An Open Letter to the President

Posted on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 by evigilo

Here is an Open Letter to the President, from one of my favorite Writers and Authors, Frank Schaeffer. Check this out with an open head and heart and I think you will see the truth in what he is saying to our President:

Dear President Obama: I know that from time to time you read Huffington Post because you’ve written for it. As a Huffington Post reader you’ll know that no one on this web site has more faithfully supported your candidacy and now your presidency than me. As a former lifelong Republican, son of a co-founder of the Religious Right; my late evangelical leader father, Francis Schaeffer, I’m in a unique position to tell you a few things about the Republicans from inside perspective. (As you know I left that movement in the mid 1980s.)

The lack of cooperation you’re getting from the Republican Party will continue. You were right to indulge in a little bit of tokenism when you had to Pastor Rick Warren pray and your inauguration. But if you think that the Republicans in Congress and the Senate are going to do more than their utmost to obstruct everything you are and what you stand for you’re dreaming.

As someone who appeared numerous times on the 700 Club with Pat Robertson, as someone for whom Jerry Falwell used to send his private jet to bring me to speak at his college, as an author who had James Dobson giveaway 150,000 copies of my one of my fundamentalist books allow me to explain something: the Republican Party is controlled by two ideological groups. First, is the Religious Right. Second, are the neoconservatives. Both groups share one thing in common: they are driven by fear and paranoia. Between them there is no Republican “center” for you to appeal to, just two versions of hate-filled extremes.

The Religious Right supply the kind of people who at McCain and Palin rallies were yelling things such as “kill him” about you. That’s the constituency to which your hand is extended when looking for compromise on your financial bailout bill.

There’s only one thing that makes sense for you now. Mr. President, you need to forget a bipartisan approach and get on with the business of governing by winning each battle. You will never be able to work with the Republicans because they hate you. Believe me, Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter are the norm not the exception. James Dobson and the rest are praying for you to fail. The neoconservatives are gnashing their teeth and waiting for you to “sell out Israel” or “show weakness” in Afghanistan, whatever, so they can declare you a traitor.

The problem is that when you deal with the Republican Party you’re talking to the polished characters in Washington. I wish you could see the hate e-mail’s that I have received over the last two years because I supported you, letters calling for God to kill me, telling me that I hate God because I supported you and that I am “an abortionist” and worse a “fag lover” because I’ve written that I believe that you will be a great president.

What those senators and congressmen are telling you is not what their rabid core constituents are telling them. Like Rush Limbaugh they want you to fail. Their loyalty is to a fundamentalist Christian ideology on the one hand and American exceptionalism of perpetual warfare and hatred and fear of the “other” on the other hand. Between the neoconservatives and evangelical Religious Right Republicans you have no friends.

The good news is that most Americans support you. And if you will just get in the face of the Republican Party and call their bluff you’ll be surprised how many individual ordinary American Republicans will support you, not to mention the rest of us. America is sick of the Republicans.

The Democratic Party won for a reason: the Republicans failed and have taken us all down with them! You’re doing your presidency and America no favor by extending an open hand to the perpetually knotted fist of what has become the embittered lunatic fringe of our country. They would rather go down in flames than “compromise” their ideology.

As you showed us again at your press conference of Feb 9, you are a brilliant, articulate and decent man. Your Republican opponents are not decent people but ideologues bent on destroying you. To quote the biblical adage sir, don’t cast your pearls before swine.

As for me, this was in fact the kind of thinking and Ideology that I held, had faith in and believed this is what God wanted and ordained. I later Learned, that God wants nor needs nothing and that my Ideology was just a myth driven by fear. I agree with Frank, these folks are not going to give President “O” the time of day, In fact, these folks think that the President is Satan’s pick and that God going to punish America because she elected him. That’s just plain crazy and delusional, but Hey, these are the same folks who think the book of Revelation are Cliff notes to the Left Behind Series.

All I know is this, the very same diehards and party faithful who created and passed around the “Barack The Magic Negro” Thing, are the very same people who ran this country into the ground. So ask yourself a question, If God is talking to a select group of people (in fact God, the universe, life, etc talks to all that will hear) Who or what group do you think that would be? I’m Just saying and please examine this for yourself. God, the universe, life, etc. are no fools. I leave this thought with you from Dr. MLK.