A clever and competent reader sent this to me today. I’ve never seen it, but apparently, it’s been circulated all over the Internet. So, of course, I snoped it to make sure it was legit. And lo and behold, it’s legit.
I liked it, so I decided to post just in case there are others who haven’t read it yet, either.
It’s an open letter from Lou Pritchett, former Vice President of Sales and Customer Development for Procter and Gamble. He sent this letter to the New York Times, but they never acknowledged it or published it. Go figure.
AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA
Dear President Obama:
You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me.
You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you.
You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support.
You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American.
You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll.
You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don’t understand it at its core.
You scare me because you lack humility and ‘class,’ always blaming others.
You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail.
You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the ‘blame America’ crowd and deliver this message abroad.
You scare me because you want to change America to a European style country where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector.
You scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a government controlled one.
You scare me because you prefer ‘wind mills’ to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves.
You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of living in the world.
You scare me because you have begun to use ‘extortion’ tactics against certain banks and corporations.
You scare me because your own political party shrinks from challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals.
You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people.
You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient.
You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do.
You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaughs, Hannitys, O’Reillys and Becks who offer opposing, conservative points of view.
You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing.
Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years.
Lou Pritchett
I got this letter but didn’t think to snope it, just hit the delete. Guess I had better think twice next time. Wonder what the repercussions of this letter will be since Procter and Gamble donated heavily to Obama. Oh wait…it did say former Vice President.
There is a very useful book out there called ‘The Blue Pages’. It tells which company gave what to whom, and how much.
I AM NOT SUPPORTING OBAMA, HIS VIEWS OR HIS CHOICES! I AM SIMPLY NOT IMPRESSED WITH THIS LETTER.
So, please, don’t start calling me a kool-aid guzzler, a stupid-idiot, a naive child… whatever.
Because, I am not going to put a single opinion in here… only straight facts.
Obama has written two books, turned over his tax returns… had the entire nation looking over his shoulder… If this person REALLY wanted to know anything about Obama… All he must do is run a google search or pick up one of his two best-selling books.
Explanation for Obama’s income, schooling and the support of his ‘lifestyle’:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/money.asp
From snopes, a website you cite as a credible source, in this very posting.
Obama grew up between two areas… Hawaii and Indonesia. Read a little bit about Indonesia, please:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesia
Also note that Obama only lived there from the age of 6-10 (not his formative years), and only because his mother was married to an Indonesian student (who was NOT his father) who was forced to move back to the country (as all Indonesian students were) due to a recall of their paperwork.
Regan, Never ran a business… And here is a list of presidents that had no military experience:
John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, Martin VanBuren, Grover Cleveland, William Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, Bill Clinton
Next, Obama and his ‘aligning’… Here is an article with excerpts from an interview with Obama. He clearly says he does not share this pastor’s views on race relations and also states that a pastor ‘served him in a spiritual role… not a political one.’ I have seen at least one post in support of Mitt Romney as a member of change for the Republican party… do you think he allows the Mormon church to rule his political views? Because, being an ex-Mormon, I can tell you they have so CRAZY ideas. Certainly, not ones that support feminism (an idea that seems to be popular in these parts).
And, that’s only me going through the first 1/4 of this letter…
I’m not saying that it lacks validity all together… but I can certainly see why the New York Times dismissed it.
If you start really breaking it down and comparing it to the facts… it’s not super strong. It’s mostly just opinion based entirely on opinion and almost no fact.
Ok, and here’s a little opinion:
Furthermore, I was in Naval Intelligence… and I can tell you first hand that in order to have the clearance I needed (which is much lower than the President’s) I had to put every address I ever lived at, every bank account I ever had, every stinkin’ speeding ticket I ever got… And they came back to me 10 MONTHS LATER to ask me about a girl I lived across the hall from in college, who’s mother had been investigated by the FBI for trying to smuggle Russian babies in to the U.S.! They searched that hard… So you honestly think that they system set up to keep you safe (by your beloved Bush) would not run a super serious check on a President? That is would allow someone with terrorist/extremist ties into a position of power? You must not have much faith in Bush and his Homeland Security efforts.
OOps! here is the article with the interview with Obama! Sorry!
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/14/obama.minister/index.html
Easy there, QC.
“Ok, and here’s a little opinion:
Furthermore, I was in Naval Intelligence… and I can tell you first hand that in order to have the clearance I needed (which is much lower than the President’s) I had to put every address I ever lived at, every bank account I ever had, every stinkin’ speeding ticket I ever got… And they came back to me 10 MONTHS LATER to ask me about a girl I lived across the hall from in college, who’s mother had been investigated by the FBI for trying to smuggle Russian babies in to the U.S.!”
Yeah me too. So? Clearance comes automatically with the POTUS as well as most congressional and Senate seats.
QC:Regan, Never ran a business…
Yes he did. Screen Actors Guild was and is a business.
ok, so… I wrote all of that… and that’s all you have to say?
“So, what?” and “Nuh-uh!”
All of that valid, emotionless information… and that’s all the arguement you have?
Isn’t this exactly what you accuse liberals of doing.
Come on Laurel. I know you have it in you!
I mean, the Republican party had the sitting President of the United States… if there had been real dirt on Obama… I bet they would have found it. I Have more faith than that in the Republican party. They have some smart resourceful people…
If there had been something legitimate to be concerned about… I have faith that we would have heard about it. I mean, for cripes sake… we know that Clinton and Bush did drugs in their younger days! We can stop terrorist attacks from happening! You told me so… To me, that says we have a system grand enough to sniff out even the sneakiest people!
Also, I was wrong about Reagan… You’re right. I’m sure he worried about meeting payroll at SAG. Especially when he had all of those people blacklisted because they had slightly socialist views. Oh, and isn’t that a labor union? I tcan’t think of a more Republican company to work for than a labor union. You’re right… that’s a perfect example.
Oh, and majordawg, I have some advice from Laurel for you… She gave it to me, and I am taking it to heart:
“If you can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen.
Dear, politics is a contact sport. The days of the vapors are long gone. I have absolutely no use for liberals, or anybody really, that counters with “She hurt my wittle feelings.” As a matter of fact liberals are the absolute hands down best at countering with that when someone has the audacity to not only disagree but refute what they are saying. You have a tendency to split the baby in half. It didn’t fly in the Bible and it doesn’t fly now.”
Wow, this really struck a nerve, huh?
You know what I think is weird? Just from a psychological standpoint, I think it’s weird for a person to write two books ABOUT HIMSELF before he’s even, well, anybody worthy of writing two books about himself. I think they call that narcissism.
I dunno… they were best selling before you would have considered him anyone worthy of reading about…
Plenty of people only write memoirs… and plenty of people only read memoirs. I am pretty much one of those people.
So, while I did not read Obama’s books… I have read many that were of the same genre that were about far less famous people than he was at the time…
Instead of replying to our friend QC’s list of facts, she (right?) is mocked for taking the post too seriously (or countered with “so what?” a brilliant-as-usual argument). My favorite part of the letter? The fear of “wind mills.”
That’s what “they” do when they don’t have an answer. That or completely ignore the facts and/or questions anyone takes the time to put forth.
I can’t make up my mind whether it’s just ignorance or if “they” really ARE dumber than a box of rocks.
Here’s my favorite part: “You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people.”
That just about says it all to describe what goes on around here.
My only point was that QC may have let her emotions get away from her. Liberals and women sometimes do that (OH DANG!! No he didn’t!! OMG, he just did that!)
I’m kidding there, of course, but my point is, had she left out the editorial the lasting impression would have only been of her excellent argument. There were very few holes in it, as we’ve discovered. But the emotion gets in the way of that. Just as my little offense above will be the biggest attention getter of this post.
Back to the regular snarkiness.
My little editorial?
Which part? About my actual experience in intelligence? Or the fact that my argument was not an argument for Obama, but rather an argument for why I thought the New York Times had every right to dismiss this letter?
Or was it the part where I used a few common conservative arguments to my own advantage?
I mean, as a regular-reading liberal on this site… I get pushed around frequently. And the one time I have an “excellent argument… [with] very few holes in it,” no one responds with more than the ‘typical liberal response’ (or at least the response you so often accuse liberals of giving).
I was really looking forward to you and Laurel having more of a come-back than that! You two are known for being “more direct and blunt” and always having a paragraph or two in response!
The personal stuff is superfluous. It’s accurate, but it gives your argument a weakness. It makes it sound more like opinion than fact. You presented the argument as if it were going to be totally objective, but by interjecting personal stuff, you diminish the impact.
It’s very much a writing criticism as opposed to a content criticism. I have very little problem with the content of your argument.
They guy scares the hell out of me because of what I DO know.
Wait…
Did Mock and Daisy not support the claim made by Laurel regarding documents she had seen?
Was Laurel’s argument not objective then? Even if she DID personally experience this? Is it null and void because she interjected a personal account of something she has special knowledge/experience with?
Because, if so… you’re totally right MD. I should not have added that bit in support of our DHS’s abilities to ‘keep us safe.’ I was just under the impression that this was a valid argument that most everyone agreed with here on COTR.
Are you just in the mood to argue?
All I’m saying is that the personal intensity takes a little away from the argument. It’s a totally nuanced point of view that makes little to no difference, which is why my SUM TOTAL reply was “easy there, QC”.
Holy crap. You’re making stuff up at this point.
How about this? I’ll start all over, let’s pretend my original post had been this and see if that’s OK.
WOW, QC, those are all great points. You’re obviously very passionate about this personally as well as being informed and objective. I’m concerned you may be taking this a little too seriously, but I won’t take issue with any of your factual points.
Ah, discussions with liberals, where every utterance carries the weight of a binding legal contract.
I would like to recall the following statement from my above post:
“Holy crap. You’re making stuff up at this point.”
Good day