The Spanish Prisoner

Recently I’ve found that I have somehow gotten on the Democratic Party’s e-mail list. I don’t know how this happened. I’m not registered as a Democrat. (I’m registered as a Green.) I’ve never given money to the Democrats. (I know better than that.) Nevertheless, I’ve been getting e-mails from people such as Nancy Pelosi. Normally, I just delete these things. Recently, however, I received an e-mail from no less a person than President Barack Obama himself! (Well, at least that what it says, anyway.) I felt deeply flattered that the Leader of the Free World would take time out from his busy schedule to write to such a humble person as I. Naturally, I felt curious as to what he had to say.

The message begins:

When I took office, we had a big choice to make. We could do what was easy to get through the next election or we could do what was hard – and right – to help the next generation.

I assume that by doing “what was hard – and right”, he means caving in to the insurance industry on health care, caving in to Wall Street on finance reform, and caving in to the Israel lobby on the Middle East. I suppose it can be argued that these were hard things to do, but that doesn’t make them admirable. As for helping the next generation, I take it he means saddling them with debts for the bank bailouts and the wars in Iraq and in Afghanistan. Thanks, Dad.

He continues:

Our extraordinary House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and my Democratic partners in the House chose to lead.

I think he doesn’t mean “extraordinary” to be sarcastic.

They chose to do the real heavy lifting to get our economy back on track and to restore the American dream for every American.

Huh? Since when is the economy back on track? We’re still mired in the same recession that was in effect when Obama too office. The “American dream” certainly hasn’t been restored for the millions of Americans who are watching their unemployment benefits run out. If Obama thinks he can make people believe that everything is okay with a lot of happy talk, he is sadly deluded. One of the reasons people respected Franklin Roosevelt was because he frankly acknowledged how serious the Great Depression was and how much people were suffering. This was a welcome change from Hoover’s inane assurances that “prosperity is just around the corner”. Many people have argued that Obama resembles Hoover more than he does FDR. I think the resemblance is uncanny.

Ah, but there’s more:

Make no mistake about it. Democrats will retain the House of Representatives this year, as long as you continue working to help them win.

Yeah, just keep telling yourself that, Barack. And things are going great in Afghanistan, aren’t they?

Tuesday marks a critical FEC reporting deadline for my friends at the DCCC, the only Democratic political committee solely dedicated to protecting the House. I’m asking for your help to make their $1 Million grassroots goal before midnight Tuesday to continue the work we’ve only just begun.

Uh, you mean shafting people?

The steady progress we are seeing toward America’s recovery is no accident. It’s happened because I’ve had Democratic partners in the House and Senate who have chosen to tackle problems that Washington talked about for decades but always just kicked down the road. Not anymore.

No, not anymore! Now they pass phoney-baloney legislation that accomplishes nothing! What an improvement!!!!!

From the Recovery Act, to health insurance reform, to landmark clean energy legislation, to Wall Street reform, Speaker Pelosi and Democrats in Congress have passed the bills because they put the American peoples’ interests before the special interests.

By “clean energy legislation”, he means building more nuclear reactors and doing more mountaintop removal in Appalachia. The second half of the sentence is apparently not meant to be ironic.

Now they need your help.

Oh, they do, do they?

I know what a difference grassroots support can make in a tough fight. In the same way that you helped me defy the pundits and stand strong against the attacks from those who wish to protect the status quo, I need your help to make a difference right now to retain a Democratic House.

This is simply nonsense.

Contribute before midnight August 31st to make sure that I keep my great Democratic Partners in the House. Your gift today will be matched by a group of generous Democrats.

Since the Democrats receive millions of dollars from corporations (they are currently receiving more corporate money than the Republicans are), why do they need me to toss them some pennies from the piddling unemployment payments that I receive? Does the word “bloodsuckers” come to your mind here?

There is so much more work to get done. Now is not the time to turn back.

Now is the time to remind ourselves what we can achieve together with Speaker Pelosi leading a Democratic House for another two years.

This is our moment to retain a Democratic House and continue America’s progress.

Thank you,

Barack Obama

I am tempted to send Obama (or whoever sent this e-mail) a piece of my mind, but since Obama has the same regard for civil liberties that George W. Bush does, I think that might not be a good idea.

This entry was posted on August 26, 2010 at 3:57 am and is filed under Democrats, Obama. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.