Dear Mr. President

Dear Mr. President,

We put you where you are, we are thrilled with most of what you are doing, and we love you. From Day 1, the world has been a better place, taking a breath as an American making our chests swell just a little more than before.

But, please- don't take us for granted.

Healthcare.  You did not promise us a single-payer healthcare system, an important point that has been confused or forgotten.  However, there are enough Americans interested in that type of system to warrant a place for them at the table.  Don't shut them out.  The results of a process are only as good as the process itself.

Gay Rights.  We are sorry that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" has forced itself upon you earlier than you wanted.  Drumming out a West Point graduate that speaks Arabic or a decorated Lt. Colonel can really get things shaking, n'est pas?  We know you wanted to deal with the world's finances first, but things transpire, if we may paraphrase.

You have no choice now- you have got to start the process moving forward toward allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military.  You can wait until the end of the week, when you will be back in town on Friday, to formally announce the formation of a transition commission, but you cannot wait any longer. 

Waiting until Friday is a good strategic move, too- you will either be riding the good news wave delivered by the California Supreme Court on Tuesday or you will be delivering good news at the end of a bad gay news week.

The Supreme Court.  You did not promise us a specific type of Justice, but we are encouraged by your comments surrounding the announcement of Justice Souter's retirement.  

Please be ready to literally laugh in the face of any and all Senators who mention the word "compromise" or "moderate".  Yeah, right.  Like Justice Roberts?  Justice Thomas?  The Scalito Twin Injustices?  We think not.  We are done with the GOP approach that "We get all of ours, but you only get half of yours!".  Enough.

Let us be very clear: we want a Thurgood Marshall, a William Brennan, an Earl Warren, or a William O. Douglas- in a skirt or in a suit, it matters not, and white, brown, black, or Green are all fine, too.  

The last 8 years have shown that a conservative view of the United States Constitution is no view at all.  

A narrow view of civil rights, liberties, and freedoms?  It is a fact that many notable men in history have thought so- Hitler, Lenin, Mao, Joe McCarthy, and King George III.  Today, we have Kim Jong-il, and numerous others around the world.  Not company we want the USA to keep, not even a little bit. 

Gitmo.  Close it or not, we don't really care.  Presidents change their minds upon receipt of new information, and we would not have it any other way.  What we do care about is the torture and mistreatment that does or does not occur there.

If you do decide to close Gitmo, please make note of the gutless Senators who refused to fund the Gitmo closure until you told them more about your plans.  

Huh?  What do they think you are going to do with the detainees in Gitmo?  Have them work in the Senate laundry?  Serve tea at Camp David?  Put them with Bernie Madoff?  

Ridiculous.  The detainees are going into Maximum-Security Federal Prisons- no news flash there.  And NOBODY escapes from a MSFPs.

We want you to withold any remaining stimulus money from Senators who try to shield their states from receiving any transferees.  We are reminded of the quote from Bill Maher's "Religulous", where Arkansas's Mark Pryor says you don't need to pass an I.Q. test to become a United States Senator.

Terrorists or Prisoners of War.  You are a constitutional scholar, so you know there are three types of wrong-doers under our laws, Mr. President: criminals/suspected criminals, prisoners of war, and spies.  The treatment for members of each category is very clearly prescribed by our laws.

However, there is no category called "long-term detainee".  We've tried that before. Remember all those innocent Japanese-Americans in Internment Camps, robbed of their homes and belongings?  

People are guilty of conspiracy or not- "potential conspirator" or "potential criminal" doesn't count.

Today is the 142nd observation of Memorial Day.  You are headed to Arlington to honor all those who have served, and the too many who have died doing so.  It is imperative to the very fabric of our Republic that we remember what those brave men and women fought and died for, and not dishonor them by continuing, or merely modifying, disgraceful detention policies.

It is dangerous to have a free country, and it always has been.  

However, it is not just those in New York, or at the Pentagon, or in a field in Pennsylvania that have felt it or seen it.  

It is also those who live in Oklahoma City, those who lived in Los Angeles in 1965, in Chicago in 1968, and those in Boston who lived in fear of the Strangler and those in San Francisco who lived in fear of the Zodiac.  

Lockerbie.  London.  Paris.  Munich.  Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera...

Soiling one of the greatest documents in history, the U.S. Constitution, perhaps second only to the Magna Carta, for short-term expediency is not what we elected you to do, Sir. 

You have inherited a morass- we know that.  We also know you can fix it.

This is your First Semester Progress Report:  

Domestic Policies: B

Grammar & Speech: A+

International Policies and Diplomacy: A+

Shaking the dependency on the plant your ancestors sweated over: F

By the end of your Freshman year, we are hoping for straight A plusses!

SRT