Posted by
Brandon O'Neal Wright on Wednesday, January 21, 2009 6:26:27 PM
Welcome to your new office President Obama. It is time to put all of the rhetoric behind us and start to focus in on what this country needs to accomplish in order to continue to defeat terrorists abroad and restore confidence in our economic sector. Winning the election on the back of a catchy slogan like "change" was the easy part. It is now time to begin our journey down the longer, harder road. The most important thing we must do as we travel this second road is to define what changes we will implement. Unfortunately for you, running on the idea of "change" without defining what that "change" would be has created a situation in which everybody had their own idea of what you meant when you said, "yes we can." "Change" means one thing to some and yet has a totally different meaning to others. You and your administration must now decide what type of "change" will placate the majority. In my mind, albeit a pretty conservative one, you will preside over a fairly successful Presidency if you can change the way Washington does business when it comes to three simple values. Let it be known that these three values will not make everybody happy. However, by changing the way Washington interprets these three terms, we can lead this country in the right direction.
1. DECENCY: There is a huge lack of this when it comes to Washington. We see it during political campaigns and we see it during the everyday business that takes place in our nations capital. Our country must have the decency to continue our struggle against the terrorists. Many American lives have been taken by these foreign militant groups and we must not waiver in our determination to defeat them. Have a little decency when it comes to the families who have been robbed of loved ones at the hands of terrorists. Our troops have the decency to put their personal lives on hold in order to protect our great nation. You, as the commander in chief of these brave troops, should muster the decency to let them finish their job. Let them come home in victory and not defeat.
2. HONESTY: This has been a sorely missed characteristic when it comes to our elected officials and you have not been spared the embarrassment. You Secretary of the Treasury nominee, Mr. Timothy Geithner, has admitted that he has not paid his taxes as he should have. This, Mr. President, is dishonesty. You actually think that nominating a man, who has not been honest with his taxes, to a position which entails being head of the IRS is a good idea? That is bad judgement on your part. Your campaign actually belittled "Joe the Plumber" for a smaller offense and he was an everyday citizen. The hypocrisy is ridiculous. Mr. Geithner was dishonest and should be granted no position within your cabinet. This type of nomination is nowhere close to the "change" you promised us!
3. TRANSPARENCY: The American people deserve to know what is going on inside of their government. We want to know how our tax dollars are being spent and we deserve to know how our elected officials are spending their time. Aside from information that could put our country at a security risk, the government needs to be much more transparent than they are. As long as our government is following a strict routine of decency and honesty, transparency should not be a problem. We want to know the names of our officials who are wasting our tax dollars, which companies and foreign leaders are lobbying our elected ones and which states are being given the most earmarked dollars. That information is critical to voters who are trying to make informed decisions on Election Day. Anything less than full transparency, when it comes to these issues, would be the same old politics of yesterday.
Three main areas in need of change; Decency, honesty and transparncy. You promised us "change" Mr. President and now it is time to begin. It was easy to get people to buy into their own ideas of change. It will be harder, indeed, to keep your promise. Good luck, and remember that we still vote every four years. That, I am sorry to inform you, has not "changed."