Dear President Obama,
I voted for you. Twice. I campaigned for you. Twice. I met and had breakfast with you when you were still a junior senator from Illinois. I believed in Hope and Change and Forward. I love Obamacare. In retrospect, the auto industry bail out was even a good idea. But there is the issue of foreign policy. It's failing miserably.
The biggest issue I have with it are these memos stating that the US can target US citizen with drone strikes if there is an "imminent risk of attack". What is an imminent risk? Why does imminent risk does not have to be proven with direct evidence? Why are we abridging US citizens' constitutional right to fair and speedy trial and allowing a non-judicial body to pass judgment and punishment on a US citizen?
There are two problems I see with this that bothers me, as an American, to the core. One, if we are killing "terrorists" that pose an "imminent threat", that means we believe that, with due process, this individual would deserve to die, even though he has yet to kill or harm anyone. By that logic, then wouldn't people convicted for conspiracy deserve the death penalty? I think we both no the answer to that is an absolute no. Two, if we are abridging 1 US citizens' rights, then what is to say that we don't do it to others. If we find out that a Timothy McVeigh style attack was "imminent", then would we go in with a kill squad and take him out before he commits his crime? Or would we arrest him and bring him to justice? What about other crimes that aren't terrorist in nature but are also "imminent risks to US interests" or American lives? Do you go after those people and kill them as well?
I think the reason Democrats and other liberals aren't asking for you impeachment, Mr. President, is because its you. We still believe in Hope, Change, and Forward. We believed that junior senator from Illinois during the 2004 Democratic National Convention. But remember, this expansion of presidential power doesn't stop with you. What if we get another W? Or someone like Dick Cheney becomes president? The power to kill US citizens abroad is a huge expansion of presidential power, and that power is not same in anyone's hands.
The other foreign policy issue that I have a problem with is the Middle East. Your administration flipped flopped on Mubarak, has done nothing to aid the Syrian rebels, weakened our relationship with Palestine, irritated Israel, and has not issued a statement about the situation in Tunisia. We could have made a few new alleys in the region with the new Egyptian government, helped prop a more Jordanian like government in Syria, and gained influence in Tunisia if we made a statement and gave meaningful aid to the Arab Spring. Instead, we have no friends in Syria, and the bloodshed continues. Egypt is destabilizing everyday and we continue to feed their military. Your amazing new Secretary of State, John "I have no personality" Kerry, has said nothing about plans for Tunisia. We continue to anger Israel, so much so that their Prime Minister came out and endorsed your opponent. To boot, Palestine now as observer status no thanks to your administration. We are totally on the wrong side of history.
If you policies do not change, I believe we are going into a dark place. If any of this happened under Bush, there would be marches and demonstrations asking for his impeachment. I'm not saying that we should call for impeachment hearing on you, Mr. President, but I have to say, your foreign policy is orders of magnitude worse than Pres. George W. Bush's. He only signed torture memos, against enemies. You allowed for the extra-territorial killings of US citizens, by drones, and without a trial.
I know this is your last term, and I know you probably don't have an political aspirations after this, but just because you can get away with all this doesn't mean you should do it. Please stop. This isn't the American dream you promised us so many times before.
With great concern,
Zao
I voted for you. Twice. I campaigned for you. Twice. I met and had breakfast with you when you were still a junior senator from Illinois. I believed in Hope and Change and Forward. I love Obamacare. In retrospect, the auto industry bail out was even a good idea. But there is the issue of foreign policy. It's failing miserably.
The biggest issue I have with it are these memos stating that the US can target US citizen with drone strikes if there is an "imminent risk of attack". What is an imminent risk? Why does imminent risk does not have to be proven with direct evidence? Why are we abridging US citizens' constitutional right to fair and speedy trial and allowing a non-judicial body to pass judgment and punishment on a US citizen?
There are two problems I see with this that bothers me, as an American, to the core. One, if we are killing "terrorists" that pose an "imminent threat", that means we believe that, with due process, this individual would deserve to die, even though he has yet to kill or harm anyone. By that logic, then wouldn't people convicted for conspiracy deserve the death penalty? I think we both no the answer to that is an absolute no. Two, if we are abridging 1 US citizens' rights, then what is to say that we don't do it to others. If we find out that a Timothy McVeigh style attack was "imminent", then would we go in with a kill squad and take him out before he commits his crime? Or would we arrest him and bring him to justice? What about other crimes that aren't terrorist in nature but are also "imminent risks to US interests" or American lives? Do you go after those people and kill them as well?
I think the reason Democrats and other liberals aren't asking for you impeachment, Mr. President, is because its you. We still believe in Hope, Change, and Forward. We believed that junior senator from Illinois during the 2004 Democratic National Convention. But remember, this expansion of presidential power doesn't stop with you. What if we get another W? Or someone like Dick Cheney becomes president? The power to kill US citizens abroad is a huge expansion of presidential power, and that power is not same in anyone's hands.
The other foreign policy issue that I have a problem with is the Middle East. Your administration flipped flopped on Mubarak, has done nothing to aid the Syrian rebels, weakened our relationship with Palestine, irritated Israel, and has not issued a statement about the situation in Tunisia. We could have made a few new alleys in the region with the new Egyptian government, helped prop a more Jordanian like government in Syria, and gained influence in Tunisia if we made a statement and gave meaningful aid to the Arab Spring. Instead, we have no friends in Syria, and the bloodshed continues. Egypt is destabilizing everyday and we continue to feed their military. Your amazing new Secretary of State, John "I have no personality" Kerry, has said nothing about plans for Tunisia. We continue to anger Israel, so much so that their Prime Minister came out and endorsed your opponent. To boot, Palestine now as observer status no thanks to your administration. We are totally on the wrong side of history.
If you policies do not change, I believe we are going into a dark place. If any of this happened under Bush, there would be marches and demonstrations asking for his impeachment. I'm not saying that we should call for impeachment hearing on you, Mr. President, but I have to say, your foreign policy is orders of magnitude worse than Pres. George W. Bush's. He only signed torture memos, against enemies. You allowed for the extra-territorial killings of US citizens, by drones, and without a trial.
I know this is your last term, and I know you probably don't have an political aspirations after this, but just because you can get away with all this doesn't mean you should do it. Please stop. This isn't the American dream you promised us so many times before.
With great concern,
Zao
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