A message from my buddy Barack

I received an e-mail from my personal friend Barack Obama this morning:

Patrick --

Today, we are filing papers to launch our 2012 campaign.

We're doing this now because the politics we believe in does not start with expensive TV ads or extravaganzas, but with you -- with people organizing block-by-block, talking to neighbors, co-workers, and friends. And that kind of campaign takes time to build.

So even though I'm focused on the job you elected me to do, and the race may not reach full speed for a year or more, the work of laying the foundation for our campaign must start today.

We've always known that lasting change wouldn't come quickly or easily. It never does. But as my administration and folks across the country fight to protect the progress we've made -- and make more -- we also need to begin mobilizing for 2012, long before the time comes for me to begin campaigning in earnest.

My pal Barack goes on to share a slick, substance-free video featuring Alice from Michigan and Ed from North Carolina and Gladys from Nevada and Katherine from Colorado and Young Mike from New York and someone playing with a Nintendo DS. These folks are heard saying things like, “The campaign needs to reflect changes we’ve seen in the last two and a half years” and “We’re not leaving it up to chance” and “It’s an election we’ll have to win” and “I can’t not be involved - there’s just too much that’s fundamentally important that’s going on” and “I don’t agree with Obama on everything, but I respect him and I trust him.” The video – which opened with a calming farm scene, then a church, then a nice quiet street with an American flag adorning one house and blowing in the breeze – ends with the tagline, “It begins with us.”

Here's my response:

Hey, Barack:

Um, no offense, brother, but I’m not sure it begins with me. I appreciate the chummy e-mail and the obviously expensive and focus-grouped but vacuous campaign video but I don’t really feel like you listen to me. As I’ve shared with you before:

You escalated the unwinnable war in Afghanistan rather than ending it. You promised to end the Iraq war but 50,000 troops are still there as “advisors.” And you just authorized military action in Libya against the evil dictator to whom you were eager to sell arms as recently as March of 2009.

You’re not doing anything to help Private Bradley Manning, the 23-year-old U.S. Army soldier from Oklahoma arrested in May 2010 in Iraq on suspicion of passing classified information to WikiLeaks. Manning is in "maximum custody” at a Marine Corps Brig at Quantico, Virginia. In fact, you apparently condone his mistreatment, saying at a recent press conference that the Pentagon assured you the terms of Manning's confinement "are appropriate and are meeting our basic standards." Barack, your own State Department spokesman, Philip Crowley, said Manning's treatment was "ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid" and then resigned.

You appointed Timothy Geithner, a stooge from Wall Street, as your Treasury Secretary. And Geithner opposes Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard law professor and bailout oversight expert who's been pushing for the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

You reneged on your promises to close Guantanamo Bay and march with union members when their right to organize was threatened.

You reportedly told congressional Democrats to leave Senator Whore Lieberman (I-CT) alone and not strip him of his committee chairmanship even though he actively campaigned for your opponent and throws stones at you at every opportunity.

You kept the civil liberties-stripping Patriot Act in place. You refused to fight for the public option and allowed a health care "reform" measure to pass that, while politically groundbreaking, is essentially a boon to the insurance industry. And you betrayed your vow to end Dubya's tax cuts for the wealthy by agreeing with greedy Republicans on a "temporary" two-year extension of all cuts in order to obtain a measly 13-month extension of unemployment benefits.

I know you’ve achieved some things and you’re better than that idiot Dennis Kucinich and probably anyone else from the left who might be foolish enough to take you on in the primary. But I had such high hopes for change when you were campaigning and then won. And you’ve let me down again and again ever since. I just can’t get excited about working my derriere off to re-elect the lesser of two evils.

Your amigo,

Patrick

One of my Facebook friends wrote on my wall, “You know, I really like President Obama, but I can't help but wonder if it's not the right time for his ideas and strategy. Would the Dems be better with someone else leading the fight?” I hate to admit it, but I don’t think it matters anymore.