OttawaHerald.com -- Community News. Community Connections.

	Franklin County, Kansas, USA

Subscriber Services Home Delivery Gift Subscription Stop-Start Delivery Missing Paper Back Issues Newsstand Locations Shopper Locations

Advertising Services Manage Your Account Place a Classified Ad Place a Display Ad Advertise Online Business Finder Directory

Other Services Submit News Laminated Items Photos & Keepsakes Article Archives Contact Us History of the Herald Our Policies

Suggest a poll topic

2009-11-21

2009-11-18

2009-11-05

Agriculture

Lifestyles

Wednesday, October 28, 2009 8:39 PM

FELTS: Mr. President, you scare me

By TOMMY FELTS, Voices From The News

An open letter to President Obama:

Americans are scared, Mr. President. And I fear it has little to do with the coming Halloween holiday.

It’s you.

You scare us.

Not all of us, of course, but enough of America that you probably should think about making some changes.

There are a lot of rumors floating around. Some fear you’re secretly Muslim. Others think you weren’t born in the United States. Some even are terrified that you are, quite literally, the anti-Christ.

Those aren’t the fears I’m talking about.

What scares the majority of people increasingly opposed to your presidential administration are your actions since taking office and the trickery you’ve used. What scares us are the hidden motivations that seem to push your agenda forward. What scares us is the bleak future many of us see when we look at the America you’re trying to create.

We fear you want to control everything about our lives — from what we drink and eat to the kinds of cars we drive and the health care available to our families.

We fear you’re driving us deeper and deeper into debt with short-term fixes aimed at political gain, not real financial stability.

We fear you’re subverting Constitutional checks and balances on the executive branch by appointing all manner of “czars” — powerful policy makers accountable only to you.

Sadly, Mr. President, that’s not all.

We fear your idea of equality means forced charity through income redistribution.

We fear you’re quite comfortable shutting down dissenting voices — in the media, the private business sector and even in Washington — that might pose a danger to your goals.

We fear you’re putting America’s best interests second ... and we’re not entirely sure who’s No. 1.

Mr. President, ask yourself this: Why are so many people willing to believe just about anything about you? Why do they suspect the worst of your motives? Why do they fear you?

It’s not, of course, because you’re black, as some prominent members of your political party have claimed. That’s the easy answer. That’s the answer that allows you and your cronies to dismiss our fears, concerns and frustrations.

And it’s the wrong answer.

The truth is all about trust.

We fear you because we don’t trust you.

And we don’t trust you because you’ve lied to us ... over and over again.

On not raising taxes.

On stopping the surge in unemployment.

On creating a new era of transparency and accountability in government.

On listening to the opposition.

On being a president for all Americans — not just the adherents of your particular brand of liberalism.

Is it any wonder we don’t believe you when you hit the prime time airwaves to make a pitch for your latest must-do-it-now legislation?

You tell us that fear is the real enemy. Fear is what we should oppose — not you. And then, of course, you use your own scare tactics to explain why “inaction” is the hobgoblin lurking under our beds. Your spook-filled slogan: “Do it now, or the world will come crashing down around us!”

In other words, “Boo!”

Trick or treat indeed, sir.

But here’s a radical idea from a radical, right-wing extremist: How about telling us the truth from now on?

Start by honestly answering a few questions.

How are we really going to pay for your proposed health care reform?

Why are you holding on to so much of the money allotted by the stimulus bill instead of using it to revitalize the economy as promised? (Are you, as some have suggested, keeping it to spend shortly before the 2010 midterm elections to boost your fellow Democrats?)

Why are there so many lobbyists with their grubby fingers in your administration (after you pledged to rid the capital of such influences)? And why do so many of them stand to personally gain from the successful passage of your top agenda items?

Why are you more willing to sit down with Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than Fox News?

And, finally, who is the real Barack Obama? The guy from the campaign trail with lofty promises of bi-partisan hope and change? Or the thin-skinned schemer sending out thugs to bully the public into submission?

Mr. President, I fear one of them was just a clever, all-too-convincing Halloween costume.

And that scares me.

Tommy Felts is day news editor for The Ottawa Herald. E-mail him at tfelts@ottawaherald.com

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article |
Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.

FELTS: Mr. President, you scare me

By TOMMY FELTS, Voices From The News

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article | Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article |
Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.