President Obama, You’re Breaking My Heart
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| Ronald Eddings, author of This Is Why We Cry. |
by Ronald Eddings
Earlier this summer I watched the results from the Wisconsin recall elections aimed at the Republican Party gone rogue. In the next segment of the broadcast they showed President Obama getting off Air Force One and heading to pay his respects to our fallen soldiers who lost their lives last week in Afghanistan. He looked very presidential standing there, and I thought to myself, “what a great moment in history.”
Let me tell you, if you wanted to see the greatest Obama fan of all time, it would be a picture of me standing at an Obama rally, full of pride and wearing the biggest smile you have ever seen. That was then.
I am still an Obama fan, but I have been waiting for my leader, my hero,
to stand up and fight for the poor and middle class. I am waiting for
my president to stand up to John Boehner, Eric Cantor, and others, and
use the bully pulpit to put a stop to this Republican mockery of
everything the United States of America stands for. No longer am I
willing to accept great speeches as a way to appease my concerns over my
family’s future, our need for health care, high gas prices, or the high
jobless rate of African Americans and Latinos.
The president could learn a big lesson from the people of Wisconsin
about fighting for what he believes in. That recall election was a
symbol of pride, which showed normal working-class people fighting and
standing up for themselves. Even though they only won two of the six
Republican-held seats, that election will go down as one of the bravest
fights of working-class people of all time. But my President was absent
from the beginning of the Wisconsin debate until the end on Election
Day.
When Tea Party members held our economy and the nation hostage during
the debt ceiling debates, my President caved in and gave up 95 percent
of what the Republicans wanted. That giveaway caused the nation’s credit
rating to be lowered, stock markets to plummet, and tied the
president’s hands for future negotiations.
Nine months after the Republicans won back the House on a promise of
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, and nine months after those Republicans have not
introduced a single jobs bill, the president asked to address Congress
to introduce a jobs bill. House Speaker John Boehner said he was
concerned about the audience for the Republican debate, and the
president agreed to change the date. The president caved in again, and
Boehner won.
As I said, I am the president’s biggest fan. But I am just waiting for
him to get mad, get smart, and realize who and what kind of people he is
dealing with.
Mr. President, now it’s about getting some courage and fighting for what
you believe in. It’s time to put on the gloves, get rid of the smiles
and great speeches, and get yourself right smack in the middle of a
political war. This is a war that is trying to destroy you, the poor,
and the middle class that put you in office.
Every time you have been in a position to place the Republican Party in a
political box, you have backed off. If you don’t get a backbone—and I
mean real soon—you are going to be a one-term president.
Now, every Republican candidate claims that God told them to run for the
presidency. Your problem, Mr. President, is realizing that God has
already placed you in that position, and it’s up to you to do the job.
Maryanne Williamson once said, “Our deepest fear is not that we are
inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It
is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask
ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?’”
Williamson continues, “Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child
of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing
enlightened about shrinking so that people won’t feel insecure around
you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It’s not just in some of us; it’s in all of us. And when we let our own
light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the
same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically
liberates others.”
Good luck, Mr. President. Let your light shine.
Ronald Eddings is the author of This Is Why We Cry and a children’s book, Little Dude; he is completing work on an autobiography and currently writes the blog roneddings.blogspot.com.
His screenplay, From My Eyes, The Ron Eddings Story, was a finalist at the 2008 Cinema City International Film festival. His website is eddings.webs.com.
