are not new. (And John McCain NEVER did what you suggested.)
In the most recent ad produced by your campaign and approved by you, a most desperate ad if there ever was one, you charge John McCain of lifting Sen. Biden's now infamous words out of context. Those comments, begun by Mr. Biden with "mark my words," were issued as a warning that your supporters, should you win, would have to hang faithful because you would be challenged by a "generated" international crisis and you would react unpredictably. But only a fool would make the assertion John McCain mishandled Sen. Biden's words; only a fool would believe you. But the most audacious and foolish thing I've seen you do in recent months is to then say in the ad that "This is what Joe Biden REALLY said." Why is this audacious? Why is this foolish? Because it is you who has taken YOUR OWN RUNNING MATE'S words out of context! John McCain did indeed contextualize them; you, however, realizing the damage your OWN colleague's remarks would have on your White House bid, chose to create an utterly false impression from a mere fragment of what Joe Biden said. This, Sen. Obama, is bush-league politics par excellence. There is nothing new here.
You have promised to escalate the war in Afghanistan. You have begun to modify your "exit strategy" out of Iraq in such a way that it's beginning to sound like the exit strategy currently in play; you voted for renewing the Patriot Act (though partly modified) and FISA, you have accepted and even augmented President Bush's faith-based initiatives. Hence, would it not be fair -- and do forgive me -- to call you Barack TheSame Obama? Change we can believe in, Senator? Really?
Yesterday I heard a soundbite from one of your stump speeches. This is what you said in your "Closing Argument" speech:
"In three days, you can put an end to the politics that would divide a nation just to win an election; that tries to pit region against region, city against town, Republican against Democrat; that asks us to fear at a time when we need hope."
I am sorry, sir, but can you expect us to take this seriously? Who was it that injected division into this campaign? Was it not you? Who brought up skin color? Was that not you? Indeed, it was. Who divided rich and poor, setting the poor against the rich? It was you. Who pitted those who "cling" to religion and guns against those who don't? It was you. Who suggested that the rubes of Pennsylvania did not feel comfortable meeting people who were different? Was that not you? And wasn't it your own Jack Murtha who described those rubes as redneck and racist? Alas, it was you; and it was your Jack Murtha.
It simply is not possible for you to offer a message of unity, Senator, precisely because you belong to a party. In indentifying yourself as something "other than," meaning a Democrat, you chose to be a dividing force. Had you presented yourself as an independent, only then could you sensibly talk of unity. But even the fact that you are a Democrat is not enough to explain your divisiveness. Sir, your message is one of division from beginning to end. How are you, for example, in any sense a unifier regarding abortion, homosexual rights, the war on terror, tax policy, Israel?
And what could be more audacious than your claim that yours is not a message of fear? Egads, Senator, in one debate you said -- in the same paragraph -- that it was time to stop playing the politics of fear AND that Americans were less safe from terrorism than ever before! How CYNICAL are you about the intellectual abilities of Americans? Do you think we are that stupid? Plus, have you not actually run a campaign from beginning to end that is built on fear? You know what I mean. Here's your campaign:
- Fear the damage George Bush has done to our country
- Fear how the world views us
- Fear Big Oil and their tax credits
- Fear the Bush tax cuts that only help the wealthy and yet give "nothing to 100 million households"
- Fear that you will not be able to afford college or health care
- Fear that your jobs will be outsourced
- Fear, oh women, that your right to ensure your lives have meaning by killing unwanted babies is revoked
- Fear that some among us will play the race card
- Fear that John McCain is just four more years of the same tired failures
- Fear that Sarah Palin is unqualified
I could go on and on and on. Yours IS a campaign of fear, as it is of division, of setting town and city and region against each other. And hence your campaign begs me to ask, "When you talk about the audacity of hope, are you asking us to hope that you know what you are doing? Are you asking us to hope that you are trustworthy? Are you asking us to hope that you won't constantly project onto others the vices and sins for which you are already guilty?"
How about, Senator, the audacity of truth? How about the audacity of being that which really is new? How about helping us somehow believe that you are not really a designer candidate; help us see that you are your own man, capable of honest self-reflection.
But, please, I beg you, stop insulting our intelligence. We are smarter than you think. Your cynicism does not become you. We are REALLY listening. We really are paying attention. And what we have not yet seen or heard is a man uniting much but old foes, old chums, and very old politics.
Peace.
©2008. All Rights Reserved.
How about, Senator, the audacity of truth? How about the audacity of being that which really is new? How about helping us somehow believe that you are not really a designer candidate; help us see that you are your own man, capable of honest self-reflection.
But, please, I beg you, stop insulting our intelligence. We are smarter than you think. Your cynicism does not become you. We are REALLY listening. We really are paying attention. And what we have not yet seen or heard is a man uniting much but old foes, old chums, and very old politics.
Peace.
©2008. All Rights Reserved.
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