MR. PRESIDENT YOU HAVE LOST ME

Even though I did not vote for your election, I have recommended to my readers that they should support your presidency. It has been my opinion that you deserved the support of the American public as you formed your new administration. Some members of the electorate feel you did not win the election fair and square, but that is old news. You are our new president for good or bad, and it is in our collective best interest that we join together to improve our country and its economy.

After one month I have changed my mind, and now join the ranks of the loyal opposition. Remembering that I consider myself as an Independent Conservative, I retain the right to my freedom of choice.

The reasons you lost my support are simple and few. When one compares the statements you made during the campaign, and the oratory being expressed since your inauguration I see two different leaders. Your campaign called for CHANGE, TRANSPARENCY, ELIMINATION OF EARMARKS, ENERGY CONSERVATION, and ECONOMIC RECOVERY.

Since taking office your administration has not changed, but followed the old tried and true political shenanigans with strong-arm tactics. Almost daily there are statements reminding the electorate that you inherited all your problems from the past administration, but fail to acknowledge the fact that the past administration had a Democrat majority House and Senate. This is not to say that I endorse all the decisions of our past president, because I do not, but he is not solely to blame.

Transparency has gone out the window with bills being presented to a Congressional vote without anyone being able to read the contents in full. Your administration has meetings which exclude the press from attendance. The most recent example is the Vice President Biden's appearance at the AFL/CIO Convention in Florida where the broadcast media was excluded. Why?

You campaigned repeatedly stating your opposition to Earmarks, and then you present a Stimulus Bill and a Budget Bill loaded with hundreds of millions in Earmarks. To repeatedly have stated that both pieces of legislation are earmark free is nothing but a lie. This action is nothing short of abuse of power.

You strongly urged action to conserve energy, and called for energy independence, but you almost daily utilize Air Force One, and/or your fleet of energy sucking helicopters. Your indiscriminate use of government aviation costs the American taxpayers millions of dollars each time the fleet leaves the ground when the same work could have been done from the White House. Your administration criticizes the executives of publicly held companies for using their private jets, but it is alright for you to do the same polluting the skies leaving a huge carbon footprint. Why do you endorse the use of huge military aircraft to fly Speaker Nancy Pelosi D-CA back and forth to San Francisco almost every weekend? Again this represents abuse of power, and an arrogant disregard for the impact your actions have on the taxpayers.

Lastly, your Economic Recovery Plan is deceiving at best, and excessive in total dollar allocations. Many of the projects planned to solve our immediate economic problems will not take effect for several years, and do not call for job creation. Some projects are clearly pay-offs for political support. The statement of “shovel ready projects” is pure political double speak. Your plan places our children and their children with a debt burden that is almost unthinkable by any logical standard.

The clock is ticking toward your next election Mr. President, and you only have three years, and eight months before you will be held accountable. The polls already reflect growing concerns by the great unwashed electorate with an increase of 10 points in your disapproval rating. It is time to stay off the television airwaves, because each inflated arrogant elitist statement causes the Dow Jones stock averages to plummet.

As they say, “You can fool some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time”.

COMMANDER GRANGER