Obama's Report Card

Dear Mr. President,

You’re not making as many false promises this year as you did in 2008. Back then you said you’d end the Bush tax cuts for the rich but instead you extended them and added more. You said you’d end the “dumb” war in Iraq and bring the troops home; instead you shifted the troops to Afghanistan only after Iraq demanded we leave. You said you’d return us to the rule of law; instead you created kill lists, targeted assassinations and death-by-drone in undeclared wars around the globe. You said you’d fight global warming but your mantra is “drill-baby-drill,” opening the Arctic to drilling, approving part of the XL pipeline, and permitting unregulated fracking. You said you’d end torture and rendition; instead you outsourced it. You said transparency and whistle-blowers were crucial for democracy then pulled the blinds on government and prosecuted and suppressed more whistleblowers than any administration in history. You said you’d protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid; instead you put them all on the table for budget cuts. You said you’d fight for single-payer healthcare but you took that option off the table before negotiations even started. The list of things we hired you to do and you didn’t go on and on. You’ve failed miserably in this job, Mr. President. Why should we renew your contract for four more years? Not that Mitt is any better. As one political analyst says, “there’s no daylight between the two of them.” So rather than Tweedle-dee or Tweedle-dum, I’m voting for neither one because I want a president who’s not obsessed with power or wealth, who’s not beholden to the elite, the power brokers and the 1%. I want a president who will shift us from fossil fuel to green energy, who will raise taxes, cut the military, end the wars and strengthen the social safety net. Someone who will make education affordable for all, not just the rich, who will fight for Medicare-for-all, who will restore the Constitution by eliminating the 2012 NDAA law you signed last year, the Patriot Act the year before, and the unfair tax law the year before that. I want a president who listens to the people, who understands democracy and the real crises we face. I want a president who fights for democracy and justice, not a president who’s a war criminal, who disregards human rights and fights phony wars on terrorists in the mountains of Pakistan, in Somalia, in Yemen or wherever you say they are. That’s why I’m voting for Jill Stein and the Green Party.