Dear Mr. President~

I unabashedly voted for you.  I teared up watching the hope spilling into the streets the night of your election victory, the tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of people thronging the Mall in D.C., celebrating the end to a nefarious reign  of a hateful, spiteful, and fear-mongering administration.  I felt a sense of relief, as if I had just exhaled for the first time in nearly a decade.  Rampant optimism stormed the largest cities and the smallest towns while everyone who commanded an audience proclaimed that finally we had a president about whom we could be proud.

 It's a year later, Mr. President.  The hope has turned to disapointment, the relief to resignation.  Worst of all, the cynicism that so many of us had purged that glorious night has returned, infecting us once again like a bad case of the crud we just can't seem to shake.  That shining night--was it a dream?--has long given way to the stark glare of the political daylight.  And once more we have an Administration which stands for nothing.

Yes, sir, you are a step up from the last president, but one could hardly do worse.  You had the big mo, Mr. President, as in momentum.  You had a large number of people behind you who had tired of the cycle of hate, fear, and distrust brewed by the Republican administration prior to yours.  True enough, I'm not ashamed to call you Mr. President as I was when Bush was in office.  But, that is where my praise ends.

Mr. President, why are we still in Iraq?  Mr. President, why did you decide to increase our troop strength in Afghanistan?  Mr. President, why do major corporations still dictate so much economic policy?  Mr. President, why is there such focus on responding to the same tired rhetorical discussions regarding terrorism instead of investing in sound strategies?

In a recent editorial, Thomas Friedman said that we should turn away from the Cheneyistic vision of terrorism and turn our gaze upon how China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong have managed to craft a rising, world-class economic power.  We worry over stopping the spread of terrorism by sending our foot soldiers to kill their foot soldiers when the real culprits behind the jihads rarely get bloodied and continue to recruit by the tens of thousands the disenfranchised illiterates who are willing to strap bombs to their underwear.  Have you not seen the documentary Terror in Mumbai, Mr. President?  You should.  Meanwhile, we sink hundreds of billions of dollars into supporting "democratic" regimes which, when we leave (and we WILL leave one day), will immediately fall prey to the most powerful imam or warlord who has the most guns.

 Mr. President, our country is in financial ruins still, and while I know you are trying to hold some executives accountable, what about that sinkhole called the War on Terrorism?  We can't win by killing.  Friedman is right--al-Qaida is trying to bankrupt us and it's working.  With the money we've spent on this "war," we could pay for a gold standard healthcare system for everyone, remove ourselves from oil dependency, and reboot a public jobs program to put anyone who wants to work into a job--and still have money left over.

 You don't have an easy job, Mr. President, and I'm still on your side.  But, as you can see by the results in Massachusetts, time is running out for you to seize the day again, to bring back the hope you once promised.  We don't have a lot of patience, Mr. President, because you vowed to change things in Washington only to show us this first year that business goes on as usual.  Your base support is still there but eroding at a fast pace.  Please, seize the initiative again, Mr. President.  Take those chances you said you would.  Don't work to get re-elected but work to make us a better country and people.

Please, Mr. President.