"Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast" -Oscar Wilde |
"The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth, shall be watered also himself." -- Proverbs 11:25 |
With all due respect, it’s time to man up. It is time, way past time for you to grow into the job you were elected to do, and promised to do. It is time to stand up and be the man we hope we elected. It is time to justify that hope, and the trust that was placed in you. It is time to pick up the mantle of history that has been entrusted to you and prove yourself worthy of carrying it forward.
Too much is at stake now. Too many people are beginning to think their faith in you was misplaced. What’s worse is you are proving them right.
Strike one was Van Jones.
Strike two was ACORN.
And now Shirley Sherrod had become strike three.
Yours has become an administration that remains loyal to people who are and have been part of the problem (Any problem we’re currently facing. Pick one.)
It’s an administration in which a Ben Bernanke can keep a job, but a Van Jones can’t.
It’s an administration in which a Larry Summers can keep a job, but a Shirley Sherrod can’t.
It’s an administration in which a Tim Geithner can keep a job, but an Elizabeth Warren may not be able to get one.
It’s an administration that quickly leaves twisting in the wind good people who are trying to be a part of the solution, but have the misfortune of being targeted by smear campaigns from a political right-wing you clearly fear more than you respect the concerns of not just progressives who worked hard to put you into office, but the very people Sherrod spoke of in her unedited speech
It took less time for your administration to respond to Andrew Breitbart’s deceptively edited video than it took for you to stand and fight for health care reform.
It took less time than it has to break the Senate filibuster on extending unemployment benefits.
It took less time than it has thus far to pass legislation that will create jobs, or extend aid to states that could potentially save 900,000 jobs, or keep hundreds of thousand of teachers on the job.
In all of the above, the shadow of the closed fist has loomed — both in the form of threats of filibuster and obstruction, and threats of violence — and fear of it has stalled the work that we — the coalition of black and white and latino, young and old, poor, working class, and middle class, etc. — elected you and trusted you to do.
That trust has been abused, and must now be earned back.