Posted by
Jennine on Thursday, April 30, 2009 9:42:01 PM
I did not watch your press conference last night. There are several reasons. One is that after 100 days, I find nothing enchanted or enchanting about your Administration's agenda. I find your responses to the vapid questions you are asked to be excessively long, uninformative and misleading. I find your demeanor to be almost unbearably self-satisfied. I know I will learn nothing but will be pained for a very long hour. And finally, since you have no interest in listening to me, why should I listen to you? In fact, you use feigned amusement to ridicule me and people like me, as you did in your town hall meeting yesterday, talking about people who watch "some" news channels and wave tea bags, which is a very effective tool to marginalize people who disagree with you. You, sir, are an arrogant man who is so acclimated to fawning praise that you are unable to accept that intelligent people might not agree with your every thought and action. When faced with honest dissent from people who are willing, in fact, eager to have an intelligent debate, you react like a spoiled child.
Your administration behaved in a pouting, childish manner again this morning when you chastised Chrysler's bond holders for not going along with your plan to hand over the company to the Unions. Your Administration scolded these people who had a legitimate claim and, indeed, a duty to assure that the people they represented recouped as much money as they could, and told them they were not acting in the national interest. Excuse me? I do not believe it is in the nation's interest for the Government to decide whether or not a business should stay in business. I do not think it is in the nation's best interest for the Government to decide that Unions should take over management of a company. I do not think it is in the nation's interest for the Unions to manage any business. The purpose of a union is to represent employees in negotiations with management. Unions have a very bad track record of managing their own retirement funds and spending their members dues, so why should I feel good about them managing any business of which I am a major stockholder. And since we the people now are major stockholders of an astonishing number of banks and businesses, and since this Administration has decided we should be voting stockholders, I have the right and responsibility to provide feedback on how my money is spent. And I do not stand with you as you feel the need to chide organizations responsible for assuring that investors, many of whom are average Americans who have invested in mutual funds, IRA's, 401k's, etc., and have already lost enormous amounts of money through no fault of their own, get back the maximum amount possible. Why is it that you feel these Americans have not sacrificed enough?
Mr. President, I am not alone. There are millions of us, some of whom feel even more strongly than I that the decisions your Administration is making with lightening speed have the potential to fundamentally ruin this country. Your subtle, dismissive chiding and ridicule will not shut us up. We are vocal, we are worried, and we feel a responsibility to question your actions. We have a stake in our own future and the future of our country and we are not going away.