Web Letters: Obama's Last Chance

Are there people who have problems with a black man in the White House? Of course! Do they represent the majority of White Americans? No! There is a vocal minority of people who listen to Fox News and talk radio who get themselves worked up into a frenzy by the lies the right-wing media spews forth every day about Obama. They are a minority of white Americans, not anywhere near a majority, but even if they are 5 percent of the country and 95 percent do not feel the way they do, that still means millions of people share their views.

I hope we can transcend race in this country. George Bush left the White House despised by most people--most white people as well. Bill Clinton never received the majority of white male votes. No one would accuse white people of racism in their opinions of these two men. I live in the metropolitan Philadelphia area and listen to sports talk radio every day. White football, baseball and basketball players and their coaches, managers and owners are lambasted every single day, but the minute a caller has anything critical to say about a black athlete the phone lines light up with black callers accusing them of racism. One wonders if anyone can be critical of a black athlete or politician, including our president, without being accused of racism.

Substantial numbers of white people have disagreed with the policies of Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and both George Bushes. No one ever called them racists. I do not agree with President Obama's attitude towards Israel, and I believe he is letting himself get rolled by the insurance companies and trial layers in his healthcare reform plans. That does not make me a racist. I am sickened by what I hear from Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Fox News and their other talk show allies, but I do not want to see an America where one cannot disagree without being tarred and feathered as a racist. That is bad for America and does nothing to improve race relations in our country.

Mark Jeffery Koch

Cherry Hill, NJ

"Show me your company and i'll tell you what you are." My momma said that many times as I was growing up. Now let's see how it applies to Obama:

Obama's Best Friends Forever are Geithner, Summers, Bernanke, Goldman Sachs, AIG (now AIU), Rahm Emanuel, Baucus, Ben Nelson, Conrad, Snowe, Wall Street, PhRMA, insurance industry execs, McCrystal, Gates, Netanyahu, et alia.

Now, whom do you think Obama is listening to? Whom do you think Obama played golf with while on vacation? Who does Obama think has the big pockets who can support him and his companions' campaigns, ambitions, and interests? Obama has already proven who his BFFs are with the stimulus money and the bullpucky about the profits the US is now making. He's proven just how many of his campaign promises he intends to live up to: wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Blackwater contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, no investigations into the criminal activities of the Bush Administration or Clinton/Bush renditions, immigration reform and, yes, healthcare reform.

Obama is George W. Jr. He punked us. Our crummy $10, $25, even $1,000 or $2,500 donations mean nothing when compared to what he got and will get from his BFFs. Now, he intends to drop the public option. After all, it's what we little punks want, not what Wall Street wants. So who do you think Obama will want to please? Before you answer, rephrase what was said earlier: Show me Obama's company and then tell me what he'll do.

Moreover, Obama is giving the insane fringe their script for future African-American presidential candidates. To wit: African-Americans do not make good presidents. Look at how weak and easily led by the nose Obama was. Does anyone in America want another Obama? God has proven us right. We are the American people, we are superior and we should be the ones making the weighty decisions a US president must make. We should be the ones to fight for "America's ideals" and defend America's morals. Palin and Newt in 2012 and beyond.

Obama has reneged on every promise he made in his campaign. I will not vote for him in 2012; liberals and progressives and many independents will turn away from him, as well; and that is as it should be.

Patricia Cavallaro

Vienna, VA

Bam is a social-justice kind of guy. The financial collapse is not his kind of issue. No profound economic vision, either.

The alternative was McCain/Palin. Enough said.

The "financial collapse" media narrative is the immediate problem. Maybe financial institutions had to be stabilized in a kind of triage. Maybe. The underlying problem is supply/demand imbalance.

Easy credit disguised the problem, until it couldn't. Nonexistent wage growth caused the problem. Trade policies are the heart of the problem.

The decimation of unions, stagnant wages and increased reliance on credit can all be traced back to trade policies.

Bam has nowhere near the kind of policies required to rebalance trade, and doesn't give any indication that he understands the relationship between trade and US economic weakness, His advisors, ditto.

Bud Ilic

Bloomington, IL

If he keeps his Wall Street economic advisers, he will be dead in the water by 2012. He could and should have some competition in the primaries. Never quit, even if you have to vote for a minority party after the primary!

Pervis James Casey

Riverside, CA

Obama, via his teleprompter in the campaign, oversold, and in reality once elected has failed to deliver.

He deserved our votes in November 2008 because we believed him. Now, he's shown to be a fraud and should lose in 2012.

I think it is time for progressives and liberals to either run a true candidate or to stay home in 2012 and let the GOP win.

We've been blackmailed by the DNC and DLC--in 2006 and in 2008. "It's so bad, people will vote for us." In 2010 and 2012, stay home and let Democrats reap what they have put in motion in 2009 and 2010.

Patrick Jackson

Chapel Hill, NC