Thursday, December 23, 2010

Dear Mr. President,

I know I’ve been pretty critical of you lately and fair’s fair, so when you actually show some backbone and conviction and fight for a piece of legislation, I think congratulations are in order. Congratulations for getting the New Start treaty approved, Mr. President. Mild though it was, any elimination of nuclear weapons is a good thing and I hope you persist and rid the world entirely of these awful things. Congratulations too for the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell although it seems Senator Gillibrand deserves most of the credit for that one. But still, you did support it. At least for awhile. Or did you? Seems like you did, then you didn’t. Oh well, it’s the Christmas season and the time for good will and all that, so savor the victories while you can because the next two years are going to be a tough time to get anything but the Republican agenda passed: things like the phase-out (“privatization”) of Medicare and Medicaid, Social Security, you know, all those social programs that might benefit someone who isn’t rich and powerful. The old trickle-down theory the Republicans believe in, a policy that gives to the rich and takes from the poor. So I hope you and yours have a merry Christmas out there in Hawaii-land. And don’t worry about the rest of us struggling to get by, like those retirees in Prichard, Alabama whose pension fund went broke last year and haven’t been paid a penny since and are losing their homes and their health and even their lives while the fat cats on Wall Street and in those corporations that are too big to fail celebrate with their U.S. taxpayer bailout dollars that saved their bloated paychecks and yearend bonuses. But there I go again, getting all Scrooge-like and Bah-Humbug-y! and I didn’t mean to.

Mele Kalikimaka, Mr. President.