A Letter to the President Elect

Mr. Obama,
I'm not going to type 'President Eelect Obama' because that's too much typing and it really doesn't have a good ring to it. Well, I guess I ended up typing it anyway. I guess I've started our relationship with a lie.

I'll be honest. I didn't vote for you. But I didn't vote for anyone so don't feel bad.

There are conflicting emotions going on with me right now. First, I am excited that a black man has been elected president. I am also excited that this fucking election is finally over. I am also excited that you were elected and not John McCain. On the other hand, I'm afraid that because of you as President, young black men all over the nation will look to you as their role model: the type of black guy who makes himself as white as possible in order to appear as a normal white guy, in order to be acceptable. I look at a black kid on the street and feel sad for him that even in today's world white people still look at him and immediately think that he is a criminal; they're afraid -- as irrational as it may be -- that he poses a threat to their beautiful white daughter. Then, I look at the black guys in my college courses and feel sad for them that they have to be extra smart, act slightly effeminate, and suppress the truth that they know about racism in America in order to fit into the white world. They can't afford to stand out in their classrooms and admit that this nation isn't built for them to succeed.

I say that because I am skeptical about your sincerity about change. You may have made that fancy speech about racism in response to the Rev. Wright situation and "opened up the race conversation" in the US, but that only means that you successfully evaded a huge political liability and distracted the American citizens...lets face it, they aren't that smart...it was an easy task.

I'm not convinced that you are an agent of real change.

With everything in me I hope (i use that word reluctantly) that you have just been "playing it safe" to win this election and that as soon as you take office in January you will begin a drastic restructuring of American culture. I know that isn't going to really happen but at least I can hope for change.

The fact is, you will continue supporting wall street. You will follow through with your fucked up plan of supporting the "healthcare" industry by forcing employers and employees to bear the burden of paying jacked up prices for doctors and insurance companies instead of telling those expensive assholes, "NO! You cannot charge that much! It's just not right make people PAY TO LIVE!!" You will mutter a few words next time Exxon reports record profits and leave it at that, then blame Congress for not doing their oversight responsibilities if anything illegal turns up. You might make it easier on college students to prepare for helping our world (like those preparing to be teachers), but it's still going to be hard for us because you won't fix the industries that drive up tuition costs year after year after year... why? because you're such a sucker for liberal economics.

I read about a boy in Kenya who is recovering after being attacked by an American funded group in the Congo. I have a hard time believing you will put an end to that funding and do something about the suffering that is happening in nations that we like to ignore. No...instead, you will divert the attention, as all other politicians do, to something that the American people can identify with - "let's see, what's more appealing to the American people, Muslims killing 300,000 or so blacks, or blacks killing 5 MILLION or so blacks?" I'll give you your answer. BOTH ARE FUCKED UP!! But, at least we can stop funding those who kill people. Well, blacks kill blacks all the time, in NYC, in New Orleans, in Chicago...that's old news. Oh, plus we have huge economic ties to the DRC region because some of our country's corporations rape their natural resources without regard for life...that's important for the world economy, right?

My basic point is this. I'm glad you won, rather than McCain, but FUCK YOU!! You might bring change to America as we know it, but we both know that America as we know it is wrong. The only difference between us is that I'm willing to admit what the problem is. I don't need hope for change because I can admit what the real problem is and try to do something about it. You, on the other hand, are so wrapped up in the ideology of racist America that you must submit to the idea that humans can be valued by a dollar amount.

I feel bad for you, and at the same time I'm happy that a black man will finally have to face the problems that white, affluent American presidents have ignored for centuries. I have no doubt that it will eat at you that you are supporting a system that hurts people of every color. Not only will you be supporting it, but you will have to support it for at least four years at the cost of thousands, if not millions of lives.

With that said, I congratulate you on your victory, I wish you the best of luck, and I pray to whatever fucked up god may be out there that I'm wrong about everything above.

-Rob Huffman