I love you.  I voted for you.  I worked for you.  I believe in you.

The reason I supported you over Hillary Clinton in the primary is that Hillary was unsuccessful in getting health care for all Americans, and then she quit the fight for the next seven years.  She dropped it.  I want someone who will fight for me.  And even when they lose, they will get up and fight again.  I believed you would do that.

Fight, Mr. President. Fight for us.

For the past decade, we have tried it their way.  The Bush tax cuts do not create jobs.  All the cards are on the table face up, Mr. President, so nobody should have a problem seeing that. Tax cuts for the wealthy do not create jobs.  Well, except for former Republican Senator Phil Gramm who is helping them hide their money in tax havens overseas.

It didn’t work for Hebert Hoover and it’s not working for you.

Since the rich did not create jobs with their windfall profits, we can.  Put the tax rate back to what they  paid under Bill Clinton and start rebuilding this country.  People need jobs and, frankly, they don’t care if their paycheck comes from Joe’s Pavement Company or the United States of America.  We still have buildings, walking trails, state parks, bridges and schools built by the WPA. They stand today as tribute to a man who fought for America and Americans, Franklin Roosevelt.

The Republican Party has made it clear that they are willing to destroy this country to get elected.  Please prove the opposite, Mr. President.  Simply say, “I do not care if I am not re-elected.  I will save this country.”  I know you believe that.  We need you to act on it.  Now.

When I read yesterday that you had ditched the EPA’s smog standards, I cried.  I am on supplemental oxygen 24 hours a day.  Yes, I smoked for 20 years like you and John Boehner.  But, I also grew up in the heart of the petrochemical industry and now live 5 miles from the largest coal burning plant in America.   There are days that I cannot go outside because the ozone levels are unsafe for even healthy people.

But, I did not cry for me.  Hell, I’m old.  I smoked.  I knew I lived in foul air.   I cried for the children on the playground, who have become victims of a profit line.  We are no better than a third world country.  We need you to fight for our children’s lungs.

You have an opportunity to save this country before Grover Norquist drags it to the bathtub to drown it.  Tell them how the cow ate the cabbage and dare them to stall, play games, filibuster, or tell the unemployed to stuff it.  I know you can stand up to John Boehner and Eric Cantor.  I’d just like to see it.

I know your political consultants are telling you some horsehockey that the American people are tired of fighting in Washington.  Are they also telling you that your base is tired of getting beat?  Didn’t you hear that loud and clear in 2010?  We didn’t lose, Mr. President, we stayed at home because we were tired of having sand kicked in our faces and taking it.  We need you to muscle up, Sir.

I also know that your consultants are telling you that your base will still vote for you because they cannot vote for Rick Perry.  It breaks my heart that the Democratic Party has become that cynical.  Has our ethical baseline fallen that low?  Worse yet, it is unimaginable and horrifying that the United States of America is governed with that philosophy.

Like the deadbeat dad Republican Congressman Joe Walsh, I will be watching your speech on tv next Thursday night.  It seems to me that you can either speak to him or speak to me, but Mr. President, you cannot speak to both of us.

The Republican Party has boxed you in so that you cannot govern as a Democrat anymore. It seems to me that you have two choices:  you can accept that you will spend 6 more years capitulating to them or, you can take the training wheels off the bicycle and put the petal to metal by learning from Harry Truman that you can fight against a reactionary Congress and give the American people a choice, not an echo.

And if you cannot bring yourself to fight for us, if you do not have the stomach for a battle, that is understandable.  But step aside and give your base an opportunity to elect the champion we so desperately need.

We will always love you, Mr. President, but your base is weary.  Lift us up.

Sincerely and humbly yours,
Susan D Bankston
Richmond, Texas